My daughter and I were playing today in our apartment, and as I approached the couch, she warned me to “Watch out for the monkey and shark forest.”  Not certain about what she was referring to, I sat down on the couch and she screamed at me to get out of the “forest” because the monkeys and sharks were in there.  Instead of arguing with her (and risking a two-year old moment), I immediately complied and thanked her for saving me.  We continued to play, and when I sat down on the couch five minutes later, everything was fine in her world.

The point?  There are many things your clients are afraid of.  Even though some of those things may sound absurd to you, acknowledge them just the same, because they are very real to your clients.  If the issues are truly insignificant or unimportant, you’ll get points both for understanding them and for making them go away.