You Don't Always Have to Say "Yes"

Click above to comment and link to Sean's original post

Intro by Skip Cohen

Ever had a friendship with somebody that's just plain comfortable? You don't catch up very often, but when you do, it's always a fun conversation and always leaves you appreciating the friendship. Well, meet Sean Rogan. Actually, many of you have already met him, going back to his SmugMug days.

Sean posted the article below on his LinkedIn page and asked my thoughts. I agree completely with what he shared, and asked him for permission to share it again here on the SCU blog. If you'd like to comment directly to Sean as well as the original post, just click on the picture above or connect to his LinkedIn account by the hitting the bar below.

And to Sean - we may not catch up very often, but Buddy, what a kick when we do. Thanks for staying in touch.

---

The Lost Art of Saying NO - Guest post by Sean Rogan

What is a yes worth from someone who never says no?

There was a time when "no" was an entirely ordinary answer. Somewhere along the line, we started treating it as something to avoid — softening it, qualifying it, deferring it — sometimes until it barely means anything at all.

I’m not lobbying for "no" because I think we should say it more often, although there are certainly times when that would be a boon. I do think we should say it better. The goal isn’t to become good at saying "no", and it certainly isn’t to become good at saying "yes". It’s to become trusted to know which answer the situation requires. And the customer doesn't just need us to possess judgment. They need enough positive experience with our judgment to believe us when we exercise it.

If a customer engages you in part because you know something they don’t, your responsibility isn’t simply to execute whatever they ask for. It’s to understand what they’re trying to accomplish and give them your best professional judgment about how to get there.

And sometimes, that means saying "no".

• "No", that timeline isn’t realistic.
• "No", at that number, we wouldn't be able to deliver the quality you came to us for.
• "No", cutting those corners will put the outcome at risk.
• "No", that feature won’t fix the problem you’re trying to solve for.
• "No", I don’t recommend deploying it that way, even though we technically can.

That isn’t being difficult. That is doing the job. Honorably. I understood this innately, long before I worked in SaaS. In sales, I had a simple rule: never sell someone something they don't need simply because I could. Though, admittedly, I don’t confuse allowing someone to purchase with selling.

The measure of a great salesperson shouldn’t be whether they could sell sand at the beach, but rather, would they?

Customer Success, at its very best, demands the same discipline. A trusted advocate doesn’t demonstrate advocacy by always agreeing with the customer. Sometimes advocating for them requires telling them they’re wrong. But you have to earn that right.

Understand what they want. Understand why they want it. Understand the outcome they’re actually trying to achieve — and then tell them the truth.

They may choose another path. If they do, make sure they understand the consequences, respect the decision, and, by every means at your disposal, help them execute it well.

The strongest evidence that someone is your advocate isn’t that they always agree with you. It’s that you trust their disagreement. Because ultimately, your willingness to say "no" is what gives your "yes" credibility.

So tell me, when has a well-delivered “no” actually strengthened a customer relationship for you?

Inquiring minds want to...no.