What to do when a client’s dog drinks your tea

When I first started out, I would see any client anyplace, anytime and do anything for these people. One day,  a client said to me, ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’ I said, yes, that’s fine. I put the cup of tea just down beside the armchair on the floor. She had a little dog. She went off to get some paperwork and I heard this noise. The dog is lapping up my tea. I had to make a decision. When she comes back into the room, do I drink the tea or tell her?

I drank the tea.

Still makes me cringe now. But at the time, I didn’t have the heart to say to the client, ‘I’m really sorry but your dog has been drinking my drink so can you make another one?’ I was just more keen to make sure I made a good first impression. So I actually drank dog tea.

I think when you go and see a client, always just be yourself. Be true to you and have the same personality you would in or out of a meeting. People buy and take advice from people. They want to hear your stories. They want to know you have the experience. They want to see and experience the real you. So if you do find yourself in an awkward situation where you’re with a client, just laugh it off, go with the flow and, as I learned, don’t try and cover up stuff. I think it comes a lot with experience. The sooner we stop worrying about what other people think of us and just be ourselves and give the right advice, the better. Whether they take up that advice or not is up to them. I think we always have to be genuine to ourselves. Then we can be our true characters.

David Braithwaite, Dip PFS, is an 11-year MDRT member from Kent, England. Hear more of the wildest client experiences members have had in the April episode of the MDRT Podcast: