Dealing with clients for the first time!
The application stopped working – in mid of the demo!
I was in the Philippines and all set to win the customer demo. We covered a few screens and to my horror – the application just stopped responding after a few screens!
I was relatively novice and quite hesitant to reach out to people of authority like senior management, or customer counterparts.
I am sure many of you would relate to the situation I was in.
My mind went into panic mode – I had tested the flow so many times, ensured everything was working as expected – and I was stunned to see it stop working. What should I do – I thought for a moment. I checked a couple of points and cross-checked in the code base – everything seemed to be in place. I was clueless about the cause. But I decided to gather myself – I had sample data already available in the application. I proceeded with the demo and completed the flow. I also clearly communicated to the customer requesting them to allow me some time to get to the roots of the problem.
Finally, the issue turned out to be related to JavaScript – which was quickly resolved. The customer really appreciated the demo and liked my idea of using sample data when we got stuck on actual flow. Most importantly, they really appreciate the honesty of accepting our mistakes without hiding it/or covering it up. Possibly that is one of the important factors that build the trust between both the parties. Since then – I have always followed the thumb rule to not hide/cover up anything from our customers. In a crisis situation generally, the trust we have built – pays back and everyone supports us rather than playing the blame game.
That was a big learning for me with my first interaction with my customer where the situation demanded me to stay calm and achieve what I was set to. I am sure everyone has learned with their first interactions with their clients.
What did you learn?
