Bill Canady says customer service reps should never negotiate core principles, only transition terms and timing. Don't promise to escalate issues up the chain, he warns, because it signals the real answer lives elsewhere. Concessions become precedents fast.
Don't be sorry about the decision. All right? You're trying to save the company. You do not negotiate the principle in the moment because whoever's on the phone doesn't have the information to trade correctly. And a concession made under pressure becomes precedent inside of a week. Transition terms are negotiable. Timing is negotiable. The principle is not. You do not promise to escalate because let me take this up the chain tells the customer the real answer lies somewhere else, and now they'll wait for it. The person on the call is the company. That's it. That's who they are. Make sure they understand it.
