In my last post, we took deep-dive into recognizing the signs you’re working with a bad client. So let’s say you KNOW you’re working with a bad client, should you fire them?
In my How Much Marketing is ENOUGH post, we also covered how most small business owners are desperate for any and all business in the early days. And that approach makes sense when you’re frantically trying to pay your bills and keep the lights on. But sometimes that desperation mentality can carry-over, extending well past your “desperate years,” and prevent you from firing clients that are actually HARMING your business.
So the answer is most definitely: YES! You should ABSOLUTELY fire bad clients. And here are three uber-critical reasons why…
Bad Clients Rob From Good Clients + Stand in The Way of Taking on Better Clients
One of the signs you’re working with a bad client we touched on is related to Prato’s Principle, AKA the 80/20 Rule. To quickly reiterate, a bad client may only generate 20% of your income, but manages to dominate 80% of your time.
Now think for a moment how this impacts rest of your clients… You’re actually neglecting them
because one “bad client” is making such huge demands on your time. Obviously, this is neither fair nor equitable. And if it continues, it may jeopardize your relationship with other clients – The clients you GENUINELY want to work with!
And touching again on How Much Marketing is ENOUGH, what’s happening if you’re spending an inordinate amount of time serving a “bad client?” You’re likely sacrificing time you SHOULD be spending prospecting to attract and win new business from “ideal clients.”
Bad Clients ACCELERATE Burnout
Work is work. And sometimes we’d all rather forget all about it, and hit the beach. Am I right or am I right? Holla! And of course, we ALL get burned out at times.
But presumably, you’re in your chosen profession because you’re passionate about what you do. When you’re saddled with a bad client, however, burnout can intensify and accelerate to Warp Speed. So much so that before you know it, you’ll find yourself questioning “why am I even in this business!?”
Meanwhile, if you take a step back, you’ll realize your passion and commitment are still there. It’s just a bad client dragging you down.
Bad Client Relations Left to Fester Can BLOW UP! And that’s Bad For Your Business as a Whole…
Undoubtedly this sounds familiar… You’re dating a guy or girl, and things just aren’t going well. But neither of you works up the gumption to dump the other. So the “relationship” lurches and sputters along. Until everything comes to a head, and the whole situation blows up in a HUGE fight. You walk away, mad at one another, and don’t talk for a long time, maybe even never speak again.
Well, this happens in professional relationships, too. But there’s another problem with business relationships that end badly. Business people in a given industry talk. If a relationship with a vendor ends badly, it’s likely to get around among the rest of that vendor’s clientele. And the next thing you know, you’ve got a bruise on your reputation… Oh no! This is going on your PERMANENT RECORD!
Don’t let things go until the situation blows up in your face. Instead, it’s far better to end a relationship with a bad client while you’re still on (at least relatively) good terms.
Have You Ever Fired a Client (or Clients)? What Were Some of Your Reasons?
Swing by my Google+ page and share, I’d love to hear some of your “horror stories!”