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How do you avoid racist comments from prospective clients

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18 answers

In my eleven years on MicroMentor I have never had a racist comment from a prospective client. I believe the reason for this is that whether Mentor or Entrepreneur, the participants here value the exchanges.

VALUES are key in dealing with clients. Their comments may very well reflect their values and marketing to them does not involve avoiding negative comments, but rather understanding the value system behind them.

Sometimes clients will not disclose personal values and organization value systems until you are engaged with them and at that time you must be sympathetic to transition issues, think on your feet and evolve a way to get to your sales objective; not just insist that they change dramatically to accommodate your concept.

Ask the client questions about what you know or have found their needs to be. Then take them to where your presentation has solutions for them; engage them on a solutions frequency and make your concept of the future theirs. A key will be your ability to make the client want to own your product or service in their environment and your assistance to make them as individuals look good for acquiring what you sell to increase their visibility and productivity in the organization.

Consider the values of the client your are engaging and threaten or further his or her value system. To do so, find out what they value first. It may not be what you value - or what you believe they should value; but you are stuck with those values and the value system backing them up. In many cases they are political, self-serving and disappointing but you cannot ignore them. You must manage them. You must threaten or further those value systems to get your customer to act. Furthering client values is a positive view of the future, enhancing what the client already has. Threatening client values is making the client feel he or she cannot undertake the future effectively without buying from you.

For more on value based marketing, please see the following article at the FREE web site I maintain as an extension of my volunteer work:

https://www.smalltofeds.com/2012/11/value-based-marketing-techniques-for.html

Report Kenneth's answer

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I can imagine that working in home health care, you may encounter clients who hold all kinds of world views. I fervently hope that professional associations for your industry are addressing this very real and very stressful situation. Anti-Racism Daily and Color of Change provide me with insights that help.

Report Rebecca's answer

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Rebecca brings up great points and resources. Another important thing to note, not just about this form of abuse but any from clients, is that there are more clients... Don't feel the need to keep a horrible client who is abusive. In some industries, you can report them within their company but if that's not the case - Just out right fire them. Keep good documentation of it, your attempt to resolve it and the notices given of why the engagement with them is terminated. Never leave yourself open for them to flip it on you. I remember having a client that was truly horrible to my entire team, in which this is years ago when I worked for a company - They kept pushing us to work on it. Eventually, many team members quit and this led to massive issues internally. When they finally fired the customer, the company had already taken a large hit mentally and staffing wise. It's almost always best to just move to that stage quickly and find a more appreciative, healthy engagement.

Report Xavier's answer

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Hi My'esha. Yes, this is not an easy subject. Ignoring or acknowledging racism has consequences. Customers are key for business, in theory they are always right, but you have to put limits based on self-dignity, common sense, business image, and so on. And try your best to be objective and in control. Meera Jagannathan, from MarketWatch, advises to keep calm, document the incident and consider telling the person to stop.

Report Miguel 's answer

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it depende why?, you can block comments. you can do a positive work like, send publicity to stop this. And try to avoid people who dont respect you, select well your friends. there are some ways

Report Tamara's answer

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Protect your energy at all costs. You have values for a reason; what is it? Not everyone will be a match for you. You have to be ok with that. If someone is being racist and you disagree with this behavior. You are your highest authority. You don't have to work with this client; you can choose to work with an energy that matches. Please don't waste your time working on changing anyone who is not looking to change themselves. Raise your awareness for the signs of them wanting to change. Only if you see they have the ability to change is when you should continue to work with them. Here is where you will identify their struggle and need for your help.

Report Joseph's answer

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You live in an Imperfect world, and when wanting to serve , have to be Strong in Mind to ignore Insults; knowing that Racism is primitive ( from Inferior cultures) - have /seeking Non- Govt Org. Support could help

Report Reshma's answer

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...is important you realize you can't change the world sometimes. People have different world views and there is little you can do about that. When it comes to clients most times, is different stroke for different client. First, you have to understand your client and that will make them easier for you to manage them better. I am not saying that you should accept racial abuse by your clients. Rather learn how to handle them better. Sometimes,humans has a lot of prejudices which you can't change. You can't force people to like, or accept as equal. But how you response to racial abuse within you matters a lot. Don't allow anyone to define how you feel about yourself. You don't need anybody to tell you who you are. Some Comments can hurt,but when you read meaning to every comments. You can never be happy again in life. Over look some comments from clients, reply some with maturity as professional as you can and report some when necessary. Whatsoever you chose to do,don't just be like same people you hate their behavior by behaving same

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In an increasingly digital world, online business platforms have emerged as indispensable tools for entrepreneurs looking to establish and grow their ventures. useful reference see here

Report will's answer

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