The client is our lifeblood. They provide us service providers with the resources to live and carry on operating. The client relationship is something to be revered and protected above all. Through our failures, our successes and challenges, it’s that relationship that truly endures. Sometimes, this breaks down so horribly that we’re either fired or we decide it’s best to sever the relationship. The last year has seen one such case, where I’ve had to let go go of an unhealthy client.

This, of course, is not a blog post about knocking others for being “bad” while ensuring I look good. The relationship always goes both ways. Taking ownership for mistakes has to happen on both sides. This article is about what leads to these failing relationships and how it might be best to approach severing them.

What leads to firing a client?

Attitude. This is one of the biggest challenges. Some clients come into a relationship looking at our services as we’re akin to taking out garbage. This history of a disrespectful attitude pervades over years of interactions and half-hearted apologies. Customers like this generally only offer back-handed apologies and will ensure that all errors – no matter the source – are caused by the service provider. They’ll not communicate in a timely manner when needs are established and will likely have never trusted, or offered that chance to trust their service provider. These things are not always alone grounds of firing the client, but when it becomes clear that they foster a culture like this, it’s time to be proactive. Also, you’ll find that they aren’t paying you much monetarily either.

Undermining Authority. As the systems provider, there is a certain authority and control over the system required to monitor and troubleshot issues. When the client acts on the system without accounting for the service provider in some way, they have effectively undermined my efforts to maintain a stable system. Even worse when the client makes changes and doesn’t communicate with the service provider at all. This comes in many forms, something like adding a user to an Active Directory server is at benign as it gets. However, when the client makes major changes such as installing large software systems without prior discussion before or after the work. Well, that leads to wasted resources and often system errors. Taken further, when the heads of the company institutionalize this process within the company. That’s the time to walk away.

Incidentally, if you combine the two above issues together, you probably have the client from hell. But, it gets worse.

Late, slow, poor payment. This kind of client is most often just a nuisance. They’ll miss payment time frames, they’ll plead for time and you’ll give it. We’re all human and these things do happen. When does it get to firing-level? When you find them paying excessively late the majority of the time. When the client makes a payment more like a event. When the client forces you to chase them for money and don’t respond promptly to requests. Effectively, over time, clients like this will start creating costs around collecting money (travel time an effort calling to following-up). When these costs become pervasive and common (also, see attitude), it’s time to end this thing.

Let’s talk about what the (now-former) client will focus on. They’ll focus on your knowledge of the system. Your knowledge of how the system works, passwords and network details. The impulse in a heated and emotional state is to hold that information back or not provide it at all. That approach is flat out wrong. For sure, offering some incentive to settle the client’s account balance is fine, but withholding system configuration information is always wrong. What’s more, provide the details even when they refuse to pay (that can be difficult to bare). Whenever possible, it’s smart to provide this information in a self-serve capacity by keeping good documentation and records.

Firing clients is necessary if you’re trying to build the kind of firm that can keep good clients. It’s just about he hardest thing we can do, but with the resources freed from bad clients, we can focus on better serving good ones while gaining new, stronger relationships.