Book Review: How to Deal with Difficult Customers

Have you ever dealt with an obnoxious salesperson? You might want to take a moment to send the offensive person a postcard or email suggesting they read: "How to Deal with Difficult Customers" by Dave Anderson. The book is subtitled "10 Simple Strategies for Selling to the Stubborn, Obnoxious, and Belligerent". Mr. Anderson points out early on that many times the salesperson turns a nice person into a stubborn, obnoxious or belligerent customer. He also points out he obvious: most customers have dealt with other salespeople and the experience was so unpleasant they loathe having to deal with another one. Not so obvious, it seems, is that sales is a two-way street between buyer and seller.

Mr. Anderson begins "How to Deal with Difficult Customers" with a preface where he tells the reader he will not waste their time "rambling on". I appreciated that because one can always get money, but once time is used it is gone forever. He then rambles on including a list of the books chapters and a synopsis of what you will learn. Next is a short acknowledgement, followed by "About the Author" and then an Introduction. It is important to read the preface to learn that he will not be using the words: "stubborn, obnoxious, belligerent" in the book, but rather an acronym. If you are like me and want to get right to the reading, you could become offended by this. Using it is cute, witty and meant to be friendly. As a customer, it tends to reinforce why many people do not like salespeople.