This post comes from watching two very different vendors, on two very different projects, handle a familiar situation. A project hits issues, the mood turns, and suddenly the vendor is no longer the most popular party in the room. What stood out was the contrast in how each vendor responded, and more importantly, how one of them managed to turn things around.
There are many times in delivery work where you can find yourself on the wrong side of client sentiment, and quite often it has very little to do with the quality of your work. Budgets change, and what was previously seen as good value suddenly looks expensive. Internal restructures happen, and contracts that once made sense are now resented. People move on, political dynamics shift, and you may have been brought in by someone who is no longer in favour.
Sometimes the issue is entirely external to your delivery. A change elsewhere in the organisation can make a project seem less relevant or less innovative. It is not your fault, but it is still your delivery, and that means you will feel the impact.
In these situations, the reason matters far less than the response. As a vendor or consultant, you are being paid to navigate this, whether it is fair or not. The question is how you handle it.
One option is to double down on delivery. That might mean absorbing additional cost, adding resources, or simply pushing harder to ensure the outcome lands well. In fixed price environments, some of this should already be accounted for, but there are times when you have to take a hit. Larger organisations often don’t opt for this type of response purely on short-term financial grounds, i.e., this year’s bonus. That is understandable, but it can be short sighted. Reputation has real value, and people have long memories. It is worth weighing the reputational cost before reacting defensively. In many cases, it is better to grit your teeth and deliver.
Secondly, do not get drawn into internal politics. As a vendor, your role is not to take sides. Stay focused on both the letter and the spirit of your delivery. Turning overly rigid or contractual in tone can be just as damaging as open frustration. Clients are looking for a quality service, not just a strict interpretation of a contract.
There will always be occasional clients who push too far, but they are the exception rather than the rule. In most cases, if you provide something they can confidently take up the chain and demonstrate as progress, you will remain in a good position.
Another practical point is resourcing. Some organisations respond to struggling projects by quietly rotating out strong people and replacing them with those who will simply maintain the status quo. This rarely helps. If anything, it reinforces decline. If a project is under pressure, it is worth putting strong people on it, or at least ensuring visible senior engagement. Even if the issue is largely political, visible commitment matters. It shows that you are taking the situation seriously.
Thirdly, look to the future. Even when a project is difficult, it helps to position it as a temporary setback rather than a defining failure. Talk about what can be improved next time and how you can work better together. That sense of continuity and investment can shift the tone of the relationship. If you demonstrate that you are thinking beyond the immediate problem, clients often respond in kind.
Finally, be careful in how you offer solutions or retrospective insight. When relationships become strained, it is very easy to slip into criticism. Phrases that imply fault or hindsight superiority will only escalate tension. It is far more effective to frame things collaboratively. i.e “If we had known this earlier, we would have approached it differently, and we can take that forward to the next project”. The aim is to reinforce that you are working together, not against each other.
In practice, much of this comes down to restraint. You will sometimes be blamed for things that are outside your control. That is part of the role. The vendors who handle it well are the ones who avoid becoming adversarial themselves, focus on delivery, and keep an eye on the longer term relationship.
Once the immediate tensions pass, and they usually do, those behaviours are what determine how well you work together going forward.