Sep 1, 2026 · 21 min · 14 segments
You could deliver a flawless presentation, have the best product, and be on the verge of closing a massive sale, but if a single hostile critic or difficult person starts heckling you and you handle…
Kurt MortensenHost
You know that annoying person that rubs you the wrong way, maybe the office jerk, the person that's always distracting in meetings, pushing buttons, maybe the irritating in-law or relative? Hey, that could be you.

Well, we're gonna talk about that today, but sometimes we're the annoying person, we're the distracting person, we're the heckler, but we're gonna talk about other people today.

Let's assume, no, you shouldn't do that, that you aren't the annoying, irritating, distracting person.

But you know when that person's in your world and you say the wrong thing, you can turn a minor critic into a fierce enemy.

Because someone who deliberately tries to embarrass you, attack you, put you on the spot, make you look bad in public, something's going on and you have to handle it the right way.

So how do you deal with that heckler without looking weak? Do you need to retreat? Be more aggressive? That's what we'll be talking about today to give you the tools to handle those difficult people so you don't have to fight them and you can get them to listen so you can start to persuade and influence them.
Let's do it.
Maximize your influence.
Kurt Mortensen is the author of Persuasion IQ, Laws of Charisma, and the best-selling book Maximum Influence.

Send emails to MaximizeYourInfluence at gmail.com. You can find us on iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Audible, and YouTube.
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You know that annoying person that rubs you the wrong way, maybe the office jerk, the person that's always distracting in meetings, pushing buttons, maybe the irritating in-law or relative? Hey, that could be you.

Well, we're gonna talk about that today, but sometimes we're the annoying person, we're the distracting person, we're the heckler, but we're gonna talk about other people today.

Let's assume, no, you shouldn't do that, that you aren't the annoying, irritating, distracting person.

But you know when that person's in your world and you say the wrong thing, you can turn a minor critic into a fierce enemy.

Because someone who deliberately tries to embarrass you, attack you, put you on the spot, make you look bad in public, something's going on and you have to handle it the right way.

So how do you deal with that heckler without looking weak? Do you need to retreat? Be more aggressive? That's what we'll be talking about today to give you the tools to handle those difficult people so you don't have to fight them and you can get them to listen so you can start to persuade and influence them.
Let's do it.
Maximize your influence.
Kurt Mortensen is the author of Persuasion IQ, Laws of Charisma, and the best-selling book Maximum Influence.

Send emails to MaximizeYourInfluence at gmail.com. You can find us on iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Audible, and YouTube.