Do you have THE client from hell?

Of course you do! - This is a loaded question because I know that every salesperson on the planet at some point has a client from hell. I know that you have a client that you dread talking to, the client that every time they come on the phone you wonder what attracted you into sales in the first place? The client, who no matter what you try to do, is always a pain to deal with.

So if we all have difficult clients what is the best way of dealing with them? Because like it or not the chances are you are going to have to deal with them. In fact Murphy's Law says they are probably very, very important to your business so telling them to go away is not an option!

The first question to ask yourself is:

“Are they like that with everyone in their lives?”

The chances are that the answer is a resounding NO! I very much doubt that they behave that way with their nearest and dearest and other people that are close to them. So this means that they are behaving like this because they are getting some sort of benefit, either at a conscious or an unconscious level, and really importantly, it usually has nothing to do with you as they behave that way with every salesperson that they come across! They have found that by behaving this way they are getting something they want; it could be attention, recognition, a feeling of importance, or for many other reasons. From a purely psychological point of view people will only do things that give them some sort of positive benefit. They will only change this behaviour when they can get the same or greater benefit by doing something different.

This means that the good news is if we can find out what the benefit is that they are getting from behaving this way then we can help them to discover new ways of behaving and in so doing rapidly increase our sales performance.

To achieve this we have to approach these clients with a completely different mindset to previous meetings. Instead of thinking that they are the client from hell and someone that we hate to deal with, we need to put our detectives hat on and approach them with the view that we are going to find out what is the key driver for them behind this behaviour.

A really useful tool to help you in this quest is having the ability to be able to put yourself in the shoes of your clients and see the world from their perspective. In fact the American Indians have a saying for this process and that is:

"To walk a mile in someone else's moccasins."

So how do you get into their moccasins?

You need to sit down with a blank piece of paper and pen and imagine that you are sitting opposite this difficult client and looking across the table at your "client" write down the answers to the following questions:

What makes it difficult?
What are you thinking and feeling in this relationship?
If you feel challenged, where does this challenge come from?
Is it about your behaviour?
Do you feel your skills and competence are being challenged?
Do you think your beliefs and values are being challenged?

Once you have all the details then imagine yourself floating up out of your body across the table and down into the body of your client, (if it helps you could actually physically get up, walk around and sit on the other side of the table.) When you are happy that you have actually "become" your client sit and imagine that you are seeing an imaginary you as a salesperson sitting opposite. Then taking your pen and paper again write down the answer to the same questions, but from the clients point of view.

Once you have both sets of answers try to identify what you believe is the key driver to your troublesome client's behaviour and then armed with this new insight decide on your new approach.

Now, I know that this sounds a little strange, but what I would say is don't knock it until you have tried it - So go on give it a go, as after all you only have the awful relationship with your client from hell to lose!

In the Successful Sales Club you can find more information about advanced communication skills, sales psychology and NLP (neuro-linguistic programming).