Before You Fire That Terrible Client

We all have had terrible clients. The ones that when you see their email pop up on your screen, it sends a sense of anxiety and panic. Or how about the ones where you see their number come up on your caller ID and feel like they’re the reason why people dread Mondays.

Being your own boss has its rewards, but dealing with difficult clients is not one of them.

There are all kinds of ranges of bad clients from merely annoying to tough, and in this article, we’re talking about the extra tough ones.

Those tough cookies, aside from being a huge drain on morale, can get financially uncomfortable on small, young companies (especially if you’re compensating them frequently).

If you’re a business owner, there is a good chance that you’ve encountered at least one client that you’ve considered letting go of at some point due to these exact reasons.

When I met a difficult client, I decided to turn to Google to see how I should solve the problem. Both Forbes and Entrepreneur have written articles that state that it might be good to ‘fire’ bad clients. 

Here is one thing I learned to do before I fire any other terrible client:

First, let's call these bad clients "Angels."

Next time you encounter this situation, schedule a call with "Angel" and tell them that their toughness/critiques have helped perfect the type of customer service that you want to supply to all your clients.

Make Them Your Ally.

You’ll find that some of your little devils starting to become your little angels.

With a shift in your language, all of a sudden your difficult clients can push you to perfect your services and products. They’ll encourage you to think three steps ahead in case anything goes wrong.

You’ll find that in retrospect, their guidance will make room for your killer retention rate with your “good clients” and that instead of dumping them, you can take the time to learn from them.

But don’t get me wrong, this approach won’t necessarily work for just any bad client, so I've left you with an additional three core takeaways I've learned from my bad clients:

1. Make sure you get paid. Our "Angels" always paid us from day one. Do NOT give away VIP service without having someone pay for it. Trials and entry services are one thing, but all your effort is poor business practice.

2. 1. Action Point #1: If you have a bad client that hasn’t paid you yet, put a deadline for yourself and them, and let them know that you’ll need to have them make a decision by X-date and then pricing goes up to $X.

   2. Action Point #2: If "bad clients" are a constant problem within your team, gather everyone together and brainstorm a solution. This may include asking for deposits, giving deadlines to new customers, and asking for the money upfront, etc.

3. Communication & aligning expectations helps give you the upper hand. There are no favors when you’re conducting business. You must communicate and justify your needs. If you don’t, the responsibility to please does fall on you. While you’re communicating with all your clients, it's the best to outline all possible eventualities that come to mind. Shifts in deadlines or tweaks in deliverables are unavoidable. However, if you’re smart, you’ll describe in your communications what each scenario leads to so there are no surprises.

   1. Action Point #1: Make a list now of all the possible expectations your clients need to know to have a great experience

      1. What your product/service is.

      2. What your product/service is NOT.

      3. What information you need from them to do a good job.

      4. The date they should expect to see a proposal/results/etc.

      5. Expectations of when they’d need to pay.

      6. Expectations of how available you are to answer questions.

      7. etc.

For every new inquiry that comes in, reference your list and make sure all outcomes have been addressed.

4.  Firing still might be necessary. Don’t fire right away. And, even when you think it’s time, push yourself a little more before taking action. Remaining in a negative client situation can take a significant toll on your job satisfaction, emotional well-being and even your relationship with other clients. If you’ve already tried your best to shift the negative aspects of the relationship to positive ones, it might be time to cut the cord.

Your terrible clients may have caused some unnecessary frustration and anxiety, but standing up to the challenge and taking a new approach will result in some forward strides. You’ll discover that demanding clients are, actually, not that bad after all.

Sometimes all you need is a shift in perspective.