Developing A Strong ‘NO’

The power of “no” is something I’ve been learning.

I come from a sales background. Salespeople love the word “yes” – it makes them money. I also trained to be a teacher. Both parents were teachers. So “no” comes unnaturally to me.

But I’ve found that the more I say yes, the more likely I am to let people down. Say yes to everything and you push back other clients’ work. Say yes to things outside your expertise and the project overruns. Say yes when you should say no and trust erodes.

“No” is often better than yes. Especially if it’s followed by a good recommendation.

No, I can’t fit your work in this week, because that would mean pushing back another client’s work, and that would be unfair.

No, I don’t want to advise you on social media strategy. Give Scott a call instead.

It’s about managing expectations. It’s better to keep three people happy than to let down three people out of five.

This is what Apple do with the iPad. What’s better: an iPad that can multitask but keeps crashing? Or one that can’t multitask (yet) and never crashes?

Apple don’t want to be the IT guy who says he’ll be in this afternoon and doesn’t come for three days. They want to be the guy who says he can’t do it for four days – and sticks to his word.

Develop a strong “no”. It will make your “yes” mean something.