A potential client comes into the call hot.
They're demanding.
They're impatient.
They're challenging everything you say.
And before you know it, you're being reactive.
They get firm.
You get firmer.
They push.
You push back.
Don't fight fire with fire.
When someone comes into a call with that much intensity, your first job isn't to react to it.
It's to figure out what's underneath it.
Sometimes, it's fear.
They feel out of control.
They're facing a legal problem. They don't know what's going to happen. They don't know what the outcome will be. And they may be looking for somewhere—anywhere—to regain a little control.
That place can become the conversation.
If you don't recognize what's happening, you'll start fighting over who gets to control it.
Pay attention to the emotional temperature of the room.
You don't have to become passive.
You don't have to give up control of the call.
But you do have to know when to adjust and when to pivot.
There's a difference.
Adjust means you stay in the same role, but you dial it up or dial it down.
Pivot means the role itself isn't working.
Maybe being more direct isn't what this person needs from you right now.
Maybe you need to get curious.
Maybe you need to listen.
You need to give them nothing to fight against.
The goal isn't to win the battle for control.
The goal is to move the conversation forward.
So when someone brings fire into the call—
don't fight fire with fire.
Figure out what's feeding it. Then defuse it.