You View Point Essay

You Viewpoint – Defusing an Angry Client

BUS 346 Online

Professor Dan Davis

October 28, 2012

Abstract

This paper details how the You-Viewpoint was used to defuse a difficult situation involving myself, my accounts payable manager, my director of sales, and a client. When an invoice was generated incorrectly, and submitted for payment to a client, I was alerted to the situation when the client called me angry about his billing. This particular client is a very high profile business owner, who typically spends up to 15% of my annual budget with our television station. He is a very short-tempered person, and does not take mistakes lightly.

You Viewpoint – Defusing an angry client

Background

I have been working for the ABC affiliate in, California for two years as an Account Executive; prior to that I spent nine years working in radio sales as an Account Executive. I have taken many certification courses in marketing and broadcast media in general in order to broaden my knowledge of media buying trends in our ever-changing media world. Currently I am the lead account executive for our digital media, and work very closely with all of the local radio stations on their quarterly marketing campaigns.

The Angry Customer
When delivering a negative message the sender hopes to achieve a positive outcome; “the goals of an effective negative message are (a) to receive a positive response and (b) to maintain the goodwill of the message receiver” (p. 228). Krizan, Merrier, Logan, & Williams (2010). In early 2012 after I placed a buy for our local Country Music station, I received a phone call from the station owner directly. In all my previous dealings with the station, I had always dealt with the stations Director of Sales. While I personally knew the owner, I rarely did business with him. However, on this occasion he called me because he was very angry that after his most recent deal had been made he was alerted that his rates had been changed without his knowledge. I immediately set about calming him and assuring him that we were not attempting to do anything “fishy” or illegal, and that clearly a mistake had been made. What I realized had happened was that when his initial deal had been made we were working under an old rate card, and once I had finalized his deal we were working under a new rate card. Typically television is bought based on a quarterly rate, and the rates are defined by the demand on the station. However, in a political year (like this year) rates are defined based on the “lowest unit rate” given to any politician who is buying airtime on the station during the political window. According to fcc.gov, “a candidate shall be charged no more per unit than the station charges its most favored commercial advertisers for the same classes and amounts of time for the same periods” (Section 73.1942, para. i). The Political window is defined as “the 45 days preceding the date of a primary or primary runoff election and during the 60 days preceding the date of a general or special election in which such person is a candidate, the lowest unit charge of the station for the same class and amount of time for the same period.” (Section 73.1942, para. l). Since he owns a radio station, he was well aware of the FCC regulations that we were both held to, but he was very upset that the rate change had not been directly stated in the final buy. This was, of course, my mistake and I quickly apologized and assured him that I would do what I could to make things right.

The Solution
In order to rectify this situation I quickly went to my own director of sales and explained what had happened, and what I had done. Utilizing the you-viewpoint “…giving primary consideration to the receiver’s point of view when composing and sending messages” (p.12). Krizan, Merrier, Logan, & Williams (2010) I outlined how this was a very big customer for the station, a personal friend to our own station’s General Manager, and a very important client for me personally. I then explained that I was at fault for the mistake, and finally requested that he allow me to offer the customer a schedule at no charge equal to the difference between what I had originally quoted and what I had actually charged. My manager agreed that we needed to make this right with the client in order to save not only our business, but also my personal relationship and that of our General Manager.
I contacted the client and explained to him what our offer was; he was very pleased that I had so quickly rectified the problem, and that I took responsibility for my mistake and promptly apologized for it. I also went to great length to ensure that he knew how valuable his business was to us, and how important his friendship was to me and our General Manager. I assured him that there would not be a breakdown in communication again, and then invited him to lunch soon to chat in person further.
Conclusion
When delivering a negative message it is necessary to ensure that you are delivering the message in a positive manner, and that you are always putting the receiver’s best interest in mind. When delivering a negative message the best way to deliver the message is to use the you-viewpoint and keep the receiver’s viewpoint as the primary focus in the message. This will ensure a continued positive working relationship between the sender and the receiver.

References
FCC Political Programming; FCC Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 28, 2012, from http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/policy/political/candrule.htm
Krizan, A. C., Merrier, P., Logan, J., & Williams, K. (2010). Business communication
(8th ed.). USA: South-Western.

References: FCC Political Programming; FCC Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 28, 2012, from http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/policy/political/candrule.htm Krizan, A. C., Merrier, P., Logan, J., & Williams, K. (2010). Business communication (8th ed.). USA: South-Western.