IDEA: Train all employees to report regularly about when they tell customers, “NO”.

You need to know every time your employees are forced to say “Sorry, no,” to customers.

This includes demands for: 

• products you do not sell, (reconsider stocking)
• colors you do not carry, (consider adding a color to the lineup)
• styles you do not have in stock, (ask the buyer if this style is available for mail order)
• discontinued items, (are they no longer made or not just ordered by your buyer)
• rejection for requests for warranty extensions,  (if enough customers ask for a longer warranty, you might consider it)
• delivery methods you do not offer  (somebody out there with a truck or van will do it if you seek them out)
• request for free items with the purchase of an item, (enough customers ask for this, understand that the market is changing and you may need to adjust and throw these free items in at no charge).

There may be requests that will require or warrant spending capital expenditures to change or add to the list of products the company offers. Create a procedure for gathering this data from your employees every day for all shifts and forward it to a centralized marketing person who can summarize the data into financial dollars and track the frequency of demand