Finding clients is one of the biggest challenges for many small businesses. In fact, they are often so eager to get the clients that they go out of their way and follow the legendary “the customer is always right” law.
However, sometimes the client isn’t right. At those times, you will have to say no to them.
There are many reasons why saying no to your client can actually be a good thing for you as a person and as a business owner.
Let’s look at the most important reasons below.
#1 You won’t make impossible promises
If you are the type of business owner who always says yes to his customers, then that means at some point you’ve made a promise that you probably won’t be able to keep at all.
When this happens, you will have one of two results:
- you won’t be able to fulfill your promises, and professional reputation will tank
- you will stress yourself out and bend over backwards just to fulfill the promise and go in the negative just to please your customer
This type of attitude definitely will not help you out in the long run. Either your reputation will completely suffer (when they provide negative feedback) or you will be bleeding cash in trying to give your customers as much as possible.
#2 You are still providing amazing customer service
A fault of the “the customer is always right” legendary law is that people confuse ‘yes’ with good customer service.
Therefore, they assume ‘no’ is bad customer service.
That is just faulty thinking. In fact, it can often be better to say no to your customers and mean that you are actually providing excellent customer service.
When you say no, it means that you are actually listening to them, providing them with solid, real-life actionable advice.
In fact, when people say yes all the time, they may not be listening to you. The customer realizes this too, so saying no can benefit you in the long run.
#3 You’ll avoid difficult customers
One of the biggest benefits of saying no is that there are some customers who are just not pleasable.
Not every person in the world will be the right customer for you, and in fact many customers are not suitable at all.
This is because they may have unrealistic expectations for your products or services. Either that, or they are unwilling or unable to pay the fair market value of your products or services.
If you say yes to one thing, it may start a relationship where the customer has power over you and you are capitulating to their every wish.
This is bad for business, especially when the client is a leech. In these ways, it is best to let your customer go rather than be stuck with a drain on your business.
Why you should say no to clients
Saying no, in this last point, is also good for you as a person. It provides you with your own pride, to have the ability to put your foot down and gain professional and personal respect.
This is important to remember and will give you the proper motivation to continue working on and expanding your business.
