It is inevitable. In any customer relationship, there is going to be an issue from time to time. Most of them are relatively minor and easily resolved. Some of them are significant, and can threaten the relationship's future. Some of the issues are your company's fault, and some not. Maybe you missed a delivery deadline or perhaps their payments are increasingly late.

In the end, fault may not matter. Assuming you are doing everything necessary to fix the issue, here is a strategy to consider when you find yourself facing a challenging issue - deliver an IMPAX presentation that follows the TUFA flow. By doing this, you can take control of the issue, accept appropriate responsibility and assumptively suggest an action plan to resolve the issue.

Here's how it might look:


Them: Start with the focus on the customer - their direction, the issue and how the issue affects them
Us: Review your situation and your solution, taking appropriate responsibility (it doesn't have to be your fault in order for you to take responsibility to fix the issue)
Fit: Reflect on the business fit between your companies and the impact that resolving the issue will have on the customer
Action: Review the actions that are being taken to resolve the issue and to make sure you don't face the issue again. Then transition into a roundtable discussion to agree on the action plan.


By standing up and making a brief presentation around the issue, you effectively remove some of the emotion, take a leadership role in fixing the issue, and create an assumptive tone that you will get this resolved and the relationship will get past it. This is better than a finger-pointing meeting where no one feels good when they leave the room.