Since the content, exercise formats and uniqueness of this book are available on other pages (see the menu to the left), I thought I'd share how this book came into being.

When I left the Manitoba Government in order to better serve a wider variety of clients via training and consulting, I discovered that there was a demand for a seminar to help government staff deal more effectively with difficult customers. Very quickly I was in demand, partly because I designed a seminar that went beyond most customer service training, and drew upon the fields of Psychology and Psycho linguistics for many of the techniques taught.

Since I've always believed that training should be custom-designed, in order for it to be most effective, I only offered the Defusing Hostile Customers Seminar when hired by a government department or branch. In other words, I didn't offer individuals the chance to sign up and attend as individuals.

As The Demand Increased...

...I received more and more requests that I couldn't accommodate, either from individual government employees desperate for help, or government departments too far away to visit (I only do a limited number of live appearances in any given year).

I decided I needed a way to provide government employees unable to attend live seminar with the customer service help they needed.

The result was the workbook, first published in a rather ugly form, and now in it's third edition, sporting a new look, new format, and well...new everything.

We Did It Backwards, and It Worked Out Well

Usually people write books, then base training and public appearances on their books. We, however did it backwards. We had a successful seminar using well designed instructional processes, and THEN we created a book that, as best as one can, mirrors, the seminar.

Which is why one of the best comments I received about the book is that it is truly "a seminar in a book".

Which Is All To Say:

• It's written to facilitate learning, rather than just reading, and includes exercises very similar to the ones we use in our seminars.
• It presents just enough theory to understand the very practical defusing techniques and tactics, so it doesn't bog down in fancy psychology jargon.
• We were able to include tips, hints and advice from the thousands who attended our live seminars, and I have to say, I learned much from them.
• Because it's actually based on the seminar, it's an excellent starting point, if you, trainers, or your organization want to build your own version of a seminar designed to help staff deal with difficult customer situations. And it even works for outside the public sector.

So, that's the story of how this book came to be. We think you should buy it. But then again, we're biased. There's much more information about the book. You can access the details via the left hand menu.

Or, heck. Grab a copy in downloadable form right now.