Between a rock and …

You know the rest.  You’ve been between “that” and the “other” yourself, yes? 

I was at Ron Meyer’s “Business for Breakfast” meeting recently when one of the business people said that’s exactly where she’s at.  Her company just went through a lay-off.  That was the “rock”.  The “hard place”?  Her workload doubled.  

The fact she was kept on was positioned as “good news” by her company.  The conversation with her boss started down the proverbial, “I’ve got good news and bad news…”.  We’ve all been there before, too and we know the reality of it: 

The phrase, “I have good news and I have bad news”, is really just bad news.  We know this because we learn of good news this way; “You’re not going to freaking believe this, but…” 

Even though our breakfast colleague is recognized as a leader at her firm her dilemma is knowing she can’t possibly get everything asked of her done each day.  So, she said she’s going to have to learn to say, “No” even though doing so goes against her fundamental nature.

I can relate.  As a sales professional I believe I’m in the business of saying, “Yes”.  Sometimes, I have to be creative in order to say, “Yes”; especially when asked for something way above and beyond.  The Army Corps of Engineers can relate: 

The difficult we do immediately.  The impossible takes a little longer. 

The breakfast discussion turned to how to say, “No”.  What are your favorite techniques? 

     Nope           Can’t          Don’t have to

     No way         Won’t          Don’t know how to

     Negatory       Uh-Uh          I’ll get back to you 

Yes, there are lots of ways to say “No” in the business world.  Yet, no matter how creative we try to wordsmith a response so it sounds like “Yes”, or at least “Maybe”, the customer mostly hears, “No”.  And customers hate hearing “No”, true?  Our favorite, Unknown Sage offers this coaching: 

How to Manage an Irate Client Call: 

I’m sorry you’re so upset.  I really feel your pain.  No, I don’t think we can fix the problem.  No, you can’t get your money back.  Well, I am the supervisor.  Let me transfer you to Mr. Dial Tone…

Don't worry, our breakfast meeting colleague won’t actually transfer her clients to Mr. Dial Tone.   But she has started following the advice from her daughter.  When asked for something she knows she can’t commit to, her response now is: 

No… and that’s a complete sentence. 

Such a one word sentence is the sound of being between that rock and that… 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.