How to Say No to Customers — And Leave Them and You Feeling Good

Last month, I presented at the Support Driven Summit in San Francisco on how to say no to customers. I had a lot of fun trying an Ignite presentation, a format in which 20 slides are presented for 15 seconds each, automatically, for a concise five-minute presentation.

The Support Driven Summit will release the recording soon, and I will share it on this platform. In the meantime, here’s a peek at the presentation and the techniques I shared.

Whether we work in Tech Support, Customer Success, or Customer Service, we often have to say no to customers. For instance:

• I cannot meet this deadline
• There are no refunds
• The product cannot do what you want it to do
• We will not fix this bug
• We will not implement your enhancement request

Here are 5 basic techniques.

• Listen completely. This allows you to make sure  you fully understand the request and it makes the customer feel heard.
• Do it promptly. We are often afraid of saying no; waiting just makes the fear grow.
• Make it fast. Say no in a few words: rip the bandaid!
• Follow the rules. Most of us work in a larger team with set processes and procedures. Applying them consistently saves everyone headaches (even customers, who appreciate predictability).
• Propose a solution. It may not be what the customer imagined, but don’t just leave them hanging.

And 2 advanced techniques.

• Offer options. Having options gives some control back to the customer–and also subtly redirects them to take an action rather than rehash the request that you cannot meet.
• Say yes to say no. This only works for some types of requests but it’s spectacular. For instance, “I’d love to promise to have an answer today, but my experience is that it takes a couple days. I want to be sure I deliver on my promises, so I will commit to Wednesday.”

Take care of yourself

Saying no can be tough, especially if you take pleasure in helping other people. Be kind to yourself both physically (first two bullets) and psychologically (last two).

• Stand up if you are feeling a bit hesitant (or at least sit upright). When we stand, our bodies send our brains a helpful feeling of power.
• Lean back if you find yourself going too hard. It’s almost impossible to be aggressive if you lean even a few degrees back. Leaning back works whether you are sitting or standing, and whether you are speaking or typing.
• Mentally focus on what you can do for the customer, not the painful act of saying no. By saying no, you enable the customer to go forward towards an other solution, and you also free up your time to take care of other customers.
• Observe your reaction. Saying no can be a little painful (think about a slight gut pinch). Acknowledge the feeling and learn to make friends with it. It’s completely normal.

Practice

Chances are you will have multiple opportunities to say no every day. Keep honing your technique and you will get better and better at it.

Do you have tips you’d like to share? Please post a comment.

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