169: Dealing With Really Tough And Mean Questions From Clients

<p> </p> <p>Dealing With Really Tough and Mean Questions From Clients</p> <p> </p> <p>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.</p> <p> </p> <p>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.</p> <p> </p> <p>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