When you tell a caller that you are unable to help them or grant their request, you need to do this as politely as possible. Don’t just say ‘No’ or ‘I don’t know.’ In addition, if you can’t personally help, you should try to give the caller some useful advice and suggestions.

So instead of saying:

You would say:

And follow it with some practical advice such as:

By giving the caller some practical advice, it lets them know that as a customer or potential customer, you are interested in them.

You can uses words and phrases like ‘I’m sorry’, ‘I’m afraid’ and ‘unfortunately’ to apologise for not being able to help the caller. To give advice and suggestions, begin your sentence with phrases like ‘Shall I give you’, ‘You could try’ and ‘You may want to’ and ‘Would you like to’.

Here are more examples of declined requests, followed by practice advice or suggestions: