Dealing effectively with difficult clients. Excellent service: how to deal with "difficult", dissatisfied customers

You have to fight for the client. The client must be retained at any cost. There is no business without customers. All these are obvious things, common truths. Not to mention the proverbial “customer is always right”. Entrepreneurs repeat it all like mantras. Meanwhile, everyone will surely remember such a client whom one does not want to keep and please at all. And I want, on the contrary, that he disappears somewhere and never again crosses the threshold of your office. The types of complex clients are different, but they have one thing in common: they are able to send any, even the most experienced entrepreneur into a stupor, and completely discourage the desire to do business with them.

A “difficult client” is not necessarily one who is slow to pay or is not at all inclined to pay. These types are usually immediately noticeable: "word of mouth" quickly spreads the word about them. But what if the client has no problems with finances, but it is incredibly difficult to work with him and it is almost impossible to establish a dialogue? Still holding on? Break up despite inevitable losses? Or is it possible to find suitable methods of working even with the most "difficult" partner?

- Clients need to be able to "fire". Such skill is a sign of a mature businessman. Aspiring entrepreneurs tend to "cling" to any deal. And the experienced ones understand that a “difficult” client takes more from them than it brings, even if outwardly this does not seem to be the case.

"Thirst" with the help of experts made the top 6 most difficult partners. But whether it is worth working with difficult clients is up to you, of course.

Learn at a glance

Some "difficult" clients are easy to spot almost immediately. Accordingly, and outline the algorithm of behavior with them. Here are the most common types of "anti-clients".

1. Always dissatisfied

It is easy to recognize a client whom no one in this life has been able to please already at the first communication, when negotiations have just begun.

He speaks negatively about everyone he has worked with. You can “provoke” him to reviews about goods and services similar to yours, which he received in another company: ask what he liked, what he didn’t like. If he is categorically not satisfied with anything anywhere, it is not worth cooperating with him. In the same way, he will then respond to you. Just ruin your reputation. Don't even start working with him!

What to do?

Ms. Ivannikova is sure that such a popular technique as “correct refusal” will work in this situation: “Start with “separation of roles”: support him humanly, sympathize that he did not find what he was looking for. But delicately evade the deal: for example, designate such deadlines for the implementation of the contract that are a priori unacceptable for him. So at the same time you will deprive him of a reason to sharply criticize you: after all, you tried to do everything you could.

2. "Old acquaintance"

He does not just wait, but demands privileges for himself. No, not because he buys your product in bulk every week. And, for example, because he has been using the services of your company for a very long time: you, so to speak, "grew up together." Nothing else was noted.

Olga Grishchenko: “Clients who demand special conditions simply for “length of service” are not uncommon. However, they pose a significant threat to business. And the danger is that these “special conditions” are seen by other clients. Some will demand the same for themselves. And someone will doubt the honesty of your work. In both cases, nothing good.

What to do?

With such a partner, the expert believes, it is worth talking over, explaining that you are doing business on transparent terms, the same for everyone and dictated by realities modern market rather than the one that was five years ago. “If he is not ready to accept this, it is better to part with him, otherwise you will lose other clients and lead your business to collapse,” says Ms. Grishchenko.

3. Fisted

This one immediately begins to demand discounts, without even getting to know you, your company, its products and not evaluating the result that your work can bring to him. His first question is “Why is it so expensive?” even if it really isn’t. In addition, he may refuse to work on an advance payment, and offer to break the order into a dozen stages and pay each separately upon completion. It is possible that in the middle of this process, there will still be “pressure” on the need to drop the price - for example, for a minor flaw made at this intermediate stage, and here you can hardly refuse.

What to do?

- There can be one objection here: each product has its own price, which consists of many things, and “fast, high-quality and cheap” does not happen at the same time. Try, as far as possible, calmly and rationally, with numbers in your hands, to tell the stingy client why your services cost so much, and not less. Actually, this is the only way to continue cooperation with him.

4. Vampire Client

Before you can fulfill his order in the way that he likes, they will drink all the juices out of you. You will endlessly finish something, remake, offer different variants performing the same job - he meticulously determines the best, but not immediately, and before that you will have to listen to a lot of comments. In general, you will no longer be happy to pay for the order - this type has exhausted you so much.

Olga Grishchenko: “At the same time, you can recognize a “vampire” client at the very beginning. For example, he loves very much to be “proved” that he is worthy of fulfilling his order. For completely professional companies with an established reputation and extensive experience, he arranges “competitive selections”, “testing”, at the start he dictates to professionals what to do. That is, he immediately takes a position "from above" - ​​he will choose and decide. Whereas an adequate client will simply come to a company known to him, which he trusts, and place an order there.

What to do?

Olga Grishchenko: “In principle, if you are an experienced negotiator, you can try to reach an equality of positions. For example, through the promotion of counter working conditions. Both related and not actually related to its payment. But, if it was not possible to do this, it is better to part with such a client. Do not forget that you will spend three times as much time on it than in the usual case. And that means you will lose money. You can work with a “vampire” only if you include very good additional funds in the cost of the order - knowing how cooperation with him will turn out.”

5. Freeloader

This one is not going to pay you at all. All or very much he intends to receive for free.

Evgeny Zhigalov: “It is not difficult to calculate a freeloader. Immediately should alert such, for example, phrases: “Yes, everything is easy right there!”; “You have five minutes to do here”; “But I can’t pay you for every call (meaning a telephone consultation), but I won’t pay in advance, suddenly it won’t be needed”; “Yes, I don’t need anything complicated, just a little consultation, a document, a contract, a report.” A bad sign is reasoning about how bad everything is: about the global crisis, about the fact that buyers do not pay, the former partners “took the documents and disappeared”, and therefore he is all in debt, but soon everything will work out. But if things are that bad, how much money is he going to pay you out of? Another indicator is grandiose plans, directly Napoleonic. At the same time, you are asked to wait with payment until the execution of these plans. Another option is when you agree on the amount and terms of payment, and instead of giving specific numbers, they say: "Don't worry, I won't offend you."

He likes a freeloader and "testing" - for example, he can ask an accounting company to make him a quarterly "report" with real numbers - and if everything suits him, he will pay. Needless to say, he will categorically not like the result ...

What to do?

Our expert is sure: as soon as you figured out the "freeloaders", you need to part with them quickly and without regret. Because in principle he is not going to pay you, regardless of the quality of your work. He just doesn't want to do it.

6. "Not your" client

In other words, the client wants what you basically can not provide him.

Olga Grishchenko: “If we take specifically my field, that is, business trainings, then we try to develop in their participants the ability to find a way out of non-standard situations, to look for creative, non-trivial approaches to solving problems. If the client demands to give him a simple sample, following which he will quickly earn money, this is neither bad nor good, it is simply not for us. Such clients are "difficult" only in the sense that they are "not ours". However, such a mismatch of values ​​also needs to be recognized in time.

Other examples. It is unlikely that a “glossy” advertising article about Mr. NN, the center of all virtues, would be appropriate in a socio-political newspaper. And a homeowner dreaming of an “expensive” interior is unlikely to heed the advice of a minimalist designer.

What to do?

Olga Grishchenko: “Attentive communication with the client, clarifying his values ​​is extremely important point. If his values ​​basically do not coincide with yours, then going along with him means ruining your reputation. Either in his eyes, or in the eyes of the professional community and other clients. There is only one way out: to explain why, from a professional point of view, it would be better to do this and not otherwise. And if your proposal still turns out to be “against the grain” for the client, leave. Otherwise, do not expect good.

Separation without sorrow

Meanwhile, it is easier to understand that clients are wrong and that there are those among them with whom it is better not to work, than to decide to part.

How to do this and where to find "your" clients - Evgeny Zhigalov advises:

1. Try to draw up a portrait of an ideal client - one in which everything "converged": adequate requirements, comfortable communication, timely payment, etc.
2. Determine which of your existing clients is as close as possible to this ideal, who is infinitely far from it (we will put these on the conditional “black list”), and who is “average”, that is, it has approximately equal advantages and disadvantages, in general, work quite tolerant of him.
3. Analyze exactly how much time and effort you spend on each of these groups and how much profit they bring. It may well turn out that you spend, conditionally, 4 days a week on a “brain out” client, and 1 day on an “average” client. Moreover, they bring the same money (there is a high probability that the "anti-client" gives less than the "average"). According to our expert, this is already a good reason to stop working with a "difficult" client. Entrepreneurs are often afraid to do this, because they don’t understand where to find good customers, they don’t take into account the fact that new tools for attracting them, promoting a product, etc. are constantly appearing.
4. Now let's deal with the "ideal" clients. Analyze why they are interested in your product, and most importantly, remember how you “found” each other in general. Approximately in the same place there are other good clients.
5. One of the measures to attract "their" customers (after the appropriate analysis has been carried out) is to adjust the niche "for them", narrowing the target audience. There are no special risks in this. If you have chosen the right niche, up to 80% of the clients who come to you will be close to the ideal that you have drawn for yourself. And another 20% they themselves will pull up for themselves. Focus on developing this niche in your city, then go to the region, and then beyond. With modern communication technologies, this is not a problem.

In anticipation of meetings with clients, students tend to type ideas about them, their qualities and behaviors. All these representations can be grouped into two collective portraits: the "ideal" client and the "difficult" client.

Ideal - disciplined, he comes to meetings on time, does not forget his passport and copies required documents. He understands what and how to tell the lawyer (about the problem and his expectations), he knows how to separate the main from the secondary in the story, he is attentive to details, he has a good memory, his position is neither asocial nor illegal. He is disposed to the lawyer, makes good contact, shows due respect and patience to him, understanding that the student is not yet “a magician”, but is only learning. This client is willing to take the student's instructions and follow them. He has a proper legal culture: he does not expect from the state and the legal system what they are able to fulfill. Such a client is the embodiment of a lawyer's dreams.

By creating a portrait of the ideal client, the student hopes that the client will not require him to use all those professional skills that have been described in the previous paragraphs. It is worth noting that there are such clients. These are our fellow lawyers who specialize in one area and need help in another. These are clients with experience in long-term litigation, who have practically become “experienced” in the intricacies of their problem and communication with lawyers. Finally, these are business people who communicate a lot and often with lawyers, and therefore have a high legal culture. But these people do not so often fall under the criteria of subjects of the right to free legal aid.

More often, a student meets in a clinic with people who require, so to speak, a special approach, but not basic communication skills. A special approach is special keys to opening doors closed for communication.

Who are the "difficult" clients? What causes difficulties in communicating with them? How can they be avoided or overcome?

Factors that most often cause difficulties in work , are the following.

• 1. Difference in age and life experience, cultural differences. These difficulties will certainly be presented, it is impossible to eliminate them, they must be taken into account in communication and leveled by means that will be recommended a little further in the text.
• 2. The emotionality of the client (he is offended, indignant, angry) and his psychological characteristics: installation on "social dependency"; tendency to exaggerate, fantasize; his prejudices, anxiety, suspicion, fears, etc. (for example, a citizen came to the reception only to talk, because rarely anyone talks to him on topics of interest to him). All this can be adjusted during communication.
• 3. Physical and psychophysical limitations: difficulties in movement, hearing loss, weakness of vision, distracted attention, difficulty speaking, difficulties in remembering and reproducing information about facts and events, factors that can be successfully overcome by involving an assistant (who does not have self-interest in the problem being solved) or even work through a client representative.
• 4. Poor orientation in legislation, weakness of the social (civil) position (shyness in front of everything official, to which the client refers the student as a representative of the law), or an exaggerated social attitude to fight injustice and “expose” all and sundry those in power, negative experience in seeking help (the client was previously rejected in many instances and is now not sure that he will be understood and helped in a legal clinic, the client received help, but this help was provided to him of poor quality) can provoke passive and active variants of an aggressive type behavior.

The client can demonstrate distrust of the student and attitude towards him "from above" in those cases when he feels his advantage in age and life experience, or overestimates the social significance and degree of legal complexity of his situation and a priori believes that the student underestimates them (or that even worse - unable to assess).

Types of Difficult Clients can be identified by the groups of difficulties they create.

1. Overactive clients whose activity has a negative focus. There are several types. For example, "conflictant"(disputer, or litigator), stubborn. Their energy can interfere with positive cooperation. Most often, the nature of assertiveness and stubbornness is in the presence of their own convincing arguments. Invite him to speak up and determine if he is stubborn because he is "backed into a corner" or because he is not fully convinced of your competence. In the first case, this is a person who has largely lost faith in happy outcome, and he needs more comfort, i.e. he is a pessimistic complainer. In the second, when questions discourage him, cause some kind of protest with their wording, most likely this is a skeptic who will need reliable rational ideas, suggestions, recommendations. There are special conflictants, figuratively referred to as "tanks". Such a "tank" goes ahead without seeing or hearing others. The best counter-manoeuvre is to step aside, let him “pass” with his track past, i.e. speak freely. You don't have to take it emotionally. You should “call out” to him, always by his first name and patronymic, and with polite respect and a confident voice (without timidity and servility). He will definitely hear his name. After that, you should briefly express a question or request: “Now tell us about ...”.

A medal always has two sides. The reverse side of the conflicting party is that he aims to go to the bitter end, i.e. to the result. Impartiality, calmness and perseverance will be your assistants, remember that it was he who decided to seek help, and it was to you. And you are already working on it. With him. Tell him this.

• 2. " Supercompetent"(the client himself claims that he knows everything better than any lawyers) demand an expression of recognition. It is worth directing his awareness to constructive direction: “Tell me, as a knowledgeable person”, “You know how the courts treat .., you probably yourself understand that evidence will be needed about .., can you supplement me?” “What do you think, we can already move on to the discussion...” At the same time, it should be said that all his arguments will be carefully analyzed by you and additionally submitted to the teacher’s control, this will force him to take into account other people’s intellectual potential. A variant of aggression of supercompetence - " advisers". At the heart of the barrier is the difference in age and experience. During the interview, they will give instructions and instructions (even they will strive to do this in writing), suggesting how best to approach their problem. In these cases, it is not worth joining the fight and erecting new barriers (“I need your instructions”), the best way way out of this situation - to say: "I will consult with my curator, what is actually the best thing to do in our situation."
• 3. People who have not learned to communicate effectively, because of their inability to organize a story, select the main facts and not indulge in long introductions and digressions, these are people - chronophages(time thieves) For example, “overtaking” (“upstart”), as soon as you start to clarify or explain something, he immediately gets ahead, interrupting. You need to let him speak again and ask him to listen to you to the end, otherwise you are afraid that, like an interlocutor, you will not be able to keep in your memory what you want to say. And you say what is important to him. Due to his “wedging”, you will spend more time talking than you intended, and you will lose control of the conversation.

"Screamer" either one with "all the power in the whistle" or a "disoriented wrestler" who "will complain to the king too, will complain to the king too". He screams in inescapable pain, crying out for sympathy. As soon as he asks a specific question in a calm tone, how he changes behavior. There are “habitual screamers”, these are not conflict-bearers, but those who do not know how to discuss problems in a different way. But they can learn this by observing that others ignore his cry, while they themselves discuss all issues in a calm tone. The higher the tone of his speech, the quieter and more peaceful should be the remarks of the consultant. He may even end up whispering if he is spoken to in a whisper.

"Innocent liar" at the dreamer(one who constantly presents an interpretation of reality, when it is not immediately clear what is true in his story, and what is innocent fiction or conjecture). Follow the coherence of the facts presented, their consistency (exactly so) to each other and to common sense, when the dreamer tries to captivate you into flight (he says: “Let's admit ...” or “what if ...”), return him to a concrete fact. The consultant must be able to compare oral speech, the meaning of statements with rhythm, tempo, intonation, with body language (postures, gestures, facial expressions, eye movements). Body language, as a precursor of speech, is more accurate and truthful, therefore, if there is a suspicion of a lie, it is always worthwhile to “check” not only with the help of a system of “control” questions, but also with the control of a system of non-verbal signals (speeding up or slowing down the pace of speech, slurring when presenting individual episodes, avoiding eye contact, etc.).

Chatterbox And nerd - chronophage in the proper sense of the word. Do not nod your head, show a partial loss of interest (an indifferent look), or, on the contrary, look intently and expectantly for a few seconds and say firmly: “I have been listening to you for 10 minutes out of the allotted 30, but you have not yet told me anything except ... Let me know what I could write down on your problem.

4. People who are ready to completely shift their problems onto others. Such clients expect that after a visit to a lawyer, it is the lawyer who will fully take up the solution of all problems and personally take all actions aimed at eliminating them from the client's life. They need to explain that the clinic only provides counseling, and the client will have to represent and protect his rights himself. The clinic will offer the client the legal documents necessary to convey the client's position to the court, counterparty, authority, etc. But the client must act on his own. Not all clients are ready for this. Therefore, they will seek to change the situation in their favor. In fact, they will seek to manipulate you.

Complainer alarmist will exaggerate their troubles and downplay their opportunities. The main thing is not to succumb to emotional “capture”, to soberly assess the general situation in which the client lives, to isolate what should be resolved by legal means with the help that you can offer, and what should be transferred to other resources: send the client to the state legal bureau , whose employee can bring your client’s case to court, recommend contacting charity organisations for additional social financial assistance. The flow of complaints must be gently stopped: “You complain about something that can no longer be changed. Let's focus on finding a problem that can be solved", "You already talked about this", "Let's imagine realistically what the other side can do bad for you", "Let's think about what can be presented as evidence if we do not get this document”, “How can we resist this alleged evidence, how can we refute it, or question its truth.”

Insatiable(I have another set of questions for you). "Queue" such a client, i.e. get a new LCC on new question, having previously explained that there are rules in the clinic that limit the repetition of applications from the same person, that these rules are established in order to guarantee the availability of free assistance to the largest possible circle of people. Ask him to identify the main tasks and problems. At the same time, the client must know that a case limit has been set for you personally, and your practice in the clinic will end before the session and holidays.

"Difficult clients" are the least desirable clinic visitors. Long-term clinics have "black lists" of unwanted clients. As a rule, they include those people who cannot evaluate either the reasons for obtaining legal assistance (they have no legal problems, there is a general dissatisfaction with their lives), nor the possibilities and limitations of legal means in solving everyday problems, nor the very essence of the client's relationship with a lawyer (those who, for example, when trying to make an appointment with a lawyer, are immediately interested: “And if you treat me badly, to whom can I file a complaint against you?” Work with the appeals of such citizens is devoid of either grounds or prospects.

Maintaining blacklists is undeniable. On the ethical side, it is necessary to listen to every citizen. On the professional side, the basis for refusing to provide legal assistance can only be one of the circumstances specified in the legislation and local acts of educational organizations, as well as an identified conflict of interest. The "black list" is better called "red" or "orange", i.e. colors that indicate the level of danger, or, more precisely, the difficulties that such a client can create for a lawyer. The list can be formed and used in order for the person receiving the appeal from the person from the list to make an informed decision - to accept it for his production (if there is confidence that an inexperienced, novice professional will be able to cope with such difficulties) or better and for business, and for a difficult client, if he is addressed by the clinic to experienced professionals.

• 1. Questioning is the fundamental stage of all work on the case.
• 2. Interviewing is a complex structure of a lawyer's communicative activity.
• 3. The lawyer, when interviewing, uses a specific survey model, its methodology and techniques that ensure the success of legal analysis communication.
• 4. Among the survey techniques, basic and special skills and abilities are distinguished. The basic skills include: asking questions, listening, managing the conversation, maintaining a favorable atmosphere for the conversation, fixing the progress and results of the interview. They are universal. Special ones are applicable only to representatives of certain types of clients, these are the skills to overcome psychological barriers or false behavioral attitudes of the client in relation to the lawyer, in a word, these are the skills of influencing the client's behavior in order to change it towards constructive cooperation.

Everyone who works in sales has encountered such clients who can be called difficult. But not everyone knows that without the ability to work with them and resolve conflicts, sales skills cannot be fully mastered.

This cheat sheet will help you overcome the most difficult stage of the art of selling. It is intended for sales managers, sales assistants and other employees who interact with customers directly or by phone.

Most often, “difficult” customers are called those who:

• constantly dissatisfied with something or simply find fault;
• intervene in the work of the seller or manager, give advice;
• provoke a conflict situation;
• ask a lot of questions and object;
• trying to "squeeze out" a big discount;
• delay the moment of making a decision or payment.

There is a widespread belief that the most difficult client is the one who objects or complains all the time. Despite the fact that it is difficult to work with him (this is a fact), the most difficult client is the one who is silent! Ask the wall next to you: "Buy my product?" What will she answer you? So is the client, if he doesn’t mind you, then you haven’t even caught him close.

The objection of the client indicates the interest of the buyer, but he still has small doubts that he wants to dispel or confirm!

If the seller treats objections as enemies, then he is more likely to confirm the buyer's doubts and not sell the product. If the seller reacts positively to objections, he will be able to understand the problems and needs of the client and is more likely to sell the product. For more information on how to respond to top customer objections, see cheat sheet #3.

Rules for dealing with difficult clients

1. Change your attitude. Treat such clients not as difficult, but as those for which you have not yet picked up the “key”.
2. Do everything you do with regular customers, only better.
3. Spend most of your time establishing contact and joining. It is precisely because it is difficult that you cannot understand it!
4. Don't ask the client to "calm down".
5. Speak as equals. Do not put yourself above or below the client.
6. When conflict situation ask a clarifying question: “What exactly is bothering you?”.
7. Be polite, even if the client is very rude when communicating with you.
8. Be honest.
9. Ask open-ended questions, speak slowly, don't rush.
10. Be confident and friendly.
11. Refer to the facts. You can't argue about the facts: the wheel is round, but the square is square! Assumptions can be argued for years.

Step by step mini-instruction

• Step 1. Let the client speak, let him say whatever he wants to say.
• Step 2 Listen carefully, do not interrupt.
• Step 3 Write down all complaints on paper.
• Step 4 Show your understanding: “I clearly understand the situation we are in…”.
• Step 5 Ask for feedback in a constructive way: “What exactly did we do wrong when assembling/delivering the products?”.
• Step 6 Direct the client's attention to the joint solution of the problem: "Tell me if we ...".
• Step 7 Together choose the most The best way problem solving: “What do you think, is it better for us to do this or that?”.

Subtleties

1. The most difficult client is your trainer. He will not sign the contract (the probability is very small), and you have nothing to lose. Try everything you can think of on it, and good options apply on primary clients.
2. The most difficult and important thing in a conflict is to maintain goodwill and calmness. This will give you the opportunity to rise above the situation and solve the problem faster.
3. For the manager: appoint the most conflict-free employee to the position of "Communication with difficult clients." Provide regular communication with these customers and the number of complaints will decrease.
4. The level of conflict is directly related to the level of anxiety of the individual, i.e. the more insecure / anxious a person feels, the more he is influenced by various “small and large” troubles happening around. Absence peace of mind and harmony leads to the fact that any little things infuriate a person, make him nervous and annoyed.

Golden Rule

One resolved conflict is equal to several dozen successful meetings.

A task: Establish a dialogue with the client, prevent conflict.

Instruments: Algorithm for working with different types difficult clients, positive speech, active listening, individual approach.

Types of "difficult" clients:

a) indecisive

b) Aggressive

c) Ambitious

d) asking

6.3.4.1 General rules for consulting "difficult" clients:

Listen carefully to the client (use active listening)

During a conversation, address the client on "You" or by name and patronymic

Do not comment to the client. Don't argue. Don't condemn.

Communicate positively, use positive language.

Show interest and respect for the wishes of the client.

Ask clarifying questions, showing that the client is important and the information is useful.

Listen to information from the client as important and necessary. Not to judge.

Use the necessary conversation script with different types of difficult clients.

If the client speaks loudly, then start pronouncing the words a little quieter than him.

6.3.4.2 Conversation scenarios with different types of "difficult" clients:

a) Indecisive:

Client Specifications: does not have an opinion, avoids risk, cautious, afraid of being deceived, does not make hasty decisions, indecisive, patient.

Typical phrases:“what do you think about this?”, “what would you do in my place?”, “I’ll think about it”, “do as you see fit, do it.”

Algorithm for working with an indecisive type of client:

Positively start a conversation (standard greeting)

Listen carefully to the client without interrupting or becoming impatient

Please tell me what happened...

What exactly is your question

What question did you contact us for?

Use active listening techniques, without interrupting, without irritation. If necessary, ask clarifying questions on the topic of conversation.

Reassure the client, express sympathy:

I understand your situation.

I understand your concern.

I understand you.

I sympathize with you very much.

Use elements of active listening, notice and reflect the client's feelings:

I feel that you are very excited

I see that you are upset, upset, confused

I understand you, please calm down

Help the client make a decision (dispel doubts).

When making a decision, do not push, do not rush.

b) Aggressive:

Client Specifications: Self-confident / self-satisfied; demeanor is often impudent or boorish; does not listen / does not hear; believes that he is always right in everything, he knows everything himself; often rough.

Typical phrases:“shorter”, “more to the point”, “let's go quickly”, “I don't have time”, “what kind of bureaucracy”.

Algorithm for working with an aggressive type of client:

Pause, take a break. Listen calmly and carefully to the client. Give it a chance to let off steam. At the same time, keep calm and confident (there should be no fear, fuss, uncertainty in the voice). Show the client that you are in control of yourself and the situation.

Do not argue with the client (such a client will never admit that he is wrong). Exclude phrases: “You are wrong”, “You are mistaken”, “You are behaving ugly”.

Move the conversation to business.

I listened to you, let's agree with you how we will build our conversation.

To save you time, let's build the conversation like this...

I propose to build a conversation as follows: first I will ask you a few clarifying questions, then I will offer solutions.

In the case of using profanity, suggest the rules of conversation (calmly, gently):

Let's agree that we will talk correctly.

Please speak correctly so we can continue the conversation.

Don't dwell on it. All the time to translate the conversation into a business channel, ask business questions:

I have one more question for you...

I would like to ask you a question...

If the above actions do not help to cope with the situation, see the situation "Off-topic conversation".

c) Ambitious:

Client Specifications: emphasizes his importance, crushes his official position, it is difficult to please him; wants to talk with status persons, requires an administrator; interrupts in conversation; believes that he is always right in everything, he knows everything himself; does everything to get what he wants.

Typical phrases:“I repeat again”, “this categorically does not bother me”, “on what basis”, “provide me in writing where this moment is stipulated”, “I only have to make one call, and you don’t work here anymore”.

Algorithm for working with an ambitious type of client:

Emphasize the status of the client, be sure to address by name / patronymic. Speak respectfully. Show endurance and patience. Don't argue.

Move the conversation to business. Do not respond to pressure/manipulation. Calm and confident demeanor. Suggest business rules of conversation:

We are also competent and professional. We can solve your questions directly

I can solve your questions

I can competently answer all your questions

If it was possible to translate the conversation into a business channel, then the conversation is built according to the rules of a regular consultation or decision-making on the client's request.

d) Asking:

Client Feature: manipulates, speaks from the position of the victim, tries to play on the feelings of pity, guilt, sympathy of the interlocutor.

Typical phrases:“you will enter into my position”, “no one will know about this”, “that you should meet me halfway”.

Algorithm for working with a requesting client:

Listen carefully to the client

Express understanding in a neutral way (join, but neutrally):

Turn the conversation into business

When working with such a client, the tone of the conversation is very important. Speak firmly, calmly, and confidently at the same time. Refer to the rules, clauses of the contract and other regulations.

In this article, we will talk about what is working with "difficult clients" and how to properly build your line of behavior. We will not give a number of different tips and options for communication in such a situation, but will try to systematically approach this issue. Each situation that we encounter in life is individual, and there is not always a methodology that would clearly regulate the actions of a person in a particular case.

Clients are also individual, due to their personal and psychological characteristics, and, planning your dialogue, based on certain recommended techniques, you can not only fail, but also face resistance and aggression. When a company representative does not have logical reasoning in a dialogue with the client, he unconsciously transfers the rights of the leader in the conversation to the client. For his part, the client feels this, and can consciously use the techniques of manipulation and control of the interlocutor.

It is good when the clients who come to the organization are friendly, collaborative and have only good intentions. But all people are different, in any case, you will have to face those who are trying to bring to conflict and get the most out of the deal. If such a person takes over in the dialogue, this is fraught with financial penalties, losses and the conclusion of a deal that is not beneficial to the company.

Before formulating a strategy for how to deal with difficult clients, you should determine for yourself what, in principle, is the concept of a complex client, because a huge range of personalities and characteristics of a person’s character can be called complex. Some call a client difficult, who, although he makes contact with a representative of the company, but it is impossible to determine his intentions and relationships are not fully understood all the time. Other difficult clients are aimed at minimizing the cost of a service or product to such an extent that the benefits of cooperation are lost in principle.

In general, under this concept can be attributed completely different people, whether the client is complex also depends on the perception of the representative of the company. For some, working with persistent clients who want to reduce the price is only an interesting and exciting business, since it is necessary to select the right approach, filigree to convince a person and give the necessary arguments. While for another it is a real problem to work with the objections of such a person.

Try to determine for yourself which client is difficult for you. To do this, highlight the whole range of human features that make it difficult for you to work with him, list the qualities of character that are difficult for your perception, manners of behavior and communication,. Analyze what is common between all the features of the people that you have noted for yourself. It is these generalized problems in a person that make it difficult for you to cooperate and communicate and are the main goal that is worth working on.

In order to cope with this task, you can use the technique of cause-and-effect relationships, which allows you to delve into the very essence of the problem and deal with its root causes.

There is also a special theory, which is based on the solution of an inventive problem. It can be used both in relation to one localized problem, and for a complex various problems. To do this, it is necessary to turn to functional analysis, no matter how strange it may sound. On the one hand, we know that functional analysis is always based on the construction of algorithms, schemes or drawings, for which communication with clients is not the right moment. After all, the main tools that are used are dialogue and discussion.

In addition, usually the negotiation process has a limited time frame, which leaves no extra time for analysis and creation of algorithms. Many professional managers rely on methods such as bidding, non-verbal cues, or manipulation.

Working with difficult clients involves the use of a variety of ways to influence the interlocutor, since if all possible methods are used, and the client still does not make a decision, you risk falling under his pressure. Therefore, at your disposal you need to have as many psychological tools as possible, methodological knowledge and ways to manage the dialogue and influence people.

When a company representative is just starting his communication with a new potential client, this is equivalent to a confrontation between two strangers. Everyone will try to win the controversial points that arise during the dialogue. The client, for his part, seeks to minimize his costs and maximize the benefits of the transaction, and the manager needs to lead the discussion so that the company benefits from the conclusion of the contract, and does not suffer losses.

Difficult clients are encountered in all areas of business and it is necessary to be prepared for the fact that confrontations may arise during communication. It is precisely in order to take a strong position in the dialogue that the manager will need enough a large number of various techniques and ways of speaking. You also need to use them at the right moments when you feel that, for example, you need to pay attention to non-verbal signals or use techniques to manipulate the opponent's mind.

The main prerequisite for successful completion of the dialogue with the client is a high level of preparation. A person, before going into negotiations, probably built a certain sequence of questions for himself and formed the goals that he wants to achieve during communication with the manager. The manager did the same. It depends on the one who thought out and calculated his actions better, who has more tools and communication techniques, how high the chances are to achieve the goal during the discussion.

Many people also talk about the importance of tools and techniques while working with people. historical facts. For example, a person who has served as minister for over fifty years foreign affairs, the whole world became famous for his stamina and assertiveness. He was a representative of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, his name was Andrei Gromyko.

This man achieved all his brilliant successes precisely by means of conducting dialogues with his opponents, but over fifty years he learned to do it professionally and filigree. He was highly educated in the field of legal orders, both in his country and on a global scale, which made it possible to give reasoned, legally confirmed arguments during negotiations. It was precisely on the basis of legal laws that the minister always attended any international negotiations only with his translator, despite the fact that he himself knew perfectly well English language. For him, the benefit of the services of an interpreter was completely different. During the dialogue, the minister himself could understand what the opponent was talking about, so when the interpreter began to translate the spoken phrases, he did not need to listen. But during this time, Andrei could carefully study his interlocutor, evaluate how he reacts to a particular phrase and simply buy time to think about the situation.

Of course it's not a long period time, but sometimes even a few seconds can play a very important role in forming the correct answer. Due to the fact that the Russian language was usually unfamiliar to the opponents, they did not even have these few seconds to think about the situation and draw conclusions.

As can be understood from the previous material, whether there will be successful work with difficult clients, to a greater extent depends on the degree of preparedness of the manager and his arsenal of psychological, educational and personal tools. In order to qualitatively and effectively prepare for the negotiation process, you can use the elements of functional analysis. Even if it seems to you that you are quite ready for a dialogue with a client, and your knowledge is sufficient for a productive dialogue, during the conversation it may turn out that you overestimated your own abilities, ignoring thorough preparation.

One of the common processes of manipulative influence on the manager by the client is an attempt to put pressure on his opponent's lack of awareness of the services offered by the client. Suppose a manager's question about the quality of the product offered, the client answers with a question about whether the manager studied the range of services, product catalog and partners of the client's company. If a person is really not ready for a dialogue and starts to get lost and delay in answering, because in reality he has not thoroughly studied the range and partner base, this will immediately make the client a leader in the discussion.

Thus, the client points out to the manager about his unprofessionalism and low level of awareness and turns out to be right, because in reality the manager does not have the necessary data. After all, he will not leave the client and go to his office to get acquainted with the activities of the company in more detail.

Difficult clients can take advantage of this situation and wishful thinking, thereby exaggerating the success of their company, because the manager does not have the necessary information and will accept any data. A representative of a small firm can present his organization as the largest company with developed areas and a large base of opportunities. The manager, in turn, has no idea about the company, therefore, he believes what the client tells him. This situation is fraught with the signing of an agreement with the company, which in the future will bring only losses on cooperation.

Next, we will consider on what grounds and how functional analysis can be involved in solving such problems and what are its main advantages. As mentioned earlier, it is with its help that you can solve a whole range of problems that arise during negotiations.

First period.

In the first period of using functional analysis, it is necessary to clearly identify the problem that you are going to solve. This key moment which underlies the successful application of the tool. As you know, without a clear understanding of the problem and a clear formulation, it is almost impossible to find right exit out of the situation. If you start a functional analysis of the entire situation without highlighting a specific set of tasks or one problem, then there will be practically no sense from such a tool. First of all, it is necessary to determine what is the purpose of this work, and what results you would like to get as an output. On the one hand, this is similar to the formation of the conditions of a mathematical problem, where it is necessary to find out the missing data, having a certain set of information.

Imagine the following situation, your organization is engaged in the production of a product, and customers buy it for sale. The buyer, who is yours, buys from you only thirty percent of the hundred percent of the goods that he needs for work. The remaining seventy percent of a person buys from competitive organizations, which is not very profitable for you. Purpose of the task– increase the volume of purchases from thirty to forty percent, in one year. This is the main goal, which is the final one, but in order to achieve it, many more different actions must be performed. Therefore, first of all, you should look for an answer to the question of what should be done to increase the share of purchases of the client.

It may be possible to increase the amount of purchased products by changing the elements of the organization's policy for this client or by providing it. Sometimes it plays an important role logistics process, which operates in cooperation between the manufacturer and the buyer. In fact, tasks can be very different, and their number is quite extensive.

When forming a list of actions that should be performed in order to, you should not rely only on your own knowledge. This can lead to the fact that some of the tasks that you build in front of you will not be relevant, but important elements you may well miss out. Many people, due to the human factor, are guided by their own assumptions and opinions when building a series of tasks, which often leads to errors. But functional analysis minimizes inaccuracies and increases the level of compliance of tasks with the really necessary ones.

Second period.

In the second period, preparatory activities are carried out. To begin with, let's analyze how working with complex clients includes the principles of functional analysis. Let's imagine a very common situation. a representative of a company sells a product that the company produces. The product is not sold alone, but also with a complex additional services depending on which group it belongs to. This may be the provision of product delivery, installation or additional operating advice.

Considering the fact that in modern world in almost every business sector there is a high level of competition, each company tries to offer its products as attractively as possible. Each buyer has big choice manufacturers and at any time he can find one with a lower cost, more favorable conditions or a better product.

The policy of many managers and representatives of the company is based on starting to offer discounts and benefits for the client at the first dialogue. In principle, this technique works, but to use it, you need to be sure that the company's margin level will allow you to organize additional discounts if the client asks for them. In the event that the margin level is low, then it will not be possible to re-grant the discount.

Thus, the representative of the company again falls under the influence of the client, who ultimately achieves the most favorable conditions for himself, such as free transportation of goods, shipment out of turn or outside business hours, and so on. It is unlikely that the head of the company will be happy with such actions of the manager and the concluded contract, which will bring more losses than income.

Before mastering the tools of functional analysis, it is necessary to practice and study a significant amount of information. Using such an analysis, you will be faced with a sequence of clear actions, each of which requires effort and accuracy. This is a very time-consuming undertaking, but the efficiency compensates for the time costs.

Before starting a dialogue with a client, it is necessary to carefully analyze his business. What is the structure of the company, what are the principles of its operation based on, what partners does the company have and how departments and employees work with each other - in a word, as much information as possible regarding the activities of a potential client.

Many companies have a set of standard departments and employees, such as human resources, sales, accountants, or managers. The system of operation of these departments is different in almost every organization, regardless of their name. You should not rely on your own guesses in order to understand the system of work of a particular department. It is the conclusions formulated on the basis of conjectures that most often lead to erroneous judgments.

Before negotiating, select for yourself a list of questions that you would like to ask a potential client. You may not be able to find all the information you need, or you may want to hear some of the facts from the client in person. How to correctly build a chain of questions and what to focus on in the first place can be determined using functional analysis. Let’s take a look at how the organization works:

The work begins with the fact that the selling side offers the client to purchase the goods;
The client finds out in his organization through the finance department whether he has the opportunity to purchase products;
The client receives information from the finance department about the state of the company's accounts and the possibility of allocating funds for the purchase;
The manufacturer discusses the methods and possibilities of payment with the accounting department;
Through the accounting department, the manufacturer receives confirmation that the payment for the consignment of goods has been made;
The issue of transportation of goods to the customer is discussed;
The manufacturer informs the client about the fact of payment, terms and methods of transportation.

This is a generalized scheme, since there is no case study organizations. Each company has its own structure and its own characteristics of the implementation of the sales process. Sometimes the sales department does this, sometimes the sales department - everything is arranged individually in each company. In large firms, there are a lot of different departments, and not only the supplier, manager and accountant, but also many other departments can take part in the sales process. The main thing is that with such a scheme, only those departments that are directly related to the sale and conclusion of transactions should be considered, the rest - for example, production or personnel departments, do not need to be taken into account in this scheme. They have no influence on the sales process.

In some companies, communication between different departments is much more complex and confusing. In large companies, in order to sell or purchase any product, it is necessary to involve several departments and coordinate their actions with many people who are involved in the process. Sometimes, before making a purchase of a product, a special employee analyzes the market situation, competitors' products, conducts comparative characteristic goods and services offered by other companies.

Once a clear flow chart for selling a product to a customer has been formulated, it is necessary to determine the range of questions that need to be asked to the customer. It should be borne in mind that there are conflicting clients who may perceive your inquiries as a sign that you doubt their organization.

In order to transfer the visually presented model into a real format, regarding a real-life business and a project for the sale of goods, all dependencies should be left except for the direct connection between the selling party and the buyers. This is a completely logical, understandable dependence, which is based on the rules established by the selling organization. This dependence is formed on the basis of other interconnected joint actions of various organizational structures within the firm.

Studying each of the dependencies between any departments, it is necessary to analyze what problems may arise at this step and what are their primary causes. It is necessary to fully and in detail study the causes and consequences of a particular violation in the work that may occur. Try to look at the work of the company through the eyes of the customer, ask yourself the question, for example, what are the possible difficulties in operating the equipment? And try to answer it yourself. Perhaps the instructions are poorly designed. Then the specialists should correct and supplement it. Or you need a consultation on the spot, and not at the time of purchase. Then arrange a visit of a specialist at the place of order, so that he explains in detail to the client the principles of use technical means. So you can assess what difficulties the buyer may face.

By following this pattern, you will be able to complete list problematic moments that the customer encounters when working with you, and minimize negative negative aspects. In this way, you will significantly improve the quality of service in your organization, for sure expand your customer base and increase the professionalism of your work.

Of course, every organization has its own. One company has difficulties with consultants, but transports goods very quickly and on time, another is located far away, which complicates delivery, and so on. Most importantly, focus on your strengths not only when difficult clients work with you, but also in ordinary dialogues.

Very often, when an employee, preparing for negotiations, makes a list of questions, he is faced with the problem of their number. It is not always clear how to deal with difficult clients: how many questions will be optimal and, at the same time, useful for the seller, but not burdensome for the buyer.

On the one hand, it is important for a manager to know as much information as possible about the client and his activities, but by asking a large number of questions, he risks turning the negotiations into a formal interrogation, which is unlikely to please the buyer.

If you ask a minimum of questions, the person will feel comfortable and relaxed, only the manager will have a minimum of data, which can cause incorrect conclusions and errors. This is the main conflict between judgments: on the one hand, many questions are needed to obtain sufficient information, and on the other hand, it is undesirable to cause negative emotions and impressions in the client. Let's say you have a few questions about the moments of installation of the purchased equipment. For example:

What is the reason why the installation is not carried out immediately after the delivery of the equipment?
Why installation on a small scale is paid?
Why self-installation not welcome?

In this way, a systematic group of questions is formed regarding each element of the sales sequence. Next, you need to compare all the questions, and form more generalized ones, which would include receiving complete information, but the number of questions themselves should be reduced. For example, instead of the questions listed above, you can form one: How is the installation carried out and what are the most common difficulties in its implementation?

With such a question, you will be able to clarify all the nuances regarding how the installation takes place, and even conflicting clients will most likely tell you about how the process is going on, what suits them in this installation method, and what they would like to replace.

With the help of functional analysis tools, you can generate a small number of questions, the answers to which will help you get a complete picture of the enterprise.

In order to to find mutual language with difficult clients, it is necessary to build relationships on the basis of mutual understanding. The strategy of cooperation with buyers is changing, it is based on understanding between opponents, and not persuading the client to cooperate with any accessible ways. A person, feeling that you are interested in improving his position, helping in resolving the issue, will make contact much faster.

Conclusions:

Difficult customers do not really exist, there are those people whom the representative of the company does not understand or has not delved into the wishes and needs of such customers;
When organizing your cooperation with a client, it is necessary to clearly build the goals that you want to achieve;
Do not forget that the process of preparation itself plays an important role in the success of any negotiations, so take the time to study the information in advance;
In order to effectively negotiate, build a list of questions and set the right tone for the conversation, it is important to use functional analysis. At first, there may be some problems with the development of this technique. But work with "difficult clients" much easier can be built on the basis of the functional analysis tools.