Two quick stories that reminded me the importance of pushing when appropriate with different methods.

First, my friend who owns a growing business and I were discussing how some employees easily accept “No” for answer. He referenced his struggles with a specific employee who either gave up too easily or was just getting pushed around (by vendors). After trying to coach this person over and over, he finally said, “Don’t come back to me until your nose or your knuckles are bloody.” He didn’t mean this literally, but he claims the mandate has started to work when he overheard this employee’s phone conversation. The gist was the persistent message of “that’s not acceptable” (with a stern tone).

Fast forward a few hours that same day… I was getting some things printed with a local company and they gave me an end of day deadline. When one of our guys stopped by to pick up our prints, they told him it wouldn’t be ready until the next day. I was out running an errand so I stopped by to see what happened. I politely explained what we needed done and why we needed to reach the agreed upon deadline. He checked out their work load, then came back saying they’d move some things around and it would be done in 30 minutes. My guy was flustered they didn’t do the same for him (I didn’t have to say I was the boss), but I did politely push him.

I do not support or propose you beat up your vendors. I’ve been on the receiving end and it’s terrible. However, there are times when stern words or even sweet talking are necessary. Two drastically different methods and virtually the same result. It’s just up to you to figure out when to use which and gauge is it worth it if this goes bad. What’s your preferred method? How do you successfully mitigate hearing a “no” when you know a “yes” is possible?

Flickr credit: Roman-photo