A lot of people are scared to admit they don’t know.
When I worked in consulting, a really common problem we dealt with was our consultants being terrified of not knowing something in front of a client. They thought it would damage their credibility or reputation.
The problem isn’t that you don’t know. The problem is that you don’t know how to say it in a way that doesn’t erode confidence.
How to say “I don’t know.”
Instead of just getting caught off guard, I used to recommend to my team to prepare ~3 phrases they can use instead of “I don’t know” that are more professional and confidence-building. That way, you can just pull one out instead of trying to invent something in the moment.
Some ideas to get you started:
I don’t have that in front of me right now unfortunately, but I’ll get back to you by [date or time] when I’ve got it.
I want to make sure I give you the right answer, so let me confirm that and get back to you.
That’s outside of my area of expertise, but [person] would be able to answer this. I’ll check in with them for you and let you know.
If you do get anxious on the spot, it can be worth preparing your own few phrases that sound like you to use in the future. It should only take you 5 minutes to draft some.
It’s okay not to know something, but you need to maintain professionalism and give the other person some confidence that you’ll get back to them. If you handle it well, and they won’t even think twice about it!
