Handle Tough Customers

 

Every person in sales has come across a tough customer that you needed to get along with. You could have a difference in personality, age, level of experience, personal backgrounds. I have come across a few difficult ones in my time selling and there is not one clear way to win them over. If you are in this situation with one of your customers then read on and I know you will come away with a plan to win your tough customer over.

I spent a few years managing bread Direct-Store-Delivery people that were quite difficult to win over. To me it seemed they gave me a hard time every chance they could, just for fun. I needed to win them over and it was difficult to figure out what would work.

Listen Closely

One of the drivers told me flat out, “he had been delivering bread for longer than I had been alive.” Perhaps you have heard a similar comment or objection on your age or inexperience. This fact was indeed true. I responded to him in a counter-intuitive way by agreeing with him, “yep your right.” I said.

You might be thinking, ‘even if it was true, why should you give him the satisfaction of demeaning me.’ That is certainly one way of looking at it. I agreed with him because it took the emotion and negativity away from his comment. If I had responded negatively then his next comment to me would have negative as well.

If I was to dismiss a fact I knew to be true; then I would be sending the message that I wasn’t listening.

Once you are able to convince your tough customer you are listening to them you need to put yourself in their shoes. See what your customer sees from their perspective.

Understand your customer’s perspective

Understanding is a poorly defined concept when applied to selling. You might have heard your sales manager say to you ‘yeah I understand where you are coming from’ the last time you asked him for a raise. Your sales manager most likely was dismissing you request without giving it much thought. If you seek to understand your customer in a dismissive way then you will actually worsen the relationship. So how do you understand you customer without upsetting them?

Questions, the number of questions you ask of your customer to understand their perspective will directly indicate to your customer how much you care.

1.       Am I hearing you correctly when you said service is your main concern?

2.       I hear that price is important to you, are there other areas of concern you have with our company?

3.       Thanks for helping understand the needs of your business…

I have found that when I truly put my-self in my customers shoes then I would react in the same way. Think about how you react when a tele-marketer calls your house during dinner time, are you frustrated? Sure you are. If you are browsing in a retail store and the sales clerk won’t leave you alone, you probably have thought this annoying at least once before. When you think about it your reaction might be the very same your customer is having to you.

Knowing this put you in a great position to authentically say to your customer, “I get where you are coming from. Perhaps I should give you some time to think about how I can help you. Give me a call when you are ready.” You will find your customer really appreciates this approach.

Know you Goal Posts

Once you have convinced your customer you are listening to them and want to understand their perspective; you need to know what you can or can’t commit too. Think of these as your goal posts. You have a best case and worst case outcome for any deal with a customer. Your toughest customer will push you hardest to try and get you to commit to a deal in their favour. Staying within your goal posts will stop you from committing to a deal not in your favour.

The sides of your goal post will vary differently for each and every sales person, the constant must be that you clearly understand what you can or can’t do. Tough customers want to deal with decision makers and if you need to run back to the boss and get his permission to make even the smallest decision then your tough customer will want to speak directly to your boss; not you. Once you have defined you goal posts it is easy for you to tell your customer that you can’t commit to that, however you can commit to this.

Try these tips out with your tough customer and let me know how you do. If you have a real life example I can help you with I would be happy to answer your questions.