How to Say No to Customers: A 5 Step Guide
Support reps or business owners may find themselves in a fix when they have to say no to customers. Chances are that your customer may have asked for a feature you don’t offer or requested for an unreasonable service, shared concern about a company policy, or given unsatisfactory feedback for your product. Saying no to a customer should count as an essential skill for a customer support representative. But how do you say no to customers in a positive way?
We have compiled a 5 step guide to help you say no to customer requests when necessary.
1. Express Empathy
Your customers may not always be right or raise reasonable requests. That is precisely where you have to be empathetic towards their needs and possibly offer a quick workaround to appease angry customers. If you are unable to share a solution with them, communicate the same instead of giving them hope. Start by thanking your customers for reaching out to you and sharing their concerns. Even if the customer’s request is completely out of the scope of your product or service, go ahead and express regret for not being able to help them. Customers need to know that you do understand the predicament they are in. It will calm them down and remove any unnecessary escalation or negativity.
In an era where customers don’t shy away from posting about their experience on social media, it goes without saying that customer interactions need to be monitored and prioritized. Leading with empathy in all customer interactions will help you say no to your customers in a positive way.
Template 1: A customer (Emily) asks for a feature (X) that you are unlikely to build.
Hi Emily,
I appreciate you taking the time to share this feature with us. It does sound interesting. However, we do not have plans to add X to our product in the near future.
Would you mind sharing what your goal is and how you planned to use this feature to achieve your goal? It will help me figure out if there are alternate ways for you to achieve the same goal.
Regards,
Gina
Even if the customer’s request is completely out of the scope of your product/service, express regret for not helping them. #HowToSayNo #CustomerService – Click to tweet
2. Always Provide Context
Whether you are a small business or a large enterprise, you should always have complete clarity on the issue or request being raised. Communication is easier and answers are more helpful when you have more context. Gone are the days when you needed to repeat questions for your customers to provide more clarity on any issue.
A helpdesk software equips every person who works on the same request to have enough context to understand what exactly your customer needs. Customer support agents can even collaborate with other team members to resolve the ticket raised. You can even access past interactions with any customer on any channel from the single, unified customer database.
If your customer requests for a feature to be added to your product, you need to be able to understand the request raised before the product/legal/finance team can evaluate whether the request is reasonable. Context around each issue also helps support agents articulate responses better to these customers. It’s important to let them know why their requests cannot be fulfilled at the time and how they might conflict with your company policies.
Customers are likely to get frustrated during instances that fail to provide them with enough context on WHY their request is being denied. Equip your customer service reps to say no to your customers in a positive way with coherent reasoning. This approach will help you strengthen your customer relationships.
Template 2: A customer has decided to buy your product but is asking for a discount.
Hi Emily,
We’re excited that you have decided to buy our product! We cannot wait to have you on board. I spoke to our Product Expert about your use case and he is ready to help you get started right away.
As for your discount request, I’m sorry to say that we don’t offer a discount. We believe that our service offers more value for your money and it will be unfair to other customers if we make an exception.
Let me know if I can send you the contract.
Thanks,
Gina
Ask customers why they want what they want before saying no. Don’t forget to tell them why you are saying no. #HowToSayNo #CustomerService – Click to tweet
3. Offer Alternatives
If you find yourself in a situation where your customers are asking for something that cannot be done by you, present them with alternative solutions. Once you understand their pain points, don’t forget to let them in on the steps you’re willing to take to cater to their needs. This may require you to redirect them to someone who can resolve their issues, even if it means sending them to your competitor.
It is imperative for you to communicate with your product team before you share a solution with your customers. In case you are missing a crucial service/feature that the customer wants, check with your product team on the feasibility of incorporating this feature with regard to the product roadmap. You may communicate to your customers that the feedback has been taken into consideration and let them know that the solution isn’t available at the moment. Don’t forget to connect with them once you have the service/feature in place. Your customers will be elated to know that they were heard and might consider coming back.
Remember: If there are other, more effective ways of achieving their goal, don’t forget to educate them and send them the right resources.
Template 3: A customer is asking for a feature (X) that has been removed from their offering.
Hi Emily,
The reason we removed X from our offering was that it was slowing down the app loading time for most of our customers, even for those who never used X. So we are not likely to bring it back anytime soon.
I understand how frustrating it must be to lose a feature that you relied on. So if this is a deal-breaker for you, I am happy to help you move to a different tool that offers you X and caters to your business needs.
Regards,
Gina
4. Follow up
Every customer deserves a follow-up. Here are a few scenarios where it’s absolutely essential for you to follow up when you have said no to a customer.
- You might have just redirected the customer to a competitor. It’s not a lost opportunity but an approach that will just keep your loyal customers coming back for more. However, it is essential for you to follow up with your customer on the referral shared by you.
- Stay updated about the success of an alternative suggested. Your customers had liked your service a certain way but you offered to assist them another way instead. Check in to see if they liked Solution B better. Be proactive and follow up with your customers to let them know that you’d be assisting them at each step of their customer journey.
- You should even follow up with your customers about their concerns and let them know once your product team has incorporated the changes they had requested in the first place. Let them know that you would be happy to help in case they still need to fulfill their former request. Nurture your customer relationship and attract more customers along the way.
Template 4: A customer is asking you to do their job for them.
Hi Emily,
I prepared a document for you that will walk you through the steps to do X. You can get this done in no time.
However, if you do face any difficulties, please let me know. We can get on a call and I can guide you step by step.
Regards,
Gina
Treat every no you say as the first no of the day. #HowToSayNo #CustomerService – Click to tweet
5. Ask For Customer Feedback
Whether you are a startup or an established giant, customer feedback will always be pivotal for business growth. Insights from customer surveys and interactions reveal how your customer feels about your product/ service.
When a customer request cannot be fulfilled, the next step for you is to understand they are coming from. How would that missing piece disrupt their workflow? Is it something that your product team can fix to make your product better? Can that query be resolved using resources from your knowledge base or perhaps your customers can be directed to the self-service portal for more clarity?
Customer satisfaction rating (CSAT rating) remains one of the best ways to gauge how your customers feel about your service and support. You may leverage the built-in functionality of Freshdesk that can be used to directly measure helpdesk efficiency and customer satisfaction with every support ticket.
Template 5: A customer is asking for a refund/return/exchange for a product they damaged.
Hi Emily,
I’m unable to process your refund/return/exchange request because the product was damaged after delivery.
I understand how disappointing this must be given that you didn’t get to use it much. However, based on the images you sent us, I think it can still be fixed. Here are some tutorials I found on the product’s support portal that might be useful: www.productx.com/tutorials.
Regards,
Gina
We hope that the 5 steps shared above with email templates help you enable your customer service reps to say no to customers when need be. What are some of the ways in which you managed to say no to customers? Let us know in the comments section?
Originally published on Feb 8, 2018. Updated on Feb 1, 2022.
