Episode #169: Dealing With Really Tough And Mean Questions From Clients

When we give our presentation to the client we are in full control of the situation. We know what we are going to say. When we get to the end, or part way through, and the client asks us a really tough question, this can be difficult to deal with. Especially, if the client is unhappy and asks the question in a very aggressive or accusatory manner, we can easily react emotionally. The normal response for human beings in these cases can be the release of chemicals into the body to get ready for flight or fight. This is how we survived from cavemen days when confronted by a sabre toothed tiger and it still applies today. Regardless of our species roots, we have to make sure we keep our control and a cool head. This is not so easy sometimes.

Apart from our release of chemicals into the body, we find our mind can often become confused, as we try to think of the best way to respond to the client. We usually never know when we are going to be hit with a tough question, asked in an angry or aggressive manner. The surprise factor is one of the reasons we have trouble knowing how to respond. If we know the client can be difficult, then we can mentally prepare ourselves. We need to have a plan. It is when the client is new and unknown, or a known client suddenly behaving unpredictably, we find ourselves getting into trouble.

Because of the random nature of these occurrences, it means we need to consider this possibility before every meeting. We should consider what might be some issues the client may raise with us and think about how we should answer them. When we get hit with a tough question from the client, we can quickly find ourselves on the defensive, trying to think about why what they said isn’t true or why the the scale of the problem isn’t as large as they say it is. We need to consider those answers beforehand and we should also prepare some positive messages, to get ourselves back on the front foot and in control of the conversation.

The other area we need to pay attention to is our body language. We may show to the client that we are lacking in confidence or that we are scared of what they said (or the way they said it) or that we are becoming defensive and dismissive of their opinion. We need to mask this body language and maintain a cool, calm and collected appearance, totally unfazed by what they have just said. This makes us look more confident and credible.

Handling objections needs the use of the “cushion”. We inject a short neutral statement into the conversation to buy us thinking time. We want go to that part of our brain where we have a better response ready to deal with the pushback. Before we attempt to answer the objections however, we should ask clarifying questions. “Thank you for mentioning that. May I ask why you say that?”. And then we shut up and don’t add, revise, or adjust what we have just said. We want the client to give us more detail. We need to nail down precisely what is their problem, before we open our mouth and begin offering solutions. So often though, salespeople jump right in and try to answer a problem they haven’t fully isolated yet. It well may be there has been a misunderstanding or there has been some miscommunication. We need to know about that before we try to respond.

For formulating our response, here is are seven things to keep in mind.

1. Listen carefully to the client outburst, without stopping them, interjecting or starting to answer them
2. When we hear the complaint or angry outburst from the client, we make sure to mask our body language so there are no subliminal messages being sent.
3. We need to buy some thinking time for ourselves, so we use a cushion, such as “well that is an important issue and thank you for raising it”.
4. We ask some clarifying questions to find out what the real issue is, so we can concentrate on answering that highest priority item.
5. We try to flip the balance of the conversation away from 100% negative to a better balance between positive and negative. We do this by starting with our positive messages. We can apologise for any inconvenience they have suffered and then lead in by saying, “the good news is… Now let me deal with the issue you have raised”.
6. We respond to their issue in a calm manner, supporting what we are saying with evidence or proof
7. We check to see if we have fully resolved their issue and if we haven’t, we outline the steps we are going to take to resolve it going forward.

In this case, the best defence is offense. If we are thinking ahead, anticipating trouble and preparing for it, we will always do better. We need to stop reacting and start responding to the client, when things get a bit rough and tough.