Have you come home from a long day at work? And you’re feeling down in the dumps? You’ve taken heat from a lot of people… heard complaints from folks who want something for $9.99 instead of $15!

It’s all too much to cope with — you want to call in sick to EVERYTHING! But it is not really an option for you at the moment. You have to keep working. Plus, you can’t avoid having to deal with negative, mean, or toxic people. Especially in client-facing business, they’re all around us.

So, you need to find a way to learn how to handle these difficult people. Let’s look at how we can do this.

Keep Your Cool

If you’re caught in such an unpleasant situation, the first and most important step is to stay calm and collected — because it’s too easy to lose it. In the heat of a moment, your emotions can cloud your judgment.

So, my personal bit of advice is to take a deep breath before doing anything else. This gives you time to get your emotions under control. Once you’ve done this, you can go into the situation and look for a solution to the problem.

Provide Solutions to The Problem

Your job is to deescalate the tension between you and the client. This can be easily done by providing a solution to the problem client has.

Understand that clients lash out at you because they are ‘’hurt’’ and can’t really express their frustration. They’re obviously unhappy with something. What that ‘’something’’ is? It’s up to you to find out.

Try to listen to them deeply; find out what’s troubling them. They might give you a clue as to what the key issue is. If you can have this dialog, then you’re on your way to solving the issue for the customer.

Say ‘’No’’ To Unreasonable Demands

It’s not always that things work out as you had hoped. In our work, we’re bound to deal with clients who make unreasonable requests — requests so ridiculous, they must think you’re gullible enough to carry them out.

If you feel like you’re being pressured to give them something, even when you honestly don’t want to, tell them a clear and confident “No”.

Clients are in no position to kick up a fuss! You don’t need them to tell you what to do (and how to run your business).

The lesson here is: stand your ground!

Ask for Help From Others

Listen, we don’t have all the answers. Sometimes we can lean on each other for support and try to find solutions together. So, if you have a question or something, ask for help from your colleagues or someone with more experience. Two minds are always better than one, as the saying goes.