Just Say No: Sometimes You Can’t Do What Your Customers Want

By Jacquelyn Lynn

Keeping your customers happy is an important part of keeping your customers–but you can’t always do exactly what they want. There are three reasons to say no to a client: when you’re too busy to do the job right and on time; when you don’t possess the right skills for the job; and when there’s a question of ethics. But if you handle the situation with tact and diplomacy, you should be able to retain the client for future work if you want to.

If you’re too busy to meet the client’s stated deadline, be honest. Explain your own time constraints, and let them know what deadline you can meet. They may be willing to wait, but if they can’t, consider referring them to someone else who can handle the project. If you don’t have time to do the job right, don’t accept it and then either miss the deadline or deliver substandard work.

Honesty is also the best approach when you don’t possess the right skills. When possible, make a referral to someone more qualified. You might also consider accepting the project and subcontracting to someone else. But if you do this, remember that you are ultimately responsible for the quality and delivery of the work.

Ethical issues are more delicate. If an ethical question affects only a small part of a large project, you may want to back away from just that portion–but never do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable or that you wouldn’t want the world to know about. Be professional and diplomatic, but stand your ground.

Though turning down clients may well be one of the hardest things an entrepreneur has to do, you have to be true to yourself and have the strength to say no when it’s appropriate.

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Jacquelyn Lynn is a business writer, ghostwriter, and editor of Flashpoints.