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How
To Say No
By Karyn Greenstreet |
copyright © 2008, by Karyn Greenstreet. All
rights reserved.
Would you babysit my pet tarantula next week? No.
Is it okay
if I bring my twelve cousins to your birthday party? No.
Can we
extend our contract for six months but not increase the
price? No. Sometimes saying
No is easy. But recent discussions in my Mastermind group remind
me that finding the right words to say No can trip us up. And
without the right words, we sometimes say Yes when we don't mean
it, causing stress, frustration and bad feelings.
In our group, we
brainstormed a lot of ways to say No, depending on the given
circumstances and what type of No we wanted to give. Here are some
suggestions. While these are business-related, you can modify them
for personal use as well:
When
No means: No
-
I can't take
on your project at this time
-
I'm not
accepting any new clients
-
I'm not
comfortable doing what you're asking
-
I'm not
willing to do what you're asking
-
I'm not the
right person for the job
-
I have other
commitments that prevent me from doing this
-
We have a
policy in our business that we don't do that
-
My schedule
is so busy and I'm committed to work/life balance
-
Right now my
priority is X and everything else I'm declining
-
I'm not able
to take on that type of responsibility
-
Our original
agreement was for X; I'm not willing to change that agreement
mid-stream
-
I have an
appointment that I can't reschedule
-
I want to
spend more time doing (fill in the blank)
-
I don't
enjoy that work
-
My decision
is final
-
I won't go
When
No means: I can't do X, but I can offer Y instead
-
I'm not
comfortable doing X, but I'm available to do Y within certain
parameters
-
I'm not
really qualified to do this work, but I can recommend an
excellent person who might be able to help you
-
I'd rather
work on Y
-
I'd rather
do it this way than the way you are suggesting
-
I can't do
this myself, but I can ask my assistant to do it for you as long
as it only takes 30 minutes like you promised
-
That's too
little money for this type of work, how about Y?
When
No means: I can't do it now, but I can do it later
-
I'm not
accepting any new clients until September
-
Can we
schedule this for next week instead?
-
I’m booked
solid for August
-
This
Wednesday is really bad for me
-
I don't work
on Fridays
-
I need to
leave work by 5:00
And, of course,
there's the always-useful, plain old fashioned No. As in, Just Say
No. Without preamble, without excuses, without guilt.
(This works
very well on large orange cats who like to sit on top of your
paperwork while you're trying to work…except if it's dinnertime.)
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Karyn Greenstreet is a Self Employment expert and
small business coach. Get her free audio and ebook, The Art of Networking
and Referrals at
http://www.PassionForBusiness.com
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