In sales profession, one would have favourite clients or prospects. There would also be clients/ prospects whom sales professionals avoid for specific reasons.

I remember my stint 2 decades ago with an IT major based in Bangalore. My first interaction was with a Senior bureaucrat who had no mindshare for my employer for reasons best known to him. Since a large bid was submitted by my predecessor, I had no choice but to visit the government office regularly for technical clarifications, presentations etc. Every interaction with the client was bitter with the bureaucrat speaking in a manner not befitting of his position. I updated my Manager and Leaders about the unpleasant experiences, who counselled me to exercise extreme patience in the face of provocation, till the tender gets finalized or scrapped.

I decided to thicken my skin and move ahead with the pursuit in the interest of my organization. I contemplated and devised a set of To-Do’s to manage the difficult client like speaking very little in the interaction, maintaining a stoic expressionless face, getting engrossed in my notebook when he renders lectures/sermons etc. I could sense the officer getting puzzled with my cool demeanor. He upped the ante with his rhetorics, but I exercise self-regulation and remained calm. Back in office, I would narrate the fun to my colleagues and we would laugh it out. Over time he started mending his ways a bit in the face of my silent protest.

In the next few months the tender was concluded and we were happy to wriggle out of the client. I am thankful to the bureaucrat for making me practice self-regulation, which has helped to serve many good clients better.