One out of every six buyers turns into a problem customer, research shows. But if salespeople handle difficult buyers with a mix of the following tactics, they’ll become your best, most loyal customers.

Reproduce this list of tactics, and hand it out at your next sales meeting.

• Neutralize your emotions. Dealing with difficult people can be an emotional challenge. The more emotional you are, the less rational you behave. The more your emotions are in check, the better your chances become of creating a positive outcome.
• Don’t take their behavior personally. These customers haven’t singled you out of the crowd as the one they want to treat poorly. They probably treat all salespeople this way. It says more about them than about you. Separate the behavior from the person.
• Don’t let their negativity dictate your response. Negativity can spread quickly, which is why it’s essential that you do not allow yourself to be drawn into their game.
• Give yourself time to respond. Listen patiently. Take the time to understand why the customer’s emotions are running high before you respond.
• Seek information. Dig for the facts. Find out all you can about the customer’s problems, needs, interests and goals. Your awareness of these things will help you create acceptable solutions to unreasonable demands.
• Anticipate and prepare for as many obstacles and objections as possible. Before you decide to contact a difficult customer, try to predict what they’re going to say and prepare several responses in advance.
• Look for reinforcement. It’s a good idea to end your statements with questions that ask customers to reinforcement your opinions, such as “Does that make sense?” or “Don’t you agree?”
• Handle the situation with a calm, “let’s solve the problem” approach. Even extremely difficult people tend to warm up to salespeople who genuinely want to help them solve their problems.
• Offer a range of options. Salespeople should have a few short-term solutions that they can offer to upset customers. This lets customers have a say in how the situation will get corrected. Plus, it gives them greater personal stake in the outcome. Examples:  “We can have the replacement parts at your door Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. What works best for you?” or “I can reschedule the service or credit your account toward the next purchase. Which would you prefer?”

Training tip: Ask your salespeople to share a story about a time they successfully defused an upset customer. What did they do?

Now ask salespeople to identify their most difficult customers, and discuss the different techniques your people could use when dealing with them.

Other questions to ask

Some other topics worth discussing:

• What have your salespeople done to maintain relationships when difficult buyers make tough situations worse?
• Has fixing a problem helped to strengthen the relationship?
• Do your salespeople think customers view their relationship with your company any differently after an issue’s been resolved?

Another idea: Make up a problem that could occur in your industry that could upset a customer, and ask each salesperson how he or she would handle it.

Tags: dealing wtih difficult people, difficult customers, research, sales meeting, training