The following post is from the blog archives from a year ago (originally published on February 6, 2014 http://www.5oclockreflections.com/when-no-means-yes/).
We say YES to what our customers want to hear, to get the sale. We make empty promises to set expectations which we know will never be met. Then our customers get disappointed because of our superficial stances that ring hollow.
We should learn to say NO so that we can set realistic expectations. NO, the car will take more than 2 hours to fix, the letter will take more than two days to deliver, the loan more than a week to process, and the parts delivery more than a month to get to the warehouse.
When we learn to say NO, we say YES to trust, to caring about our customers and to keeping our promises. Small little word — huge implications for honesty, integrity and loyalty.
About Hemant Rustogi