How to Say Yes to Your Customer Even if the Answer Is No

Even if standout customer service is one of your highest brand priorities, you can’t simply say yes to every customer request. After all, sometimes customers have unreasonable expectations, don’t understand your company products or services, or just ask for something that you simply can’t provide. But how can you ensure customers stay loyal to your brand even when you can’t fulfill their every request? Keep reading to find out how you can make the answer a positive yes, even when the short answer is no.

Hire the Right Employees and Empower Them

Dig deep into a potential new hire’s customer service philosophy and try to determine if they are genuinely interested in helping people. Ask for an example or two of a time they have gone above-and-beyond when helping someone. Try to understand what motivates them to come to work every day.

Once you’ve hired the right customer service representatives, you need to empower them. They need to have the ability to make decisions that are in the best interest of the customer. They need to be provided with leeway to interpret company policies and to make exceptions, when reasonable. They need to feel like they are a trusted, integral part of the company. When you allow them room to make their own judgement calls, customer service will flourish.

Set the Cultural Default to Yes

Starting from the top, a culture of yes needs to be seen and felt throughout the company. How often are the leaders and managers telling employees no? If your employees are always being told no, it’s likely that they are passing on the negativity to your customers.

Be mindful of what you say and how you say it.
Show your employees respect for their questions, opinions and requests.
Celebrate when employees solve problems.
Recognize efforts for going the extra mile with customers.
Whenever possible, just say yes.

When you set a positive example and give correct expectations, you’ll have success creating a culture of customer service excellence in your company.

Avoid Giving Customers a Negative Experience

It’s inevitable, sometimes customers ask for something you just can’t deliver. However, that doesn’t mean your answer to them should be no. In fact, just by using more positive language will go a long way in keeping your customer happy even if they aren’t getting something they want.

Create a positive conversation that moves toward a solution. Use simple response substitutions to turn a no response into a yes response. Here are a few examples:

Instead of saying you DON’T have something right now, substitute, when you WILL have it.
Instead of saying you’ll transfer them to someone else, substitute, you WILL help them.
Instead of saying you DON’T know why (if, how, etc.), substitute, you WILL find out.
Instead of saying you WON’T be able to do something, substitute what you WILL be able to do.

By teaching your employees the best, most positive ways to react toward customer requests, everyone will end up satisfied in the end.

When it comes to implementing customer service best practices, we can help. Visit ROI Solutions and request a free quote today.