You're Fired! Though it may be a painful decision, firing your client may sometimes be necessary for growth.
What a client that needs firing looks like.
Maybe they are your friend, or worse, a relative. They could be one of your big accounts that has been with you from the beginning. Business isn't emotional, and as much as you need to prove and re-prove your efforts to your client, they need to stay true to you as well. These characteristics are key indicators of clients that would benefit your company greatly from a good and healthy termination of relationship...aka...You're Fired!
- Your ROI (return on investment) with the client is far inferior to other clients.
- The client is too involved with your processes and their account (baby-sitting).
- Your client is isn't as passionate about your services as you are about their business.
Return on Investment
Maybe your business operates on multiple platforms. Obviously, if the business offers a manufactured product, price points for volume are standard. However, if you find you are consistently needing to "sweeten the deal" for a particular client, they have fallen into the succubus category. Would they provide the same generosity and steep discount to you for their product or services? If the answer is no, then dump them and make it fast. Regardless of the size of the account, you will be in better position long term by filling that void with clients that appreciate the value of your business. Are there exceptions to this rule?...Absolutely not. I would fire my friends and family in a heartbeat if they exhibited any behavior I list in this article.
We've all run into the client that feels the need to babysit every aspect of their business, which means they need to babysit yours as well. I could care less if the client is the President of the United States, the secret service isn't going to babysit our processes of serving them. You see this behavior from larger corporate entities that have poor processes in place. This type of corporate leadership would rather babysit every aspect of their departments than create a standard operating procedure and hold their employees accountable to the SOP. Being that they run their companies this way, they feel the need to project their poor leadership into their external business relationships. If you have clients of this nature, please practice your next conversation with them, with me...repeat after me...Hi John/Susie, we've reviewed your account and feel our business would be better suited to proceed in a different direction. In short John/Susie, you're fired. I know this may be upsetting, however we would be happy to recommend other companies in our industry who would be better suited to service your account...Buh, bye!
Lack of Passion
This is one of the biggest areas where companies can point out the client or clients that should be fired. If your client is treating you, your company, or your employees like a door mat, fire them...practice with me...You're Fired! If you are reading this blog article, I would bet you are passionate about your business. If your client doesn't share in the passion of your product or services, they are going to revert to one of the other two areas of this article at some point.
I had a female client a few years ago that ordered a million pieces of product at a time that referred to me as the "c-word" at every turn. The product she ordered took 3 weeks on average to create and ship, however I rarely had better than 2 weeks to get it done. This client, who was a buyer for a multi-billion dollar company, could care less about putting our company in a position of failure. I made a decision, without consulting management, to make every effort to persuade the client to purchase elsewhere without failing them. I pushed back at every turn to ensure accuracy by forcing the client to babysit the process. After a few more orders, the client fell silent and apparently had found a different vendor...Thankfully.
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