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If you've ever spiraled out with anxiety over thinking a client might be angry or upset with me charging for a no-show or changing up something in your business. 1) You're not alone. But 2) this is the video for you. And you're going to want to pay attention because this no-fail system to dealing with angry, pushy clients is exactly what you've been looking for. Let's dive in. Hey, I'm Dawn Bradley and if we haven't met, welcome to my YouTube channel. I'm so glad that you're here. I help anxious, awkward and ADHD service providers and beauty professionals grow their businesses stress-free. So if that's you, buckle up because we're going to have some fun. Now if you missed last week's YouTube video you're definitely going to want to check it out because I talked all about how to get rid of last-minute cancellations. It was so good. But what about when clients get angry? When they push back? Let's get into it, alright? Now the number 1 thing I want you to know is that when people get angry and they get pushy, they stop thinking rationally and I've had clients go off. I actually had - this is one of my very first times that as a service person had someone go off on me and I was in grade 11 and I worked at the Real Canadian Wholesale Club and we had to, when people bought tobacco we had to get our manager to come recount it. It was protocol and policy. I remember saying to the man as he was putting his tobacco away and putting things above it, I said "just so you know, sir, you might want to not pack that away because my manager has to come and recount it." And he flipped out on me. Like, lost it. I actually kind of blacked out because I don't remember. I remember being like a 15/16 year old kid and there was like, 5 or 6 people in line behind me looking at me and I didn't know what to do and I mean I was just a minimum wage worker, wasn't trained for any of this. When my manager came they were busy and I was trying to signal to them that I needed to excuse myself and go cry in the bathroom but I couldn't and I had a line-up and so I just kinda shoved it down and was like "what just happened?" But I don't even really remember. All I do remember is getting home from work that day, all of a sudden my dad came out of the garage and he said "how was work today?" and I just fell apart crying. It's hard when people are angry and pushy and mean, so I'm really excited to share with you what I've learned over the past 20 years in customer service with dealing with angry and pushy clients. So the #1 tip I want you to know is wait for them to exhaust themselves. If it's in person, usually, they will- they are not making eye contact with you. They're going off, they're saying these things, they're doing this and you just sit there and you wait. And wait and wait and wait. Don't try to jump in. Let them exhaust themselves. Let them get so tired and when they realize you're not saying anything and you're not up for a fight, they'll slowly kinda go... and look at you. And once they make eye contact, that's when you calmly respond. Now if it's on the phone, once again, you can't make eye contact, but you just let them keep going, don't try to jump in, don't try to interrupt. You just let them keep talking, talking, talking, get it all out. And they might even pause for a breath, don't jump in. You want to give at least 3 to 5 seconds of silence and it's going to feel so uncomfortable. But when they have that moment - when they exhaust themselves and they're done talking and you give it a few minutes of silence and they go "are you still there?" go "yeah, I was just waiting for you to finish." And then you can move forward. But oftentimes these people are so emotionally hyped up, they only know how to react rather than respond and you're learning how to respond. Keep yourself cool and collected. Now, if it's in DMs or texts I really, really encourage you to get away from communicating with clients like that. Especially if they're upset. You can see their thumbs going frantically and the typing little bubble showing that they're typing, you just let them keep sending messages. And don't worry, you don't have to address every single thing in the message either. You wait until they've stopped and then you respond. And what I would really encourage you to respond with is "I'd like to have this conversation over the phone or in person." If someone's not willing to have a conversation over the phone or in-person then they're hiding behind their computer or their keyboard. And I know for you, you probably don't even want to have that conversation on the phone or in-person. Let me tell you, it will position you as the authority and the professional. Now the second thing to do when dealing with someone who is pushing back or angry is to use these two magical words: I understand. Empathizing with what they're feeling can go a long way. So if someone's getting upset about your price increase, I've gotten a lot of those over the years. "I understand this is not what you wanted." "I understand this is out of your budget." "I understand how frustrating this is." Maybe it's about having to charge them for a no-show or a late cancel. "I understand this sucks. I get it." Empathizing with them and then reinforcing your policy or the change that you're putting in your business. And they might continue to push back and you continue to tell them you understand. "I understand." It takes some practice so don't be hard on yourself if it doesn't come naturally at first. And 3, the next thing is you wanna ask them "what would you feel is a fair solution for this for you?" This is my favorite one because oftentimes as anxious individuals we overcompensate and over-give. We often will offer way more than someone will ask and oftentimes we offer the things that they don't even want. So instead of trying to assume what somebody wants and trying to assume what somebody needs, ask them what they feel would be fair. Now, you're not obligated to give them what they feel is fair. But you can ask them and find out and this will give you a lot of information. So here's how to handle that, when they say... when they say "well.. I don't wanna pay." This is how to respond: "Well I'm happy to give you what you feel is fair. But moving forward this is where our professional relationship ends. Thank you so much for being my client and my customer, I've appreciated your business over the years and I wish you all the best. Take care and I look forward to bumping into you." There's no harm in it if they were to show someone like "can you believe she wrote this?" You look great. You're giving them what they want but you're not letting the behavior continue. You're setting your boundary, which is really important. So these are the great ways to diffuse a situation when a client is angry or frustrated. Make eye contact with them, you let them know you understand and you empathize and you ask them for what they would feel is fair. Now if the thought of standing up for yourself in front of your clients makes you want to puke, like it used to me, don't worry, friend, I've got a workshop that goes way more in-depth with these things. So check out the description below, go sign up for my workshop, we're going to have a blast, and you're going to be able to set up your business for success with my 3 step strategy. Aright, until next time, check out these videos and make sure you subscribe so you get next week's video allllll about, you guessed it, how to actually charge for a no-show confidently, without feeling bad about it.