Many sales people are terribly afraid of so called difficult clients. I use the term ?so called? because usually, if you frankly look at these people they are not difficult at all. For sure some sales people classified you as difficult clients, although (in most of the cases) you are absolutely normal.

I would like to share an observation which totally turned upside down my perception about difficult clients. Of course in a positive way.

If you analyze all your experiences with tough clients you would recall that almost each of them started with a minor issue. An opinion expressed, a wrong word/move, a reaction that caused all the confusion. And then it emerged and exploded with immense power. That?s when a difficult client appeared.

Indeed, too often we focus on the explosion itself rather than on its cause. Change your perspective. It is enough to realize that the person in front of you is not a difficult client. Simply you are in a difficult situation that needs to be solved somehow. And this makes a damn difference.

Difficult client – difficult situation.  This completely changes your attitude, approach, and context. Everything.

This client is most likely a cool and polite guy – not a psychopathic cannibal hungry for salespeople. However something happened that turned the person into a difficult client. Something that caused a difficult situation.

It is much easier to deal with a difficult situation. It is enough to find its reason and somehow work on it. Maybe sometimes it is worth to take responsibility, talk frankly with the client without beating about the bush, maybe restart the situation, or maybe just end up the relation.

So you role is to become a sales detective and solve the puzzle of the difficult situation.

Remember – from now on you have no more difficult clients!

P.S. I would like to thank Tatiana Captari for translation of this post :)