There will be a time in your sales career when you get taken advantage of and get stressed. It could a customer telling you he’s going to buy, but then buys from someone else. Maybe your manager selectively applies a policy and gives you the lesser treatment. You might have a partner who takes advantage of you. All of these have happened to salespeople I have worked with. Here’s what you can do if it happens to you.
Get angry, but do nothing is not an option. You will experience anger when the situation first occurs. That’s normal. Some people wallow in their anger. That anger does nothing, but create more problems. It’s bad enough that someone either unintentionally (bad) or intentionally (worse) did something to hurt you. Know that doing nothing is unacceptable.
Seek to understand. You must have a conversation with the person who caused your distress. Ask how the situation happened or other broad question instead of attacking them. Instead of, “You picked someone else when you said you were going to work with me” you would ask, “Please help me understand how you made your choice.” Remember, you do want to learn how the situation came about. You may learn that you need to talk with someone else who created the bad situation for you.
You want to be prepared to share with the person why what they did was wrong. Citing a lack of fairness is one reason. You’ve got to think about this before you call or meet.
Be ready with what you want. Before you call or set up a meeting, think about what you want them to do about the situation. You may hear, “There’s nothing I can do about it now.” Be prepared with your response. Your response is, “There’s always something you can do. Choosing to do nothing is your choice just as choosing to do something is, too.” Offer your solution if there’s no offer to do something. You would say, “I think what should be done now is (your idea.) You may have to practice saying this a few times before you make the call. You want to sound confident especially when the conversation is going to be an emotional one.
Be ready to move on. Know that you will not always get the outcome you want. I know you do want a specific outcome, but that is not the point. Others are less likely to attack you going forward when they see you push back. Having the courage to stand up for yourself counts for something for your own piece of mind, too.
There is one certainty when you deal with adversity. If you never face your antagonist you will never get what you want. A thoughtful, planned strategy to address why the situation happened and what needs to happen now is the best chance you have to changing your situation. Next, go execute your strategy. Then you are done. Why? You can only control the process of addressing your situation. You can’t control the result, or how other people respond.
Best wishes for your less stressful sales success!