When you make your point don’t say anything more after that.
A few years ago I had a very challenging situation. One of my employees had a very bad hygiene problem. People would walk into our office and just about keel over from the odor. It was throughout the office. I had no choice but to talk to the ‘offending person—who was a she’ privately in my office. I delivered the news fairly tactfully and all went well. She got up to leave and then for whatever reason I will not know, I added “And I haven’t been able to breathe through my nose due to allergies yet I could still smell something all week:” This brilliant addition ignited a torrent of tears flowing down her face. Aghhhhhh. As a result, my tip is to “say what you need to and not one bit more.”
