If they burn you once, they'll burn you again, right?
Depends.
As entrepreneurs, we absolutely must set the tone for the value of our work and our time, because most clients will treat us as well or as poorly as we allow. We put so much energy into getting clients and retaining them, and one sure way to negate those efforts is to under-price your work hoping to increase your client base. That can be a tough pill to swallow, as typically, the start-up entrepreneur’s model is "Just bring in clients, more is better!" But you will find that approach does more for increased headaches and wasted efforts than it does for increased income. Seasoned business owners seldom settle for quantity over quality when it comes to clients.
It’s not working. Just cut my losses, right?
If we fired all the clients who gave us some level of grief, we'd have a grand total of ... less than 5 clients! How about you? I'm willing to bet that most of your clients, at one point, has you trying to remember why you went into business for yourself in the first place. They made the cut, so you took the project, but all the back and forth, and no guaranteed paycheck at the end? Aaack! If you're half-awake, you know that lay-offs, downsizings, and necessary cut-backs, have left the "easy" road not looking so well-paved after all. Just as we've adapted by transitioning into entrepreneurship, we should also adapt to varying client profiles, and work with the end goal of retaining the client in mind. Overall, if you can revise the way you communicate, and educate your client on what works best for you while assessing what you can do to make the process less angst-ridden, then do so, and give it another shot.
Their Loser Status Is Confirmed! How Do I Give Them The (Professional) Boot?
Do any of your existing clients get prime real estate on THIS LIST? My condolences. But life goes on, so here are some options for how to make that client a thing of the past.
1. Send a formal letter. A short, well-written letter to your client advising them of your need to “downsize” or risk compromised quality might do the trick. Don't make the letter a Gripe Fest by complaining about the things the client did wrong. In fact, the letter should be somewhat general. There should, however, be some elements specific to them such as any files that you'll be returning to them (including time frames), and outstanding invoices, and how you plan to address their "transition", eg. working with your replacement to provide files, etc.
2. Whenever possible, finish what you started. If the project can be completed without costing you excessive amounts of time, then finish it. Odds are, your client won't be happy about getting the boot, so if you can offer one last extra effort by completing the project you were hired to complete, then do so. This makes you look professional—which in fact you are, and may lessen the chance of them being vindictive.
3. Have a referral team in mind. Though it may seem like you’re attempting to pass on a dud client to another professional in your field, it’s not uncommon in business to refer a client with whom you weren’t able to work on to another colleague. As long as you offer disclosure, you’ll find that others will be willing to test the waters with your fired client.
Leave a comment and share your happy outcome stories about second-time-around clients with us. You just might motivate a fellow entrepreneur to give a potentially great client another chance.
Outright is secure.
What do you think?
Should I ditch my "bad" client, or do whatever I can to make it work?
When can one officially file a client in the "Not worth it" folder? What are your options if/when you do?
2
This is a tough one, I deal with it all too often on design jobs! Sometimes a client wants things that are just so tacky that I won't even be able to put the site in my portfolio- but the client's always right.
On that note, if they are making you miserable then you should let them go, after analyzing all the potential repercussions of course (i.e. loss of income, loss of future referrals, contractual obligations, etc.)
I have only had to let one customer go, he was just wanting too much for the pay and was not keeping in communication at all to get me the files or information I needed, then he would get onto me for not having something done that I couldn't possibly have done without the information from him. After a particularly harsh email he sent one night I replied, nice and professional- even though I wanted to tear HIM a new one for talking to me like that- I refunded him 1/2 of the deposit as I had laid out in the initial contract and told him I would not be able to work with him any longer.
I have not heard from him since- and he still does not have a website (2 years later) I have seen several get up on his site and get about 1/3 done then vanish- I think he is steadily getting dropped from other designers too!
Good luck to you!
Posted Feb 8, 2010 12:11:03 PM by: Designing With Eve
2
I don't think it's as tough of a decision if you take a honest face value look at your existing strategies and goals. For example, if your working to just put things in your portfolio.. your a new boutique designer that hasn't dealt with the realism of freelancing or running small business long term. I don't even have a portfolio anymore.. portfolio pieces become personal projects in a way.. business projects are business. But this applies to more than just "design".. as I'm a designer myself.
Look at the time you have available and realistic growth you have set goals for. Are they financial, are they a shift in clientele, are they a shift in type of work. There are many factors for this.
I had a decision based on pure man hours. I had been at my ceiling for years.. but happy with clientele.. even the slow pay, tacky, I want this no matter how ugly type clients. They were part of my financial strategies.. those projects I never put name too and when the money came in out of the blue, it was like a bonus. The public facing clients were the good paying ones that respected my business and design sense.
However, personally ( and a blessing as it was ) something personal came up and I found myself 11 years into being full time self employeed, sustaining a full family on that single income... to become a single father of 3 young children working at home.. loving my job more than ever.. however man power dictated I make a decision.
Spent less time with my kids, more expenses on nanny's to handle "every single" request under the sun.. add payroll, become even more locked into a "job"
OR
Bid myself out of all the other work except a handful of clients.. and focus.
2 things happen.. people either pay the hefty prices.. of which were high but within morally acceptable - they still got incredible value ( you don't want to burn bridges )
So I went into a 2 year changing my focus on 40 clients to just my top 10.. who have been with me for over the 8 year mark, instant payers or the big category of "those that appreciate you"
You'll find that those factors are shared by a group of clients and most of the clients have all the attributes. Clients that have a slow period, increase the appreciation because pay is slower.. then 3 months later, they give me extra bonuses because I stuck by them. There is a mutual respect.
So I went from approx 40 clients to 10. I refocused my relationship on these 10. I increased monthly billing, jumped their businesses, improved their sites and therefore managed to improve all their leads and revenue. They recognized that because they did appreciate it and did in fact give me bonuses, re-invested money into projects etc.
I was also able to take these clients into a new project level by solving the "fewer checks coming in" .. that is the most pain when reducing client list like this... How I solved this was create bigger projects and offer split payments. Take a $10k project and split it up over a 5 month period. Get another client on a project, and do the same. Keep 2 to 3 clients on some weekly/bi-weekly payment plan and you've got your cash flow solved.
So if you can find that mutual respect, and it fits your current goals, it's provided me a fantastic opportunity. Less headache.. fedex trucks at the house from 3 to 4 times a day to once or twice a week. Park and ice cream mid day breaks increased 100 times.. dinners were reclaimed, sleep was reclaimed... it's what I always wanted.
The end result :
- I worked half as much
- Earned same income
- increased "perks" - (products, services, client vacation home weeks)
- More family time
- Found time to work on personal art and business projects
And now I must add this, my little ones are soon heading off to school from 9 to 3.. I always said I didn't want to be consumed until then.. so I find myself in 13th year of business, a reinvention of my name, company, goals and the need to once again fill the pipelines - slowly, with the work I had cut out 2 years ago. Looking to add back employees, delegation and offices back into the mix.. with a different goal of when I did it years back
They both have pros and cons but if you handle them well... you can truly expand your business by cutting it. Give the clients that deserve it the attention and experience the return.
You need to take what may benefit you from this, decide personal strategies, think if less is more. The experience was tough for me but when I worked out the kinks.. it provided me great benefit.
Good Luck!
Posted Apr 19, 2010 7:24:59 AM by: j. miller creative
1
One of the things we try to do is make sure that our contract is air-tight and has clauses for early termination on both sides. Be sure that if you want to terminate early, your contract allows for this without any potential liability or penalty to you.
We recently went though this with a client who decided she didn't want to pay a few days after she was late. She made up several excuses for why she felt she shouldn't have to pay. Basically, hours in the previous month weren't finished because she decided that her website needed to be redesigned from scratch. That left me with nothing but an unoptimized blog to market for her. I had to shift hours to try and get enough of her blog optimized that so that any marketing I did would actually be effective. Well she didn't appreciate that or give me any other options for what to promote. So when invoicing time came around she ignored me for a few days and then sent a message about how she wanted to spread the unused hours over the new month (still without a site to market) and not pay me again until some time in July. I gave options for completing unfinished hours and new hours all in this month, but that was not to her liking because it didn't allow her to retain me for a full, free month (which was not a part of the contract).
The end result was that I was at least bound to finish the hours she paid for, but was not obligated to spread them over an entire, additional month. So I finished them up over a 3 day period and we severed the contract with no further liability on our side. Had we remembered to include a clause and penalty for early termination she would have had to make the payment or suffer the consequences. But since we didn't remember (and it wasn't our contract to begin with) I was obligated to finish a certain amount of work.
A HUGE lesson learned: from now on we'll only use our own contract and will always include exit clauses for relationships gone sour or failure to cooperate, and penalties for unwarranted early termination.
Posted Jun 14, 2010 7:13:20 PM by: Your Passive Income™