8 ways to say no to customers with examples Have you ever heard no as a customer? How did you feel? Were you disappointed? Sometimes it may happen that we need to say no to our customers or deliver negative news. In fact, this is one of the most unpleasant parts of customer service workflow. Having with negative news requires specific skills and self-control. It is not easy to say no and continue a smooth conversation. In any customer interaction, the words you say either ruin your relationship with a customer or build it up. That is why it is so important for any company to do this right across all customer service channels. So, how to say no without spoiling your customer service experience? Here are 8 tips to begin with. Say no without actually saying no. When you break negative news to clients, you want to soften the blow and show them you understand their concerns. In most cases, there is no need to say no directly. You can wrap your negative news into positive content, making it an ingredient of your new sandwich. Here are a couple of great tips which will help you to build your best positive no. Assert your refusal. If you refuse to do or to deliver something your customer's request, it does not mean you do not want to do this. This is just something your company does not provide. Explain this carefully to your customers without giving an empty promise. Unfortunately, we are not planning to implement this feature in the foreseeable future. Sorry for disappointing news. Say yes instead of saying no. And you can say yes to something more important for your customer, do this. Where can I download my chat conversations? For security reasons, we do not store chat transcripts on our service. We send them directly to the email defined for this purpose in your account. Protecting our customer's data is our main priority. Deliver positive news even if you had to say no. No matter whether you provide any kind of service or run an online store, there is always something you can offer your customers to maintain your relationship. Even if you had to refuse, try to find something your customers will be interested in. Just do your best to offer a positive outcome. I would be glad to offer you some extra customization and recommendations for optimizing your live chat customer service. Clarify things before you say no. Sometimes customers speak in a roundabout way and it is not clear from the very beginning what exactly they are requesting. Do not hurry to say no. Clarify things carefully to avoid misunderstanding. Instead ask clarifying questions to ensure that you understand everything. Here are some examples of such questions we use in our customer service communication. I am not quite sure I understand what you mean, could you clarify? If I understand you correctly, you'd like to. To avoid misunderstanding, could you please confirm... Begin with empathy. Empathy statements allow you to establish connection with your customers. Such statements create trust as well as mutual understanding. In most cases, when you need to deliver negative news, it may be necessary to begin with empathy, to show your customers that you care and will do your best to help them. Here are empathy phrases which you can use while communicating with your customers. I would feel the same in your situation. Let's see what we can do to sort this out. I totally understand that this feature is very important for your business and its development is our highest priority. I know how frustrating it can be. May I offer you? In addition, it is necessary to use empathy words like, I would. I understand. I am sorry or please accept my or our apology. I totally agree. Explain things carefully. No matter how busy you are, do not leave unsaid words and explain your customers everything carefully, especially if you delivered negative news. It is important that people are aware that you are actually listening to their concerns. If you just tell them no without explaining, they will feel upset and frustrated. However, if you provide detailed explanation, you will clear up their concerns. Let me explain you why we cannot provide this feature at present. The main reason for this is that, please accept our apologies that the feature you request is not available at present. However, it is of highest priority and we will do our best to implement it as soon as possible. Do not be afraid to say many words. It will not take much time, but will definitely add more positivity to your conversation. Offer alternatives Before you say no to customers, think of alternatives. Is there anything you can do for them? In most cases, you can offer something and smooth over the effect of your negative news. Though we do not support this payment method, we can keep your account active while you are sorting out the issue with your bank. Listen to your customers. Listening to your customers is one of the most important aspects of providing excellent customer service experience. Your refusal to listen is one of the ways you say no to customers. No matter how busy you are, listen carefully to ensure you understand their questions and issues. If you deliver negative news without looking into their issues, you will ruin your relationship with customers. Here are three reasons why listening to customers is important. Show your empathy while listening. If your customers do not believe that you are truly engaged, trying to understand them, they're much more likely to walk away and turn to competition, seeking a better customer service. Could you provide more details about your issue so that I can ensure that there is no misunderstanding? Instead of, unfortunately, we cannot help you with the issue. Sorry. Focus on customer experience. Listening is one of the most important ingredients of superior customer service experience. Listen carefully even if you know that you cannot offer the best solution right here and right now. After you collect all information, you may offer an alternative and provide recommendations that will show your desire to help. Being helps your company to improve. And this is true. If you not only listen to what your customers say, but also carefully document this, you can use this information to improve your products or service in future. Our customers are the best source for details about our success and failures. We can use the data they provide to make our company better. Do your best to solve the issue. Knowing your customers that you are truly engaged is the best way to win their trust. No matter whether you can offer any solution or not, you need to do everything you can to find it and to offer an alternative if you failed. Here are a couple of scripts for this situation. Unfortunately, right now, we cannot implement this feature. However, let me check with our management if we can do this in the future. I'm afraid our Christmas promo is over. However, we will be glad to offer you a 15% discount for this subscription, as you have been our loyal customer for five years. I'm not authorized to apply this update now. Please hold on for a while and I will check if there is a technician who can do this right away. Follow up. If you say notes to customers, follow them up with good news and with your yes to the feature or product they inquired. Following your customers informed about your progress is important if you want to win their loyalty. A simple follow up will not take much time. However, if you forget to notify your customers about available solution and they will find it out themselves, this will definitely spoil your reputation. It often happens that we have to say no to customers. However, we should be aware that they are waiting for positive news and will switch to competition if they do not get any. Thanks for watching. We hope you find these recommendations useful. If you want to read more useful tips, please visit our blog on ProvideSupport.com.