From an enterprise perspective I see the cause as two fold:

(a) It’s a natural side effect of being too big as an organization, as it indicates a gap between the company and its customer(s).  Somewhere in the hierarchy, someone hasn’t relinquished enough authority or instilled the confidence necessary for the representative (ie customer service) to say anything but no to any question or request that falls outside the scope of the norm.  Understandable to a limited extent (corporations train us to initially think no), but considering that markets are dynamic and evolutionary, what is the norm?  Hint: there isn’t one, so don’t fall into the thinking trap that a customers questions (needs, requests, expectations) are so unrealistic and unreasonable that they deserve a real-time rejection.  Certainly don’t say no before the customer has voiced themselves and you’ve really thought about what it is their saying.  Think about it for a second-do you even want to say yes or are you looking for any reason to say no?

It’s ingrained, imprinted, and accepted-not for much longer though, cause people are running out of patience in a world of options. Look for a reason to yes any chance you get, it may be your last.

(b) The say no mentality has everything to do with an organization  hell-bent on trying to fit every person into their own mass market mold with their own fixed profit margin.  In the era of mass production, people were transformed into consumers and consumers then are morphed into numbers.  As these numbers  were herded into markets they ultimately ended up as profits on  financials.  So it wasn’t long before some corporate stiff (in the inflexible sense) started to pigeon hole their end user (the customer) into a profit center with a  pre-determined value to maintain.     To say yes, would likely require resources (expenses) from outside the standard protocol: time, energy, maybe additional hard goods or soft services, etc.  Therefor, from a short term financial perspective – to say yes is costly- as microscopic as it may seem.  Keywords: short term.

People who are respected and appreciated are reasonable; they can understand that to say yes means an exception is being made and while the company on the other side doesn’t have to say yes, they want to say yes, because they value  people,  customers, and profit centers.   Often times, they will pay a premium just because they can get what they want in every sense. With the concept of customer loyalty only diminishing, I can think of one way to keep customers coming back time after time: embrace the culture of yes!  Deliver a brand that they know wants to say yes to them  and they will always give you first stab at their business.

<>

Yes or no is more than a verbal response to a person or customers questions, requests,  needs or expectations.  Yes or no is more than an unexpected cost, an inconvenience,  a deviation, or a risk to an organization.

Yes or no is an operating philosophy; it’s acceptance or rejection, it’s respect or hubris, it’s love or hate, black or white, make or break.  In a world where everyone looks for reasons to say no, I’d bet on the business built around a burning desire to say yes time after time.