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Difficult clients: how to deal with them. How to communicate and negotiate with difficult clients

Communication with a client is a delicate science; contact staff leaves the most important impression client about the company. If communication with your staff brought pleasure to the client, this can eliminate many of the disadvantages in your company or product. Conversely, one wrong word or intonation can deprive you of a client forever. Today we will talk about how to properly conduct a conversation with a client.

How to learn to speak correctly and beautifully

To begin with, I would like to say that there is no more valuable competency in life than the ability to speak correctly with people. Anytime life situation Communication skills will help a person. Unfortunately, society has now gone very far into online life and because of this, many people communicate little with each other. This prevents them from improving and developing their communication skills. Only true geniuses of their craft, whose work is so perfect that anyone can appreciate it, can achieve heights without this skill. The rest need to be able to build relationships with people, be able to make friends and be able to defend their point of view. History knows many examples when a genius could not gain the favor of society and his works were recognized years after his death. Unfortunately, even the most best idea you need to be able to present it beautifully to the public.

You can learn to speak correctly and beautifully only by constantly communicating with other people. This skill only develops through process. This article outlines tips and recommendations on what you should pay attention to first of all. But just reading the article will not force you to change your behavior; it is you who must do this. If you are a manager or business owner and want to influence the behavior of subordinates. Then only a clearly defined system will help you, it is usually called standards of communication with the client. And most importantly, these standards. The system itself will not force people to change their behavior.

Standards of communication with the client

Any self-respecting company should have a set of rules for communicating with clients. Which clearly states how dialogue can and cannot be conducted. For salespeople and contact personnel who solve the same problems, the easiest way is to write scripts and dialogue scripts. We've already talked about that, so let's discuss it general standards communication with the client. In fact, using the criteria described below, you can immediately determine whether a person knows how to speak correctly with a client.

Emotional attitude and openness to the client

Often the seller is in a bad mood and shows it to the client with all his appearance. Some employees have such an expression on their face that the client is simply afraid to approach them. There have been cases in my practice that the seller was minding his own business and did not pay attention to the client, and the client did not want to distract the seller, seeing that he was busy. It doesn’t matter who initiates the contact, it is important that the seller demonstrates that he is ready to help the client.

The client doesn't have to wait

Absolutely everyone is annoyed by waiting and the uncertainty associated with it. Often, for good reasons, we cannot promptly answer a client’s question; unfortunately, such situations cannot be avoided. The task of the contact staff is to help the client as quickly as possible. But if the client has to wait for a consultation, then it is important to show concern: say how long he will have to wait, offer options for how the client will spend this time, and apologize in advance about what happened. This applies not only to live communication, but also by phone or email.

Determine the contact initiator

Often companies do not think about who should initiate the contact, from the client or from the employee. Although this important criterion when creating communication scripts. In addition, these are fundamentally different customer service strategies. You've probably noticed that in some stores sellers actively approach you and immediately offer their help (Euroset, Eldorado, Tekhnosila), and in some, on the contrary, sellers stand and wait for you to call them (mediamarkt, Mvideo). Each strategy is good in its own way and has a right to exist.

Make contact correctly

Addressing the client by name

There is no sound sweeter than given name. This simple truth should be hammered home to all employees. The ability to call by name should be brought to complete automaticity. This will not happen quickly, but overall it will serve any person well.

Communicate in the same language with the client

If you need to explain something to a deaf-mute person, you will probably use sign language, take a pen and paper, or type on a computer or phone. But it’s unlikely that you will explain in words; I have often encountered deaf-mute people, there are a lot of them, and I know what I’m talking about. But unfortunately, when communicating with a client, an employee often chooses the language of terms and slang words which are not clear to the client. This is a big mistake, the only language worth using is . Every organization should have a list of properties and benefits, and how to tell all this to the client.

Don't lie

The worst thing an employee can do to a client is lie. You lose all the client’s trust in one moment and you will never get it back. Many times I have had to communicate with clients who were lied to by employees and the labor costs to return such a client to the company are very large.

Don't burden the client with your difficulties

For one reason or another, an employee may encounter various difficulties that hinder him. Remember that you should not tell the client about all the problems you encountered. At first, the client doesn’t care (if he does, he’ll ask himself), then big difficulties can scare the client away. I have often heard the phrase “well, if everything is so complicated, then I don’t need it.” All you have to do is apologize for the delay and, if possible, somehow compensate for the client’s losses.

Always do a little more than required

If a person receives more than he expected, then he becomes happy. This simple rule should be your motto. I read several articles on this topic. For example, vending machines selling hawthorn tincture have now become popular; for those who are not in the know, this cheap substitute vodka. So, these machines are configured so that sometimes they dispense 2 bottles instead of one, this allows you to create a stir and start word of mouth among the target audience.

The ability to say goodbye

Few people think about how important it is to say goodbye to a person correctly. There are actually two good reasons to do this right:

The effect of not long ago - after parting with you, a person thinks about your last phrases, what happened in the middle of the dialogue is remembered less often. If you say goodbye positively, the client can forget the troubles that he encountered during the communication process;
Your psychological attitude for further activities. If the breakup was positive, then it will be easier for you to tune in to the next positive contact. Even if the dialogue was not simple, what was psychologically important was what happened at the end. I emphasized this idea from Wolf and him.

Saying goodbye is not as difficult as it seems. For example, I always wish everyone Have a good day or evenings. If you do this sincerely, then the person is grateful to you and is pleased that you are thinking about his future fate. If there were unpleasant moments in the dialogue, you can apologize again. For example: for the time spent, for the work of another employee, or simply for the current situation. It is important to demonstrate to the client that the client is dear to you personally and is pleasant as an interlocutor.

How to resist arrogance and rudeness

Unfortunately, the culture of our society is not as high as we would like. Working in the service sector, you will often encounter arrogance, rudeness, inappropriate behavior, and sometimes aggression. First you need to learn to take this for granted and stop being surprised by this behavior. This will give you the opportunity to learn to demonstrate to your interlocutor that you are not affected by his behavior. The roots of rudeness and arrogance go back to a person’s childhood and upbringing; it is impossible to change his behavior pattern. The most correct behavior there will be a demonstration that this behavior does not work with you and the person himself will restructure himself to conduct a dialogue with you in a constructive manner. How to do this? There are several options that can be used depending on the situation.

If you are approached in a rude manner, you may not notice or ignore the request. In general, a policy of completely ignoring inappropriate behavior can often help;
You can quickly ask a rhetorical question. The goal is to unsettle the manipulator, make him think and thereby seize the initiative;
Laugh it off. Often a boor does not expect you to laugh, he expects your resentment and anger. Hearing laughter, he is lost;
Astonishment. You can show your disappointment in the person as an interlocutor. Try to shame him by saying a general phrase like “yes, I see the language of Chekhov and Dostoevsky died a long time ago.” I’ll say right away that this tactic will only work if you are being rude not out of malice (this also happens), this trick will not work with boors, manipulators and insolent people.

If you have to interact with clients in the course of your work, you need to be prepared for the fact that sooner or later you will come across difficult clients. It is psychologically difficult to work with them, but it is impossible not to work - refusal to work can sometimes lead to the loss of not only money, but also reputation. How to work with difficult clients?

In fact, everyone has their own difficult clients. Based on which clients you consider “difficult,” you can determine what you need to work on. Some people succumb to rudeness and aggression, while others are at a loss when they need to help an indecisive client make a choice. Plus, every type of business has its difficult clients, and this “difficulty” is determined precisely by its specifics.

But while difficult clients can be very different, there are a few general rules for dealing with such clients. When communicating with a client, you need to maintain a neutral-friendly tone, no matter in what tone they address you. This can be difficult, especially if the client is yelling at you or simply acting as if he is the king and you are the lackey. But still, try not to lose your temper; restraint is one of the indicators of professionalism.

It is very important to maintain a golden mean here. Excessive restraint may be perceived by the client as indifference: He will think that you don't care about him. And goodwill does not necessarily have to be accompanied by a smile: often difficult clients perceive a smile as a mockery, thinking that you are laughing at them. The ideal strategy for dealing with difficult clients is developed with experience.

A potential conflict with a client must be suppressed at the moment of its inception. Calm down and understand one thing: you and the client are not on the same page different sides barricades. There is a problem that you need to solve together by reaching a consensus. Difficult clients- not your enemies; they are your potential allies that you need to win over to your side. You need to understand this yourself and make it clear to the client.

In a conversation, be sure to agree with the sound thoughts that the client expresses, but at the same time gently guide the conversation in the direction you need. If you need to object to a client, do not do it directly. First agree, and only then object: “I agree with you as far as..., however, I want to note that...”. Put yourself in the client's shoes, understand his needs and build a communication strategy based on this. Remember: your job is to help the client, no matter what.

What should you never do when dealing with difficult clients?

act like clients, responding to rudeness with rudeness;
try to convince the client “in one fell swoop”: he will not agree with you on principle;
try to put the client in his place, demonstrating his superiority;
automatically accept blame: perhaps you are not to blame for anything;
automatically blame the client: perhaps he is not to blame for anything;
try to “spin” the client into sympathy.

Sometimes it actually turns out that Difficult clients are just an excuse for the lack of professionalism of those who work with them. Therefore, it is very important to be able to look at yourself from the outside: why do you experience difficulties working with this or that type of client? Perhaps, having dealt with your own problems, you will suddenly find out that there are much fewer difficult clients.

If you work with clients, you need to accept the fact that difficult clients are an indispensable attribute of your professional activity. Just don’t take interactions with them to heart and don’t give in to personal likes and dislikes. Your job is to solve it successfully professional question, but the client will not like it. After all, you can't please everyone.

But if you successfully help a difficult client, you will be rewarded handsomely: sometimes the most loyal repeat customers are former difficult customers who gained confidence in the seller because he did not succumb to provocations and was able to help them.

Hello! In this article we will talk about how to conduct the first meeting with a client so that it develops into long-term cooperation.

Today you will learn:

What are the stages of meeting with a client?
How to prepare for upcoming negotiations;
A few tricks business etiquette that will help you quickly establish contact with a potential client.

The importance of the first meeting and its purpose

For a person who, as he fulfills his job responsibilities must find new clients and meet with them, the first meeting is of great importance. The signing of the contract and, most often, the size depend on how successfully the negotiations go. Therefore, such an event must be approached very responsibly.

When going to negotiations with a client, you must understand that the first meeting does not always end with the signing of a contract for close cooperation. This is only the first step towards a successful business relationship.

When meeting with a potential client for the first time, you first of all need to pursue the following goals:

Determine whether the client is promising and ready to cooperate;
Form the primary needs of the interlocutor;
Decide on the range of goods and services that are of interest to the client;
Offer to use free product samples (samples);
Ask your interlocutor to express his opinion about the product you are offering.

The main purpose of the meeting is not to sell the product, but to sell yourself. You must do everything in your power to achieve goodwill and interest from the client.

Preparing for a meeting with a client

In order for the first negotiations to be successful, it is necessary to carefully prepare for them. You'll have to think through all the details. You should not rely on yourself to find your way around. You need to be prepared for anything. To do this, you will have to develop several plans for the development of events.

All preparation can be divided into 2 stages - informational and organizational.

Information stage

Before planning a meeting, you should collect as much information as possible about your potential client.

Firstly, collect information about the field of activity of your future interlocutor. Read more specialized literature, try to remember as many specific terms as possible that may be useful during the conversation.

Secondly, go to the website of the organization that the client represents and familiarize yourself with its contents. Study the management team and analyze all available information.

Thirdly, take an interest in the activities of competitors, as well as their possible offers. Thanks to this, you will be able to offer your interlocutor more favorable terms of cooperation.

Fourth, thoroughly study the product you offer. You must know every detail about the products or services that you offer to the client. If you cannot adequately present your product at the upcoming negotiations, then it is unlikely that anyone will want to deal with such an inexperienced employee.

Organizational stage

At this stage, you should start organizing the upcoming meeting. First you need to assign it.

To do this, call your potential client and find out where, when and at what time it would be convenient for him to meet with you. Set specific dates. When arranging a meeting, take into account the wishes of the interlocutor.

Let's look at examples of meeting locations.

Client territory	This is most often the client's office. It is possible to prepare for such a meeting, but most often you have to act according to circumstances
Your territory	This could be yours personal account, or meeting room. You should not make appointments in a room where there are many prying eyes and you may be distracted. Under no circumstances should you start negotiations in the corridors or on the way somewhere
Neutral territory	This could be a rented conference room or extreme case quiet coffee shop. Never have a meeting in a restaurant. You and the client will have to be distracted by food and wait for someone to chew the food. Keep meals separate from business meetings.

Any meeting place should be quiet and uncrowded.

After the client has accepted the offer of a meeting, it is necessary to thoroughly prepare for it. Think about what gadgets and demo materials you will need.

You must have with you:

A diary or business notebook in which you will write down information that you think is important;
Business cards – should be meaningful, but at the same time concise;
Pen;
Blank sheets of paper (if the meeting takes place in a coffee shop and the client does not have a diary at hand);
Blank contracts, questionnaires or order forms (in case you organize the right meeting and the client immediately wants to conclude an agreement);
Advertising brochures - the client needs to be presented with visual information, and not talk about the product “on fingers”.

Having prepared the necessary attributes for negotiations, you must prepare yourself. As the proverb says, “People are greeted by their clothes...”, so your appearance may play a key role.

When going to an appointment, you should:

Find it in your wardrobe business clothes. This could be a suit + shirt + tie. Or a suit and turtleneck. Women can wear a skirt and blouse or pantsuit. You should feel comfortable in these clothes.
Refuse extravagant, ultra-modern and provocative outfits.
Tidy your hands and hair. Women's makeup should not be bright and provocative.
Pay attention to your shoes and clean them if necessary.
Refuse cheap accessories and fakes famous brands. Many wealthy people at first glance distinguish cheap Chinese counterfeits of watches, lighters and other accessories from the original. If you cannot afford expensive branded items, then it is better to abandon them completely.

Step-by-step instructions or meeting script

You, as a person who wants to negotiate, need to understand that preparation alone is not enough for successful negotiations. You should be familiar with meeting protocol and basic business etiquette.

We have compiled an action algorithm for you, thanks to which the first meeting with the client will take place on top level, and the best impressions will remain about you as a specialist.

Enter the office. If you are meeting with a client in his office, and your arrival has been reported, enter the office by knocking. You do not need to ask permission to log in again.
If the meeting takes place on neutral territory, then you need to arrive 5-10 minutes before the appointed time.
Greet the client. Say hello using your first name and patronymic.

At the client's premises, the client should be the first to extend his hand to greet. If he did not do this, then the handshake does not occur.
In your territory, you are obligated to extend your hand first.
In a coffee shop, men extend their hands to women, older ones to younger ones.

Exchange business cards. Business card must be handed over in person. If a client offers you his business card, you should definitely read it out loud. You can't put it in your pocket without looking and familiarizing yourself with it.
Sit on the chair. If the negotiations are taking place in the client’s office, then wait until you are asked to sit down. If you don’t receive an offer, ask where you can sit. If the meeting is taking place on neutral territory, then there is no need to wait for an invitation to take a chair.
Start a conversation. It is necessary to start negotiations with abstract topics. It's best if you give a compliment to the client's company. Only he must be sincere. Do not touch on topics related to religion, politics, or sports interests. It is also better to refrain from banal topics about the weather and the beautiful interior of the office.
After talking on general topics, proceed to staging situational issues. Start asking them carefully, “testing the waters.”
Then move on to more serious ones problematic issues and suggest ways to solve the identified problems. Make a short forecast for future cooperation.
If the client wishes, you can sign a cooperation agreement. But don't insist on it. Very often a person needs to “digest” the information received.
It is better to end the meeting with an agreement on the date and time of the next meeting. Even if it turns out that the client is not interested, still ask him to meet with you again.
Say goodbye to your interlocutor, thank you for your time and leave the room.
After the negotiations, write down the most important things in your diary important points and meeting details.

There are situations when a meeting is prepared and organized at the highest level, and everything goes great, but at some point something happens and the client withdraws into himself. After which the negotiations cannot be considered successful.

Most likely, some mistake was made that played a decisive role.

To eliminate the possibility of such a scenario developing, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the following recommendations and always adhere to them:

Disable mobile phone. Calls will distract you in every possible way, and if you decide to pick up the phone in the middle of negotiations, then you will show disrespect for your interlocutor.
Don't try to smoke.
If a client offers you tea, coffee or water, then opt for water. After asking for coffee, you will receive several more questions (for example, how many spoons of sugar to put in or what kind of coffee you prefer). They will distract you and take up valuable time.
Look your interlocutor straight in the eye. You must make eye contact.
During negotiations, periodically make notes and notes.
Don't fawn or fawn. Behave with dignity; this is the only way the client will treat you as an equal.
Let the client know that you respect his interlocutor’s opinion and are ready to defend his interests.

Conclusion

The first meeting is a serious and important stage on the path to long-term cooperation. Often it is she who decides the fate of future business relations. Therefore, the organizer of such a meeting faces a difficult task - to prepare, organize and conduct the upcoming negotiations at the highest level.

Customers are the people who bring money into your company. Those who work with clients as part of their job have repeatedly experienced the truth of the statement “the customer is always right.” And quite often situations arise when the client is dissatisfied with the product, service, price, etc. But the conflict must be neutralized and done in such a way that the client is satisfied and remains regular customer, and so that not only the company’s image, but also its finances do not suffer.

You need to be able to do this correctly and competently, and for this you need to know the special laws governing the psychology of the client-seller relationship.

Consider a situation where the client is not only dissatisfied, but also very upset and even angry. Here are some tips, following which you can correct the situation with minimal losses both for the company and for yourself personally.

For example, the client makes reasonable claims, but it is not your personal fault for what happened. Either resolving this issue is not part of your responsibilities, or your colleague made a mistake. But an angry client came on your shift and addresses you personally. The first thing you shouldn’t do is get annoyed in response. If you feel boiling inside negative emotions, give yourself one or two minutes to calm down. To do this, apologize and say that you need to go out for two minutes to resolve the client’s issue. In a secluded corner, take a deep breath, express everything you think about all clients at once and specifically about this one, only when you feel that the irritation has subsided - go back to your workplace. During this time, the client will also cool down. After such auto-training, the conversation will be much calmer, and therefore more constructive. After all, a conversation with a client should not develop into an argument, much less a quarrel. Even if you are absolutely not to blame for what happened, you should not insist on this in a conversation with an angry client, because, in fact, he did not come to you personally, but to the company, and in his eyes you are an authorized representative of the company that offended him. Therefore, the client does not care whose fault it is in what happened, and it will be his absence that will have to be sorted out, but in this acute moment we need to deal with his claims and, if not satisfy them, then at least reassure the client. During the conversation, it will become clear who exactly is to blame for what happened, emphasize it in the conversation and make it clear that the culprit will be severely punished. This usually cools the ardor of zealous seekers of justice.

The next step is to find a solution to the problem and a compromise. If it is within your power, exchange the product for another one and return the money. If this exceeds your authority, then call someone who can resolve this issue or take the client to him. In any case, your task is to show that you care about the client’s problem, you want to solve it as quickly and efficiently as possible, that you are striving to satisfy the client’s needs, and not get rid of him at any cost. Talk to the client only about business, do not discuss his personal qualities and opinions, and in no case get personal. No matter how angry the client is, you must be calm and friendly. Even if he screams, do not do the same, but calmly ask him not to scream, because in a nervous environment you cannot accurately understand his complaints and, accordingly, respond to them as the client needs - this should moderate his ardor. Remember that you represent a company, and your behavior is its face, its image. If the client begins to use words and phrases in the conversation that offend you personally, then in a cold but calm voice say that you do not want to talk in such a tone and on personal topics, and if he wants to talk about his problem, then you are ready to listen to him in in a calm and constructive manner.

If you have to work with clients, then imagine yourself in advance in the place of a client who is dissatisfied with the work for which he paid money. How would you behave in this case? What words and arguments would you use? Would you behave calmly and adequately? Do you often think about the mental comfort of a store employee or telecom operator if we're talking about about your wasted money, about your violated rights. After all, in just half an hour you can find yourself on the other side of the barricades, having received cold coffee in a nearby cafe. Of course, it’s nice to communicate even over controversial issues with calm and balanced people, but there are also ill-mannered and evil people, do not be like them.

If communication with clients takes place in support mode through emails or Skype, try to communicate with people on the phone as much as possible. Thanks to live speech, capable of conveying intonation and nuances, you can achieve much more than through indifferent letters on a monitor. The Internet won't convey all the emotional subtleties that an aggrieved customer wants to convey to you, and your messages may seem callous and uncaring. Often words that are not supported by intonation receive a distorted, inaccurate meaning at the other end of the line. Therefore, if a conflict situation arises, the best way out would be phone call and calm discussion of the problem with a live voice. Listen carefully, without interrupting, to his interpretation of the situation, complaints and proposals for solving the problem. If possible, explain why the problem occurred. If the company is indeed at fault, apologize and assure the client that everything will be corrected in due course. as soon as possible. After the conversation, do everything in your power to make this really happen, even if it means spending your personal time and resources. Remember the importance human communication. If conflict situation is resolved with your help, then the client will not only remain with your company, but in the future will turn to you as a person he trusts. Such employees, who attract customers and make them permanent, have always been valued, and therefore your status in the company will become more significant. And in the future, this will open up career growth and bring higher income. Therefore, when starting a conversation with conflicting clients, think about what is more priority for you - to show yourself as a professional or to put the person in his place. The second is unlikely to give any constructive result, especially since in most cases the clients’ demands are fair. And even if this is not the case, convincing the client that the company is right and at the same time leaving him satisfied and making him permanent is the highest aerobatics of working with clients. Show that you can do it.

There is a direct relationship between the degree of trust clients have in your company and in you personally and the number of complaints they make. Therefore, initially you need to win their trust, prove your authority in the business niche you occupy, then, even if you make a mistake, clients will be much more lenient about it, and the conversation will be conducted in a calm, constructive manner. And the problems will be solved much faster, and with minimal losses for finances, authority and nerves. A company that has long and firmly established itself in the market rarely receives customer dissatisfaction. And accordingly, her employee, who has already earned a reputation as a professional, rarely encounters dissatisfied clients. If an unfortunate and rare mistake happens, then regular clients, knowing his capabilities and experience, will most likely forgive him or not even notice him. And if they notice, they will most likely blame it on their own ignorance of the intricacies of the matter.

But if a dissatisfied client is a frequent occurrence, then, first of all, pay attention to the quality of your work. Analyze your mistakes and pay attention to them special attention and work on the mistakes. It is stupid to accuse clients of being overly demanding - they pay money and for it they want to receive the expected level of quality and speed of work. You can lower the price to the level of your professionalism, but this is a dead-end solution. There is only one way out - to study, improve in the chosen industry, acquire skills and learn new things. And over time, you will not only forget about the existence of dissatisfied customers, but also become an indisputable authority for them.

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I noticed that articles about how to speak on the phone correctly and in general, behave with the client. Therefore, I decided to write another article on this topic. We all go to meetings. Some more often, some less often. And the question constantly arises: how should one behave? How to respond to a potential client's behavior? How to “sell” them your idea, product, service? This is exactly what this article will discuss.

I am sure that one should always behave with dignity, regardless of the client himself. I'm sure these are 10 simple principles will help you conclude successful deals and increase your status in the eyes of any client, even if they haven’t bought anything now. But the goal of a good sales manager is not to sell here and now, and then come what may. The goal of a good salesperson is to build long-term, trusting relationships. So these are the principles.

1. Be on time for meetings.

Of course, you say. What's new here? This goes without saying. That’s how it is, but you can’t imagine how few people follow this simple rule. You can always refer to traffic jams, urgent matters, unforeseen circumstances. That’s how it is, but it shouldn’t concern your client. Is there a chance of getting stuck in a traffic jam? Leave early. For an hour. For two. It's all your problem, but if you promised to be at 10.00, be there at 9.55.

By the way, on time – I mean +/-5 minutes. It’s also not worth arriving an hour early. If you arrive early, take a walk around or sit in a cafe if the weather doesn’t allow it. After all, the person you came to meet with may also be busy. Of course, everything depends on the relationship with this company and this particular person. But we are considering general rules, and they say - come exactly when you are expected. Namely, for the time agreed upon.

2. Don't wait too long

So, you came to the meeting on time. And the secretary tells you that there is a meeting now and you need to wait a little. The situation is not easy. I usually wait 10-15 minutes, and then tell the secretary that in 15 minutes I need to leave, and if I can’t meet with you, I need to reschedule the meeting.

Of course there are different situations, agree. But still, if you don’t respect yourself and your time, why will the client respect you? There are other motives here. If you can be made to wait, then in the future you can also delay your payment, the shipment of goods, and in general, you will wait.

You cannot put yourself in such a situation. The client must understand that you did not just come, you had an agreed upon time. This rather puts the client in a negative light. Of course, this does not mean that you need to leave and slam doors. You need to make it clear that you still have meetings, apologize that this happened and find out when you can come next time so that your client is free.

3. Don't let people talk down to you

The client’s favorite “trick” is to show that they are awesome, and just the fact that they are meeting with you is already a big favor. This is especially true for large clients. Many people, especially young people, immediately “settle” when they hear such an arrogant tone (on an intuitive level). Well, there’s also psychological pressure - you came to SUCH a cool company, SUCH a person talks to you, and what about you? You are nothing...

I'll tell you a story. When I just graduated from university, as I already wrote, I worked in the marketing department of a real estate agency. And here on New Year, we decided to hold a promotion - gifts from Foxtrot to each client for approximately $100 (standard trick: buy an apartment, get a kettle as a gift). I came, waited for half an hour, and such a scary AUNT came out to me, and with an expression like “Who are you, boy? We - largest network in Ukraine, and you opened a couple of months ago. In short, I went into the field.” Well, I went and, of course, in upset feelings I called the founders...

After 2 days they called me back, invited me, and silently accepted all the conditions. And although they looked at me with an incendiary gaze, everything went fine.

The essence of this fable is this: throw everything away negative thoughts. Firstly, for every large company there is always an even larger one. Secondly, this particular person is not the founder, not the owner, or even a TOP manager, but a simple hired worker. And you are an expert in your field. Respect yourself, put aside arrogance, and answer all the client’s criticisms clearly and reasonably (more on this later).

4. Keep in mind the main thing - you are not asking for money, but want to solve the client’s problems

The main problem I encountered at meetings was that clients for some reason thought that I had come to ask them for money new car(or bicycle). You must immediately explain that you are not asking for anything and that you actually came to solve the client’s problem for a reasonable (read justified) money.

This is especially difficult in areas with a small markup. In particular, contextual advertising. The client is sure that you simply put the money he pays you into your pocket. On average in the market, the markup is 10%. Those. having paid you, say, 1000 dollars, your income will be only 100. The client is sure that he has just fed your pocket for the entire 1000. In this case, you should focus not on what the client gives, but on the fact that he receives. That is, say specifically - these are 2000 targeted, interested potential clients on your website. Moreover, with the help of analytics we can analyze their behavior and find out their strengths and weaknesses.

Another example is consulting (marketing, legal, medical). Here, in general, the client thinks that he is paying for air. Therefore, in in this case it is important to focus on something real and significant: a set of specific recommendations, a list of laws with transcripts, detailed description diseases and list of medications.

5. You are a professional in your field, and you know better how to do it

The client’s favorite trick is to invite you and start teaching you how and what. You should perceive the client's wishes as recommendations, and not a direct guide to action. Remember that you are a professional, and that is why the client plans to cooperate with you.

It often happens that a client imposes his wrong ideas on you. Don’t be afraid to object to him, but only with reason. You will say, yes, the idea is clear, but I think we will do it this way and that, because...
You shouldn’t completely ignore everything they tell you, but doing it 1-on-1 is also extremely dangerous.

6. Come to the meeting prepared

A common mistake is to come to a meeting, get acquainted and just talk. You know where you are going, what is expected of you, and, of course, you know your services and costs. Therefore, during a meeting, even the first one, you must give the client more or less specific answers on price, terms and other conditions. Of course, this should not be the final price. But general idea, nevertheless, the client must receive.

Now, thanks to the Internet, you can find a lot of information about almost any company. Therefore, do not be lazy, try to find out in advance what kind of company it is, its position in the market, customer reviews, main services, promotional materials, etc. All this will be your trump card at the meeting.

7. “Yes, we have worked with similar companies”

The favorite question of a client who wants to catch you is: “Do you have experience with similar projects?” At the same time, everyone hints at something different - uniqueness in their industry, the size of the company, the peculiarity of the field, etc. It might look like this:

– Well, have you previously made websites for the production of children's green cubes measuring 3 by 3? - hints at its uniqueness and complexity of production. Your answer - yes, we made a website for a toy store, which also included cubes;
– Have you worked with large retail portals before? - in this case, the client hints that they are very large and he doubts your professionalism. Your answer is yes, just last month we worked with the AAA portal, whose average daily traffic exceeded 150,000 per day.

Your goal in this case is to show the client that you understand the topic and try to translate it into a plane that is familiar to you. Or by the proximity of topics, or by the size of the company, or by some other criterion.
In general, be sure to have some samples or portfolio with you.

8. Don’t get involved with “compensation”

Let's move on to the gray side of advertising power. In this business, it is quite common to reward managers for choosing you as a contractor (the so-called compensation). Moreover, there are terrible numbers, up to 30-50% of the entire budget.

I admit honestly, at the very beginning, when I was just starting out, and profit was not particularly important to me, but first of all I needed turnover and solid clients in my portfolio, I contacted several very large companies on such conditions. But over time, their appetites grew, along with their demands. Overall, they were pleased with the work. But we are not very good. Despite the enormous amount of work, we worked from scratch (all profits went to “rewards”). We couldn’t break the contract ourselves, but all levels of managers were satisfied with the clients (some with a bonus, some with work). As a result, we had to sharply increase the price several times, and then the clients left on their own. Since then I have not contacted anyone and do not recommend it to anyone.

First, it has a negative impact on you and the market. Secondly, if something happens, you will be the last one.

9. Think a hundred times before subscribing to the State Order

I give this advice purely out of good intentions. With orders from state or municipal services, everything is very complicated. You must understand that in our country almost every official has his own interest in any matter. Most often, contracts are awarded to related companies. Therefore, if they unexpectedly contact you, look for a catch. Perhaps they need someone to blame for a failure (which ALREADY happened), or to show how poorly you work, but that company (where the director is the son of this official) works great.

Well, or the same huge compensation. In any case, you need to be very careful here. Consider yourself running on minefield. At night. Drunk. From a sniper.

10. Believe in yourself and the quality of your work

And the last thing I would like to advise you. Go to a meeting with a client at good mood. Consider the meeting not as a danger, but solely as an opportunity: a new client, an interesting acquaintance, invaluable experience.

In addition, be confident in your abilities, the quality of your services, and the adequacy of your prices. Sometimes it happens that a manager, when offering services, seems to apologize. Like, sorry it's so expensive. Or, sorry that we are disrupting your supplies. You can't do that. You need to KNOW that your services are of high quality, and that these services are WORTH the money.