Honestly, the people that I've dealt with that are scared of snakes are usually more scared of my small ones than my big one(When I had my Yellow Anaconda). My mom would actually hold my girl but she wouldn't pet my small snake who was about 13 inches long. Same with a few other people, but what I would do is I'd have them just pet your snakes while you're holding it and show them that the head is away from you, then after doing that sometimes they warm up a bit, or sometimes it takes a few more of the "petting" sessions.