I had a couple of different themes in mind when I decided I was going to write this post, in my head it started as a debate between customer loyalty versus customer satisfaction and then turned to a discussion of the types of clients people in professional services come across and finally wound up as what it will be, a discussion of when it is time to tell a client you can no longer do their work (essentially fire them) and how to bow out of it gracefully. So from here on out I will stick to the topic of just when and how you should fire a client.

Upfront I will say that the phrase “fire your client” has some distinctly negative connotations but it got your attention or you wouldn’t be here so remember it’s just a headline.

When To Fire A Client

If you work in a service related business and specifically one where you charge your clients based on time invested or where you have given a flat fee but have only budget “x” number of hours, then you will know that inevitably you will come across clients who are just so difficult to deal with that either the work you are doing for them or the work you are doing for someone else suffers. I am not talking about the client who is a day or two late with payments (though be wary of those as well), rather I am talking about one of several different types of clients who can actually hamper your overall business if you are not careful. You have probably dealt with these types of clients before but see if any of these ring a bell

  • The client who calls you multiple times each day with new ideas or revisions they have dreamt up the night before to the extent that you can never get past step 1
  • The client who gives you a short description of what they want and then never answers any of your follow-up questions
  • The client who does not really know what they want so takes direction from their spouse, friends, kids etc…
  • The client who is forced into using your service (they would have chosen someone else if they were the decision maker) and therefore is continually trying to point out your faults to cover their own ass
  • The client who signs off on the scope of a project and then wants to change the entire project without revisiting the contract

I am sure there are many others that you can add to the list (and please do!) but my point is that if it gets to a point where you are worried about your work (or even mental health) suffering then you must take a step back and evaluate whether you can either (a) continue to work with this client but reshape the way in which you deal with one another or (b) cannot continue to work with the client for fear of producing subpar work for them or others.

First Try Psychology

In my opinion you should always first try to have an open discussion with your client in which you let them know that their work is extremely important to you but so is the work you do for several other clients (here is where you need to be smooth) and in order to continue producing top quality work for all your clients you and this client will need to revisit the way you work together. Regardless of whether the client is one of the types noted above there is probably a reason they have for acting the way they do and so you need to put on your psychology hat for a few minutes and try to dig deeper into what (if anything) the real issue is.

  • Perhaps the client is calling you every day because they have never outsourced this work before and are nervous
  • Perhaps the client got told by their boss that they had to use you and they are taking out their frustration on you by trying to show their boss was wrong
  • Perhaps the client really doesn’t understand the work you are doing for them and therefore are really just trying to sound intelligent when asked about the project

Once you have been able to gain some insight into the reasoning behind why this client is difficult to work with you then have a much easier path to rectifying your working relationship and if needbe dropping the client. If we take the three scenarios above, the first and last bullets seem to be areas where by having a little insight you will be able to address the real issue either through setting up a more frequent status call (for bullet 1) or (for bullet 3) scheduling a casual coffee with the client to help them understand exactly what it is that you are doing for them and why you are doing it. My point being that if you actually listen and try to understand the real reasons the client is being difficult you will more often than not find that you actually are able to not only rectify the situation but also bolster your relationship.

If however the client is going to hurt the rest of your business either by taking your attention from other clients, speaking negatively about your work or simply not giving you enough support to make the project a mutual success (remember you are allowed to take pride in your work and not want to turn out just anything) then you may have to take the step of effectively telling the client you no longer can take on their work.

Firing A Client

The when of firing a client is really a personal decision that you have to make given the many parameters that are involved, I have given some wide reaching examples above but I know each situation will be unique. So if we move from the “when” to the “how” I think there are some points worth noting. For the purposes of this post, I am going to assume that you have some sort of ongoing contractual agreement (not a service by service) with the client and that you have decided that you want to end (not re-negotiate but end) that arrangement.

Know Your Legal Rights

First and foremost is that you must understand the terms of your contractual relationship with the client to the nth degree. Though lawyers are not fun (I can say that being trained as one) they are certainly necessary and as such you should be sure that you have a very clear understanding of what obligations and rights you have under the agreement if you (or the client) decide to terminate it. If you have been using standard agreements that you borrowed from other jobs, the Internet or wherever else you might have found these contracts then you most certainly need to have a lawyer break it down for you. If you had your agreement drawn up by a lawyer in the first place then you should ask them to explain in a “plain english” memo the areas (e.g. who owns the copyright of works in progress) of the contract that you need to be aware of when terminating an agreement.

There is a lot of “boiler plate” language in contractual agreements and while you might think that at the heart of it they all look the same, each agreement will not be the same and especially upon termination of the agreement you want to be sure that you are living up to all your obligations and protecting all your rights.

Suggest Alternatives But Check First

It’s kind of a double-edged sword to have to give alternate service providers to the client but it is a way that you can bow out with some class. On the one hand you know how difficult the client is and that you cannot work with them and on the other hand what would it do for your relationship with the person you recommend if they too cannot deal with the client. Even with that said, it is something that you should do if at all possible. Given that you are working in the industry all day every day, you will most likely have a variety of different contacts whose name you could provide but if you want to maintain a level of respect amongst your peers, you will not just dump tough clients on them without some upfront heads up.

Coming from a legal background, it happens all the time that you are “conflicted” between two clients and as such you have to send one or both to other lawyers. Even though in that scenario you are not “firing” the client the same etiquite still holds, you ask (it is important to ask in case the project is confidential – in law it obviously always is) the potential client if you can make a few calls on their behalf  and then when you do speak to your peers be upfront about the issues you were having with the client and why you are seeking alternatives for them. Just because you had a personality clash with a client that does not mean that they won’t absolutley hit it off with one of your peers. By asking both the client if you can make calls on their behalf and by being upfront with your peers you will come out of what could be a sticky situation looking like a class act.

Check In With Both

Although it is tempting to just walk away when you have passed off a client you will be able to score points and continue to show yourself as someone deserving of a good reputation if you take the time to follow up with both your former client and the peer (if it is a peer otherwise you can skip this half of the step) they have chosen to work with. I can only liken it to dating and going out with someone who isn’t for you but then setting them up with a friend of yours. Of course nobody likes the original rejection but by suggesting a friend to set them up with and then following up with both the friend and the date both of them will come away with a sense that you are someone who really cares about the people you meet and the sting of the rejection will certainly subside.

Bottom Line

It’s never easy to admit you can’t or should not be collaborating with someone but I do believe there is a threshold beyond which working with a particular client begins to cause both your work for them and/or for others to suffer and at that point you need to politely give them their walking papers. No need to be Donald Trump about it but it is in your best interests to help facilitate a change.

Comments Please

As usual I know there are a whole host of steps and ideas that probably should be above, but that is where you the audience come in. What do you think, is it ever ok to fire your client? What steps would you take before or after this decision has been made that I missed?


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