YOU COME ACROSS AS MORE CONFIDENT. Take “We don’t offer discounts.” Maybe you really don’t want to offer discounts because your margins will suffer and competing on price is a slippery slope you can’t afford. Instead of saying, weakly and apologetically, “I’m sorry, but we can’t drop our prices any lower,” say firmly and with conviction, “We don’t offer discounts.” And then either remain silent and wait for a response or shift the conversation to what you are willing to do: provide a quicker turnaround or extend payment terms or break a large order down into smaller shipments. Use “I don’t” to
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