The biggest source of frustration for business owners is working with difficult clients. They seem to drain your energy and time, but you need their money to keep your business running at the end of the day. You have no choice but to work with those clients to keep the cash coming in.
As a small agency owner, at some point, you will have to let go of a client, even if it’s to fire your SEO company if they are on your neck.
It could be for any number of reasons, but the important thing is that you must know how to do it the right way. If done wrong, it could do more harm than good and affect your ability to earn money in the future.
Here are some tips that help you get out of a sticky situation one day:
1. Hike Your Prices
It’s one of the best ways to fire a troublesome client without saying goodbye or without having any argument.
The easiest way to do this is by setting a higher price at the start of your project so that the client automatically leaves.
But we recommend that you shouldn’t raise the price suddenly because then they’ll criticize you and will blame that by raising prices, you have taken money from them unnecessarily. Instead, wait until your project has started and inform your client about raising prices.
2. Fill Your Dance Card
When you have loyal clients, the chances are that they’ll refer their friends and colleagues to work with you. This will allow you to keep your dance card full at all times, which means that if a client isn’t working out, there will always be other clients who want to work with you instead.
Even if the troublesome client won’t pay you more money and continues hounding you for more work or last-minute changes, it’s time to move on completely. Avoid the temptation to fire them right away, though.
Instead of doing this immediately, fill your dance card with other less stressful clients and don’t bother you at all.
3. Stick to Your Agreements
It’s important to know when the problem is your fault or theirs. This is critical because many people fail to hold up their end of the bargain before ending partnerships with others.
If you agree to something, follow through with your word or communicate if you won’t meet a deadline or deliver on something else you promised them.
4. Tell Them It’s All About You and Not Them
Whether or not you have a legal reason for firing a client, if you don’t want to work with them anymore, it’s all about you and not them. Tell them that it’s just not working out for you or your business anymore, so you’re looking for other opportunities.
You can also tell your client that someone else can provide them with better service than you can. This way, they will understand that it’s not about their behavior or the way they treat you; it’s just about business and nothing else.
5. Say No
This is the first and most crucial step in firing your client. If you don’t say no, you can’t fire your client.
You’ll keep on working for them because you never said no to start with. Perhaps that’s why some of us are afraid to say no; we worry that once we do, they’ll fire us! But remember that it’s your business, and you have a right to choose who you work with and, just as importantly, who you don’t work with.
Just be respectful when you say no, and be sure to explain why you are saying no if necessary.
Varying approaches can be taken to fire a troublesome client, but the bottom line is that you should never let a bad client linger on your client list. This is especially important for those of us who deal with other people’s money regularly.
The last thing you need is another example of being nice to someone for the wrong reasons. As far as troublesome clients go, at least you can set them free into the wilderness online, where they belong.
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