Are you a yes man? Saying yes to everything can get you stretched too thin, doing jobs you don’t like doing, and not maximizing your income potential. I’m here to share with you how to say no politely to clients even if you really need the money!
It’s bound to happen to you.
I can’t say when but it will.
A client is going to ask you to do something and even if it falls in your area of expertise, in your brain you’ll think, “EWWWW NOOOOOO. That sounds miserable, I don’t want to do that.”
Can I tell ya something?
Don’t do it.
It’s likely that a client will ask you to do something and you’re going to be in a situation where you need the money really badly and you’ll immediately want to say yes.
I’m begging you not to do this.
I know this is miserably hard for some of you, but you can say no and you can say no politely in a way that you respect yourself, honor your client, and value your work.
How To Say No Politely
Depending on your niche, the details may change but the idea will remain the same.
Let me preface this by saying prior to my career shift into the home renovation space and the virtual assistant side of things I was in customer support and research for a software company.
We told people no all the time. They’d ask for things that literally couldn’t be done and we’d tell them no. They’d ask for things that didn’t make sense from a product standpoint and we’d tell them no. They’d call and ask if our software did X or Y and I’d tell them no.
I’ve learned that you can soften the blow with a no and still have incredible customer service and give the consumer a great customer experience. And still maintain a business relationship.
How To Say No Politely In Person
This is the “easiest” way to say no because you are interacting face to face and you can show concern in your body language and your facial expressions.
Let’s play this scenario out.
A client requests for you to make some social media graphics for them. You know you’re fully capable, but the thought of this makes you want to throw your computer out the window preemptively.
Here’s an example of what to say:
If you want to say no right then and there: “Oh man, thanks so much for asking! Honestly, I’d rather not. With the rest of my client load, this isn’t something that would be easy to add in my workflow and I want to make sure you get the most value for your money. I would love to point you to someone else I trust for this, though, would that be okay?
If you’d rather be able to tell them no later: “Thanks so much for asking! Do you mind if I take a look at my calendar when I get home and see if it’s something I can add in to my current workflow?”
How To Say No Politely In An Email
Let’s use the same scenario above.
The only difference here is that because of the nature of email, you can give yourself a few days to respond, but also say no politely.
Just make sure that you don’t just completely ignore the customer’s request. That’s not a good look, especially if you’re trying to build a small business.
How to reply no politely via email: “Hey X, Thanks so much for reaching out. While I do offer that as a service, at this time, my schedule wouldn’t allow me to take the best care of you and I want to honor your time and money. Would you mind if I pointed you in the direction of a trusted colleague?”
When should you say no to a client?
If it doesn’t align with your brand
This is huge, especially in the beginning. So many times because a proposal or idea of a project “feels good”, we can take it only to realize that it’s just way off brand and not at all what you want your brand to represent.
If it doesn’t align with your mission
What is your overall mission with your business? Does this project align with what you want to do?
I actually had a client right in the beginning who wanted me to work exclusively with her – that was totally against my mission.
My mission was to help as many people as possible (within reason) and so working with 1 person alone went against my mission of my business. So the answer had to be no.
If it goes against your morals
This is huge.
Your personal life doesn’t come out in your business life often, but when it does, it should be in a good way.
You can’t sell your soul for a client. It will never end well. Never.
Just because you’re a small business does not mean that you have to be a yes man.
Regardless of your responding in person or via email, you don’t have to feel bad saying no. You can show the customer you care and still say no! No need in feeling guilty.
This is doing what’s best for you, your business and your brand.
