The truth is I have been fired as a social media consultant. It’s not always my fault but sometimes it is. It just so happens that I’m not a perfect person and make mistakes. And sometimes that mistake is even staying with a client long after I figured out that they despised me. That always leads to them deciding to fire me.

Because of all this, I know what it’s like when you on the receiving end of being fired. I have seen some people do an amazing job of it and we have left as friends. And I have seen some people interested in nothing but burning every bridge with me.

So whatever your reason for letting a social media consultant go, let’s go over what I’ve seen that works and maybe a few things that absolutely don’t work.

Do be honest

I know that you want to tread carefully, whether it’s to be kind or to prevent a blow up. But outright lying doesn’t get you anywhere.

If there is a budget issue, tell them as soon as you can. I have come up with creative solutions so I can still work with clients I like when this has come up. Most social media consultants can figure out how to help you.

If it’s something else, be honest about that. You don’t want to cut the person down, but giving them real reasons can help you on the path towards leaving on good terms. And no matter what happens, that should be the goal.

When I have left on good terms with a client (which is usually what happens), I’ll still drop them notes when something pops up on my radar just in case it hadn’t hit theirs yet. That kind of loyalty won’t always happen, but it’s beautiful when it does.

Don’t leave a long time between the firing and the last day of work

A client decided it was time for us to part ways, and honestly, it was long past time at this point. They did a Zoom with me to let me know, and it was weird. I won’t go into details, but I left that meeting disliking everyone involved a whole lot more than I had when I entered that meeting. That’s a feat and a half.

The problem? They expected me to keep working for over a month after this meeting had gone so south. Not surprisingly, we decided it was best to part ways earlier than planned.

I’m not saying that you should yank the accounts away from them immediately, because that’s not fun either. But understand that as soon you fire a social media consultant, their loyalty then becomes to other clients and finding new work. They just won’t devote as much to your account, because they need to figure out how to get that money back. So keep it relatively short, but make sure there’s enough time to do any hand-offs that need to happen.

Do be empathetic

During two layoffs, I was actually impressed with the other person. One was the pandemic and the other was when the client realized they simply needed another set of hands in the office. What both of these had in common was that they didn’t want to let me go and voiced that in a way that I felt the love. And when the pandemic hit, the person who had to pull the trigger didn’t know if they had a job for much longer either, so it was truly heartbreaking for all of us.

When you are about to fire a social media consultant, keep in mind that you may be taking a significant portion of their income away and it may hurt. If they’ve been doing a good job, figure out ways to help them. In the case of the two clients above, they send me work referrals whenever they can. But just know that it is normal if they are a bit upset and give space for those feelings.

Don’t fire them over email

And do fire the consultant while looking them in the eye. People seem to want to get out of this lately by using email to fire people. It just sucks.

Firing someone over email shows a lack of respect for the other person and the relationship is much more likely to sour because of it. So if you want to keep that relationship good, especially if there needs to some hand-offs, look them in the eye. Hopefully it’s face-to-face, but even Zoom-to-Zoom is preferable over email.

Now you should follow up over email with any particulars discussed. You aren’t fully present after being fired. So expecting a person to remember every little detail discussed is a little unfair. Giving them the courtesy of having that email is a bit of kindness that will really help.

Look, no one wants to fire anyone and no one wants to get fired. It’s not a fun experience. But you can leave the situation with a good relationship. And there are just so many reasons why you should do that.

Have you had to fire someone? What is your biggest tip?