How to deal with workaholic clients during the festive season
The festive season is upon us and so is the festive spirit! We tend to work hurriedly as the festivities loom closer because we do not want the festival spirit to be marred by a negative mail from the client. We all want to dress up, hang out with our friends and family and assure that our workaholic client is happy doing whatever it is he or she wants to do. In spite of it all, we all have at least one workaholic client who would be working on the day of Dussehra or during your two days off during Diwali and would constantly bombard you with emails and text messages, inquiring about the gifting product placement story that was excepted or the follow up on why a certain influencer that hasn’t posted about the gift that was sent to them on Instagram. Phew!
Doesn’t it ruin the mood for you and your folks when such “respond-now-or-the-world-will-end” emails need to be responded to right when you are about to pop mouth-watering mithai into your mouth? It sure does! We’ll tell you just what you can do to avoid such sticky situations and enjoy your festive feels to the fullest.
1. Always be a step ahead
Update the client before they ask for one. It is always better to share that weekly update sheet in advance before going on vacation. This way, the client will have all the latest updates about the work in progress and what can be expected in the form of coverage(s) beforehand.
2. You win some you lose some
If you want to fully enjoy the official days of the festivals, make sure you work overtime and/or extra hard during the non-official days. This might include skipping the family shopping time as you need to make the coverage report or missing out on Pandal hoppings with your friends as a PPT needs to be sent to the client before that long weekend. Set your priorities straight because let’s face it, we cannot have it all.
3. Set your boundaries and communicate the same
All offices don’t follow a set holiday calendar. If you have a two day off during Diwali, your client’s company might only have one. And amidst this, your client might expect you to work when they are working. Hence, it is imperative to inform them beforehand about your holidays and also about your extended vacation dates (if any). This way the client would know when to not bother you with the official work (keep your fingers crossed for this one!).
4. Acknowledge, then negotiate
While most clients would take into consideration that disturbing the agency or its representative isn’t ethical during holidays, there still might be some who regardless of anything would still demand an update on a particular coverage. At such times, do acknowledge the same by stating you understand the urgency but it would be unscrupulous to call up a journalist during holidays and make the client understand you would update him/her first thing about it after getting back to the office.
Hope these little bits of advice were helpful to you. Let us know if you have any more.
Happy Holidays!!
