Gentle Responses (Early-stage or minor requests)

“That’s actually outside the scope of our current agreement — happy to share an estimate if you'd like to add it on.”

“Let’s scope this in as a separate deliverable.”

“Let me check if this fits within what we initially planned.”

Clear, Assertive Responses (Repeat or bigger requests)

“We’d love to support this, but it will need to be treated as a new project or add-on.”

“To do justice to this, we’ll need to account for the additional time and effort.”

“This falls outside our agreed scope - we’ll need to realign timelines and cost to accommodate.”

Firm, Respectful Boundaries (When pushed repeatedly)

“We’re not able to include this under the current terms.”

“To maintain quality, we’ll need to revisit the scope before taking this on.”

“We value the relationship, but we also have to honour the integrity of our process.”

Graceful Exit (When the red flags outweigh the reward)

“At this point, we’re not the right fit for this project, and we’d prefer to step back.”

“Unless we can revisit the scope together, we won’t be able to move forward in a way that’s fair to both sides.”

“We’ve done our best to accommodate, but we’ll need to pause the engagement if expectations continue shifting.”

Final Note

Saying ‘no’ professionally doesn’t make you difficult.

It makes you clear. And clarity builds more trust than people-pleasing ever will.