Telling Customers No Is a Terrible First Impression

Especially when the “no” is entirely avoidable

Image by Ana Krach from Pixabay

Imagine frequenting a business for the first time, and within one minute being told, “No, you can’t do that,” or, “No, you can’t have that.”

Now, sometimes you can’t steer clear of that conversation. An employee calls in sick and you have to open late. An item runs out of inventory. A supplier is late with a shipment. Those kinds of things happen to all of us once in a while. Explained properly to customers, all should be well.

However, every employee of your business is a marketer. Every time they interact with a customer, they say something about your brand. If they make promises — even unintentionally — that they can’t keep, they associate your brand with disappointment.

I recently had a highly revered business tell me no. It was a conversation that could have been avoided so easily. Let me tell you the story, and then I’ll come back and translate it into actionable takeaways.

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