Don’t argue with clients

Mike Smith had a great post last week called “5 Reasons Why Arguing with Unruly Clients Will Get You Nowhere“. While most of the work is directed at Internet workers, I’d say that he’s just about right on the spot even in complex engineering sales.

The main point is that it wastes time and typically doesn’t gain you any money. You have to be selective in who your customers are. Any time you spend with a certain customer is time away from another potential customer.

So ask yourself if you’re better off bickering with a jerk in a losing situation or spending that hour calling up a customer that you’ve lost touch with over the years - should be a pretty easy call.

Try this, “Well Mr. Prospect, it seems pretty clear to me that your business would be better off not dealing with us, perhaps we’ll have a chance to work together in the future.”