;)
Saying “No” to customers is easily among the toughest conversations for any business.
However, there are situations when fulfilling the request does not feel possible yet the inability to do feels bad at many levels.
After all, when you turn down someone, they would probably not take it well and might not return again. And it can affect your organization.
70% of unhappy customers will return and shop again with your company if your business solves their problem.
So, in order to handle these scenarios efficiently, you need to strike a balance between how to saying no to customers and still keeping them engaged with the business.
The best possible response will be to hear what customers say, show interest in their demands, and then respond to them in a positive manner.
It’s never easy to tell customers no — especially to those who you see as a prospect. Luckily, there are some effective strategies to serve the intended purpose without having to deny anyone. You can also learn how to decline a request politely and handle angry customers without offending someone and still benefit from the situation.
There are many ways you can say no to clients and still hope to retain their benevolence.
Let’s dive into each of the ways in detail:
Some of your customers may come up to you with a request that might seem bizarre to you. Or, a demand that looks unreasonable to meet.
In such cases, you might feel tempted to forsake any customer service etiquette to answer them in a negative way and finish off the matter in a jiffy.
It would however be a mistake to immediately say no to customers without knowing the problem inside out.
The right response is to first get to the root of the problem, properly understand the motivation behind the request, and then think of the next course of action.
Here’s an example:
You are an online retail shop that recently discontinued the cash-on-delivery (COD) system for one particular area of the market for some strategic reasons. Now, when one of your customers wants the service back and approaches you with the request.
Even if you don’t intend to roll back the COD anytime soon, you could still be polite with the customer, suggest the benefits of the available option, and may even assure them of the return of the service in the near figure.
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Customers can reach your business from many channels.
And if you don’t have an appropriate customer response system in place, it will be difficult to manage conversations effectively.
When you’re ready to listen to what customers have to say, it means you’re ready to serve them better.
The right approach is to take customer communications seriously, attend to their request immediately, and then proactively reach out for help.
For example, Starbucks knows how to give value to customers and the above example is a clear case of its approach to solving problems.
Customers ideally want to listen a “YES” when they approach brands with a request. And when they don’t get a favorable response, they wish to at least know the rationale behind the denial.
If you are in a situation where an affirmative answer from you is not possible, make sure you explain to customers the reason behind that.
Saying ‘No” without explanation can make your customers feel upset and frustrated. This can might also dilute your customer relationship management effort in a big way.
However, if there is a detailed explanation, it can definitely make the frustration a little less stingy for sure.
So, if you want to understand how to politely decline a business request feels like, give a proper reason for the denial.
Here are some of the examples of how to say no to customer requests by explaining things in detail:
“We are sorry to meet your request at the moment due to an ongoing service issue at our end. The moment our process is restored, we will get back to you and take things further from there….”
“The request you have made falls outside the purview of our company policy. We understand your issue but are bound by the rules.…”
“Serving you has always been a privilege to us. This time around we would have liked to make available the feature you requested but are unable to do it due to maintenance work at our end.”
Customers always like a great experience with brands. And they also expect businesses to respond in a positive manner.
So, even if you intend to say no, make sure your response is framed with some care to avoid any damage to customer goodwill with your business.
After all, more than your intent, the word you use, and the tone you choose to respond will linger on with customers.
For that reason, you should avoid a denial outright and rather be diplomatic in terms of interacting with them.
Here are some of the examples of how to tell a customer you cannot help them and still frame your response gracefully:
“We appreciate your time and effort in sharing with us. Unfortunately, we’re unable to implement this right way, but you can still be hopeful for the future…”
“Thanks to you for bringing our attention to this issue. Let us see what we can do best for this situation.”
“The reason we’re not able to offer this is that….”
Brands that follow the policy of empathy are more likely to retain the trust of their customers.
So, whenever your business has to say no to customers, make sure it comes with a sense of empathy otherwise you might come across as rude.
The focus should be on putting yourself in customer’s shoes and then realizing the value of their concerns.
If you’re able to empathize with customers, you’re almost likely to get them returned convinced.
There may be situations when you feel more than capable yet are unable to meet the exact demands of the customer for some reason.
On top of that, you also don’t want to deny customers a request that is not that steep.
For such scenarios, you can offer alternatives to customers and minimize their pain to some extent.
And by offering alternatives to customers, you not only avoid the situation of how to decline a request politely but also make them feel valued.
If your business is tarring all the customers with the same brush, it’s definitely heading on the wrong track.
After all, customers want to feel unique in all situations and standard response does not fit well into that narrative.
Worse still, they generally feel bad when brands offer them templated responses for concerns.
So, even when you have to deny a customer, make sure the response does not feel like the one you have a “copy and paste” system as it might fail to convey the right message.
Customer feedback should matter to your business, more than many other things. It will show that you look to handle customer complaints at all times.
If you want to create happy customers, there is no way you can avoid seeking feedback.
More importantly, if you have been dealing with saying no to customers more often than you’d ideally prefer, it means your feedback mechanism is faulty.
One major advantage of seeking customer feedback is to avoid situations in the future when you have to turn down customers.
After having said no to a customer, you may feel like being in the wrong in some way. You however can use this situation to your advantage and delight customers again with proper follow-ups.
Rather than waiting to hear back from customers after a denial of service, you should be proactive and take the first step in reaching out to them.
A follow-up will help you recognize the customer signals and give you a roadmap in creating value for the business.
With a timely follow-up call, you can not only better understand what your customers want but can use the input to improve your customer support process.
A customer coming up with a request does not mean you need to fulfill it under all conditions. There are bound to be situations when you can say no politely in business and don’t feel bothered about the consequences. So, you need to assess the particular case and make the move accordingly.
Scenarios when saying no to customers is OK:
Having to say no to a customer does not mean you’re going to lose them forever. You can still retain their trust if you show respect and empathy to them. Rather than ending the conversation there itself, you need to make a follow-up and see how the customer is doing after the denial.
And when it comes to engaging customers more effectively, using the engagement tools is often the best step forward. Sign up to empower your business with top engagement tools and deliver value.
The right strategy should be to develop more comfort with saying no to customers without coming across as rude. After all, your business needs them to survive and even when you deny them once, there is always an opportunity to win them over with the right measures.
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Suvashree Bhattacharya is a researcher, blogger, and author in the domain of customer experience, omnichannel communication, and conversational AI. Serving as a content marketing strategist at REVE Chat, she develops contextual and interesting content for customers from different industries and segments like customer service, customer satisfaction, engagement, messaging platforms, etc. Passionate about writing and designing, she pours her heart out in writeups that are detailed, interesting, engaging, and more importantly cater to the requirements of the targeted audience. Her interests include reading, painting, and traveling.
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