When was the last time you/your team said “no” to a customer?
- “No, we don’t do X?”
- “No, we don’t offer Y?”
Inside each of these “No’s” is an opportunity to solve a problem/need/desire that your customer is telling you they have and they have right now.
Meaning that they’re likely to invest money to solve it or select your business over another if you offer it.
In selecting a vet for my new dog (yep, adoption went through and Buddy and I are now family!), one of the deciding factors when it came down to two finalists was that one offered online forms so I didn’t need to sit in my car and leave it running or roast (it’s HHM here — hot, humid and miserable!) while waiting for them to bring the paperwork to me, fill it out and then call them to come get (we’re a virus hotspot so this is part of our “new normal”).
Where are you saying “No” that could be turned into an “Absolutely, we do that!” and, if it doesn’t make sense to add to your services/processes, how can your “No” become a “We don’t, and we have a relationship with someone who does” or a “No, and we do X instead.”
There’s significant revenue, retention and profit on the other side of every “No”.
And the question that every “No” generates? “How”:
- How can we tweak our process to meet this customer want/need?
- How can we add this program/product/service to meet this stated customer desire?
- How can we…
Keep a running list of all your “No’s” — Google docs, Evernote, Slack channels are all good for this when you’re working with a team — and regularly review them for next steps.