We started a client project 5 weeks ago.

Anonymous

October 6,2021 at 3:39PM UTC

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We started a client project 5 weeks ago. We made a mistake with the billing a couple weeks in. The client was billed for some things that they shouldn’t have been. The client believes that was my fault, even though billing is not my job. (It belongs to the PM). I did identify the problem tho and recommended that we refund the money. I only manage a subset of the workers in the context of the project. (I am not their boss). Nor do I oversee the entire project. There is a person for that too.

The client continues to mention it again and again. While we come up to speed, they say we are too slow, citing issues back to 2 weeks ago.

I have proposed our approach, actions we are taking to gain speed and come up to speed quickly while also bringing high quality methods. I’ve also outlined the merits of those approaches.

They STILL harken back to issues from the 2nd week. Now they have cancelled my workstream.

What could we have done differently? It seems that we lost their trust and they just couldn’t move on? Do you have a different take?

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AnonymousOctober 6,2021 at 3:43PM UTC
Poster here; correction. I proposed an approach for the workers that work with my particular skill set. Not the whole
Project or engagement. That is “above my pay grade”
AnonymousOctober 6,2021 at 5:54PM UTC
The Customer felt burned regardless of who's responsible for the billing errors or lag in schedule. With some companies, there us just no recovering.
You did all you could. Next time the team will work closer together and in sync. Lesson learned.
Alexandria Scobee |Leadership Coach | IT ManagerOctober 6,2021 at 6:38PM UTC
I agree with what has already been said that with some customers there is no recovery. The only thing that could have possibly been done is a vulnerable clearing the air conversation. That could have looked like hey we messed up and you are frustrated by that and your confidence in our ability has been shaken. We understand that and here is how we are working to make it right. Naming the elephant in the room is the fastest way to deflate it.
AnonymousOctober 6,2021 at 10:16PM UTC
Yes! We did do a “let’s agreed to start fresh” convo. In that convo, The person responsible for billing admitted the mistake. But client still directed questions to me about billing. And client still kept restating the issue. Again and again. Even after that call.
Alexandria Scobee |Leadership Coach | IT ManagerOctober 12,2021 at 3:28PM UTC
Sounds like they were unable to move on which is really too bad. It also sounds like you did everything you could.