"No" isn't a 4 Letter Word

There’s a certain level of honesty and integrity that needs to be upheld by all businesses, but could you actually be sabotaging your own business with a policy that’s intended to please your customers? At 4 Color Press we have a policy we like to call “The Yes Factor,” which states that what the customer wants the customer gets, as long as it is within our boundaries.

In these situations there are two extremes, one is the company that believes that they are always correct and will not bend for any customer, and the other is the company that will do absolutely anything to please their customer, even if it is detrimental to their business. Sometimes 'no' is needed so you can look out for your and your customer's best interests.

Sure, striving to please your customers is always important but it doesn't benefit either party if you stretch your limits too far. Let’s use my company as an example. We have a very tight niche within the printing industry: full color, short run. If a customer calls at 4 in the afternoon and needs a project by 8 the next morning, we’ll do it. If a customer calls and needs a larger format project produced that we could easily outsource, we won’t do it. That’s where the honesty comes in with both us and our customer. The customer will most likely get better results if they go to a company that specializes in what they're looking for.

You need to stick with what you are capable of doing. If we outsourced large format projects, customers would start believing that’s what we did. Not to mention how much we would have to mark up the price just to cover our own cost. It’s not worth it. At the end of the day, customers and non customers alike will appreciate that you stuck to your guns as they know you will handle their needs with as much care as you handle your own.