Just Say "Not Yet"

This thought came while musing poolside...

"Saying 'yes' to everything means saying 'no' to quality."

By now most of us have heard a tale like this. A customer asks the waiter if the restaurant serves a certain wine, and the waiter explains not. Then he slips to a place down the street and purchases that very wine, to the customer's delight.

"Heroic! The ultimate customer service!" so the moral of the story goes.

What say the customers at the other three tables whose service was delayed by the ambitious waiter? And what will happen to other customers if they all ask for non-house wines too?

The spirit of business - heck, the spirit of humans - gains satisfaction by saying "yes." At home, saying "yes" to every personal request for volunteers eventually leaves the laundry undone, dishes in the sink and mail scattered about the house. At work, the easy sacrifice is organization, training, and personnel development, which can seed perceptions and realities of poor quality. That seed can grow infectiously, if efficient performers leave for other environments and their replacements are left scrambling through piles trying to understand even the basics of the job.

No good businessperson enjoys saying "No," or even "Not yet." But failure to grow in this practice - addicting ourselves to "Yes" - ultimately leads to failure overall.