How do we say no to work?

We have had an enquiry from a potential client but I don’t think we are the right supplier for them. How do we say no to the work?

Last week I wrote about a design business that had been asked to propose for some work. After much deliberation the designers decided that they didn’t want to take on the project. The problem then was how should they tell their potential client that they wouldn’t be pursuing the option of working with them?

I think it’s good to have a plan of action for dealing with work that you are going to reject, because in my experience if you don’t have a plan of how to say ‘no’ gracefully you end up saying ‘yes’ because it’s the easier option.

In most cases the potential clients that you don’t want to work with are those that don’t value your offering. They tend to be the ones who pressurise you to lower your price or add in extras at no cost.

The first part of the plan for dealing with no’s then is to understand whether or not you are in a situation to negotiate with a client who is pressurising you to lower your prices.

I suggest that before anyone even asks you for a lower price you do some preparation work and calculate whether it is actually feasible for you to skinny down your offering and strip enough costs out to make it profitable for you. I urge you to do this when you haven’t got a potential client breathing down your neck because calculations made when you are not under pressure are much more objective than those performed in the heat of negotiation.

The second part of the plan kicks in if you can’t profitably provide a lower price service, and the answer is to find a competitor who can. The beauty of this is that you leave your potential client with a solution – even though it’s not yours – and they then regard the interaction with you as useful.

The final part of the plan is that you practice the ‘no’ conversation. Something along the lines of “We work best with clients with X sort of problem and our pricing reflects that, if that doesn’t suit you, you may want to try Company B….” often works well.

Such a conversation neatly explains what you are best at (or famous for) and your potential client will remember that. I know of many businesses that have received quality referrals via rejected potential clients because those potential clients finished up with a very good understanding of the business’s expertise.

Saying no to work is never easy, but if you know that the work isn’t the right fit for you and you are armed with a plan to say ‘no’ gracefully, rejecting work will start to feel like a more natural process.

Julia Bickerstaff’s expertise is in helping businesses grow profitably. She runs two businesses:Butterfly Coaching, a small advisory firm with a unique approach to assisting SMEs with profitable growth; and The Business Bakery, which helps kitchen table tycoons build their best businesses. Julia is the author of “How to Bake a Business”  and was previously a partner at Deloitte. She is a chartered accountant and has a degree in economics from The London School of Economics (London University).