Condescending Clients: How To Handle Them
SALES MAVEN
Empowering #womeninsales by teaching relationship selling that builds rapport so you can sell authentically.
Do you ever wish you had a strategy on how to handle condescending clients?
Every once in a while when selling, you’re bound to come across condescending clients who don’t treat you with much respect.
When you run your own business you may decide to fire these types of clients. However, there are times when firing a client isn’t an option. There’s a myriad of reasons why you might just have to “suck it up” and “grin and bear it”.
Is the customer always right?
This came up recently in a coaching session with one of my VIP clients. She wanted some assistance in handling a client who was incredibly condescending.
This particular VIP works for a large national company. She’s not in a position where she can fire the client. Doing anything other than being professional might be detrimental to her job. When your livelihood depends on a paycheck, most people follow the age-old-rule of “the customer is always right”.
In this particular situation, she had a returning customer who reached out requesting a quote for new product. The customer had dealt with my client’s predecessor many years ago.
The initial meeting didn’t go as planned. Normally my client does a walkthrough of the customer’s business and makes recommendations on best practices and updated products. She quickly found that every time she made a suggestion, the customer would dismiss her and tell her she should let her technical team make the suggestions.
My VIP client happens to be one of the top sales producers in her company of over 300 salespeople. She’s smart and well versed in her product line. This particular project isn’t one where she’d need the assistance of her technical team.
My client also has a youthful appearance. Her customer happened to be an older gentleman and treated her as if she was too young or maybe too inexperienced to know what she’s talking about.
My VIP client shared during our coaching session that she was so taken aback by this customer’s condescending attitude that it rocked her confidence a bit. By the time she left the meeting, she was second-guessing herself and even postponed getting the quote back to the customer.
Doing Nothing Isn't An Option
She was struggling with how to handle the next interaction. And like many of us, when we find ourselves in a situation where we're not quite sure what to do, we do nothing. It’s basic human nature to protect ourselves and that usually shows up as fight, flight or freeze. In this case, she froze.
Doing nothing isn’t going to get her the business. The main reason we work together is to support her in closing more business. So this condescending client was the perfect scenario for us to work through together.
During the coaching session, I identified two possible ways she might handle the situation. It was up to her to pick which one she wanted us to strategize on.
Option 1: Get someone from her technical support team to accompany her to the next meeting and validate her recommendations to the customer.
When a customer doesn’t see you as a credible source, it’s unlikely you’ll earn the business. And sometimes it’s in your best interest to swallow your pride and use the resources available (even when you know you don't need the help).
Option 2: Prepare his quote, set up another meeting and walk into it with selective amnesia (this is something I learned years ago from my NLP teacher when I found myself in a similar situation with a condescending colleague). She’d need to be prepared to stand in her place of power, credibility, and confidence when she interacts with this particular client.
The way to use selective amnesia in this scenario is to act as if he never questioned her recommendations.?She knows what she’s doing and she knows the proper equipment to recommend based on the customer’s needs. It’s imperative she walks into this next meeting demonstrating confidence in her abilities and recommendations.
Option Picked
You might not be surprised to learn my VIP picked option 2. We spent time strategizing how she would handle her next interaction, what she might say and do. Most important was for her to get the proposal done and delivered to the customer. There's zero chance she'll close this sale until this happens.
Many of us have been in a situation where someone does something that makes us question ourselves. The worst thing we can do is nothing. By not delivering a quote back to the customer, my VIP is further cementing his false impression that she’s not capable of handling his business.
She prepared the quote, met with the client and closed the deal. Then, she called me right after the meeting to share that she used the strategy we came up with. She was her usual confident and credible self throughout the meeting. As a result, the client treated her with much more respect.
Condescending Client Strategies
Lastly, to recap, there are 3 basic strategies for handling condescending clients.
Wishing you continued success in all your client interactions.
Agree? Disagree? Have additional comments or thoughts on this article? Please share.
?
?
?
For more actionable sales tips, download the FREE Closing The Sale Ebook .
Nikki invites you to join the Sales Maven Society . Take advantage of this opportunity to work together with you and Nikki. Bring your questions, concerns, and sales situations; she provides answers and guidance. Join the Sales Maven Society here, click Join Today, and then checkout and use coupon code 47trial to get your first month for $47.00!
?
Find Nikki:
To download free Resources from Nikki: www.yoursalesmaven.com/maven
??? Guiding Lawyers, Law Firms & Professional Services Firms in Growing & Scaling their Practices, Increasing Revenue & Creating a Pipeline of Ideal Clients | Personal Branding Expert | Consultant | Speaker | Avid Foodie
1 个月As an entrepreneur, I recently encountered two situations which prompted me to think about "firing" those clients. Before doing so, I consulted Nikki, of course, and with her strategies, saved both client relationships. Happily. In fact, the relationships moved forward on a more honest and transparent footing because of the level of trust that evolved from those conversations. Taking a pause, stepping away and being open to new strategies and perspectives is now my favored tactic.