I remember being at a bar with a friend and she just threw her phone, exasperated. “I’m firing this client. I’m just done. DONE.” I gasped. We could fire a client? Like for real?
Being so early in my business, the idea was absolutely foreign to me. I was in the process of building up my portfolio, not getting rid of it. I couldn’t even comprehend firing a client for toxic behavior. But it was at that moment that I would fire any client who crossed the line too many times. And I have. Twice.
It’s super rare, because I have a pretty good process of weeding out clients who would not be a good fit for me. But every process has its faults. Someone always gets through. When that happens, I give the client plenty of time to change their behavior. If it doesn’t, they have to go. It becomes way too much of a strain on me which will affect my other clients. In other words, it makes good business sense to fire anyone who is behaving poorly.
So how do you recognize it’s time for a client to go?
The client regularly invades your off-times
I put in my contract the hours that I’m willing to work and answer questions. I want every client to see that in writing and sign it. What I have actually found is that most don’t read it or simply ignore it. But at least I have it in writing in a place that they have signed it. I can then point to that when contacting me off-hours gets out of control.
Does that mean I don’t respond to clients during off-hours? Absolutely not. I’m always available to my clients who respect me. Especially because social media doesn’t rest and things come up off-hours. But consistently contacting me about every day stuff that isn’t an emergency during off-hours? That’s a red flag.
Why? It shows a lack of respect for your time to expect that you are available to them at all hours. This will be the first of many lines they will likely cross. And if they don’t react well to your drawing the line, it’s best if you say goodbye now.
The client is overly negative
I once had a client who couldn’t say anything nice to me. They were overly critical of my work to the point where I was questioning if I was any good at my job. And then it got back to me that there was a reason why this client was doing it. It was to put me in my place.
They were fine with my work, and in fact, they were thrilled with the results. Their problem was that I was confident and was attempting to work as a partner with them, something I have done with all of my clients. They wanted me in a submissive role and their way of making it happen was to tear me down. This was one of many reasons why they were fired on the spot.
Look, none of us have time to experience a mental tear down that makes us question our abilities. That’s going to melt over into other clients really quickly and make us ineffective at our jobs. So if criticisms go from helpful to mental terrorism, you need to figure out what is going on pretty quickly. Because it can and will take you down before you know it. If they really are trying to take you down like my previous client did to me, fire them immediately. If, on the other hand, there really is a change in direction that your work is not meeting, then figuring out how you can make a change is super healthy for you and the organization.
Their expectations are constantly changing
When you start working with a client, you’re first step is creating goals. Maybe you have one overarching goal and several support goals. The support goals may not be written in stone, but that overarching goal should be. It should be your guiding star as you are figuring out exactly what the strategy should look like.
If your client is constantly changing it, that means the strategy has to constantly change. A constantly changing strategy will make your accounts look like they have no strategy in place (which is true) and will confuse your fans. Adjustments are one thing, but pulling the rug out from under you with an overarching goal change is quite another.
A lot of things could be going on here. It could be a person with a lack of confidence or experience. In that case, chat with them about how this is affecting what you do and see what happens. It really could be as simple as that. But if they keep making big changes after that discussion and there is no end in sight, it’s time to say goodbye.
It could also be that they’re simply trying to gain authority over you by keeping you off-balance. A person like this will not change and it’s best to cut ties with them as soon as you recognize this kind of behavior. It will only tear you down in the long run, so it’s best to get away from it as soon as possible.
They aren’t paying
This one is obvious. They can be the best client in the world, but if they aren’t paying, they’re just taking up valuable time that could be used towards a client who can pay. And it’s time to fire them.
If they really are otherwise a great client, I would suggest working with them to figure out a solution that makes you both comfortable. Maybe they’re just experiencing a down month and need some time to catch up. That can happen and totally can be excused one time. But if it’s something that’s continually happening, then it’s probably time to say goodbye.
And if it’s not a relationship you want to continue anyway, walking away instead of working with them is totally valid.
Whatever you choose to do, know that it’s okay to fire a client. We’re constantly changing human beings, and because of that, we don’t always mesh with people, even if we really want to. Walking away leaves open to find that much better fit for you and leaves your sanity in tact. And nothing can be better than this.
Have you ever fired a client? What was the reason?