Why, When & How to fire a client!

Have you ever been in a situation where you had a to "fire" a client?

We know as Entrepreneurs our focus is on gaining clients and growing our client base, not getting rid of them! So why on earth would you want to fire a client?!

Below we would like to share some possible reasons why it might be time to fire one of your clients - whether they are a long-standing client or not. 

Values and Principles

Do you share similar values and principles? This might have changed over time and you might find that you or your client's values have changed. Or you might fire a client even before the contract has begun. This is an extremely important point to consider when taking on clients, who will effectively be an extension of your business. Do they uphold the same values you do? Do they have the same work ethic and follow similar principles to your or your company's mission statement? If not, we want you to really consider the pros and cons of acquiring a client who could just be opposing your views or way of working on every corner. Apart from creating additional tension and stress, you might find that you disagree with the final outcome of the project etc. Which leads us to the next reason...

Share Similar Goal / Vision

Do you and your client have a similar goal or vision for the project or collaboration you have agreed to? If you do not have a similar goal or vision in mind, you will always be pulling in different directions. The project will be moving really slowly and probably never reach its final destination or conclusion. So, make sure that you are on the same page where the goal/vision of the project or collaboration is concerned. 

Clashing of World Views 

Similar to the above statement, it is important that you collaborate with a client who has similar views than you. Now, we are not saying you only have to work with clients who think exactly as you do about life. That will be near impossible! But if there are huge differences in worldviews that will influence your project or collaboration then, this could add a layer of stress and unnecessary pressure. For instance, say your have collaborated with a client to run a food drive for schools in your area and your partner/client has made the decision to become vegan, and would like to include vegan meals in the food drive, but you do not agree with veganism and would like to follow the same food/recipes that are healthy and balanced and working. The collaboration has come to a place of opposing worldviews, and it could mean the end of the partnership. 

Resistance from Client

We both do coaching/therapy sessions with clients and sometimes clients are just not ready to do the work or achieve the things that they want to achieve during the coaching sessions. When the client shows a lot of resistance to the action steps laid out or the designed programme to follow, it is worthwhile to discuss this with them. Are they resisting the work that needs to be done, because they do not want to, or they don't agree with the action steps or they might not be ready? It is important to have a conversation with this client to identify the reason for the resistance. It might be that they are not ready for the work or that they do not feel comfortable to work with you as a coach or you might simply not be a good coach/client fit.

Memberships

If you have a membership group, either in person or online, there are usually a set of rules, ethics and principles that all members of the group should follow. These could be things like confidentiality, mutual respect, no-profanity etc. If you have a member that do not uphold these set out rules for the membership group, it is important that you as the group leader have a chat with them, and might even ask them to leave the group if they are unwilling to follow the guidelines. 

Unrealistic Expectations / Demands

When your client has unrealistic expectations or demands you might have to review the contract you have with this client and perhaps bring it to their attention once again. Or maybe remind them of the agreement you had when you started working together or when you took them on as a client. This might be a really important client of yours or a client that brings in a significant amount of your revenue, but we want to urge you not to let the income this client's business generates be a reason that you overstep your own boundaries or put up with a lot of unrealistic expectations. In the long run, you a degrading your own value and setting a precedent of "bad behavior". 

Now that you have determined or are at least a little bit clearer on whether you should fire this particular client or not, here is HOW.

We have created the following steps for you to follow, using the acronym: F-I-R-E-D

Facts

When you decide to have a meeting with your client, stay with the facts. Make sure you pull out the contract and that you go through that step by step and highlight the parts where your client did not adhere to it. Alternatively, stay with the facts of differences in values and principles, or that their goal/vision for the project seem to have changed. Whatever it might be, but do not let your personal feelings get involved. 

Ideal Solution

Discuss what would be the ideal solution for both parties. How could the dissolve of the contract/project be a win-win for you and your client? If there is not ideal solution to move forward separately, then look at what was gained during the time that you worked together and what learning can each of you take forward into the future. 

Respect

Make sure you handle the situation with respect - for yourself and for your client. It does not matter how "bad" things turned out, or that you did not see eye-to-eye on certain things. However, it is your responsibility to treat all people you meet, current clients or other that you are letting go, with respect. At the end of the day, we are all human beings and want to be treated with respect and dignity. 

Emotion

Like we said in the first step, try to keep your personal emotions out of it. We all hear and experience the world, other people's behavior and what they say, through our own "stories" and unresolved issues. If you feel that this situation has evoked strong emotions for you, then go and talk it through with a Supervisor or another colleague, before you meet with the client. Make sure that there are no loose ends, and if there are, you need to work through them in your own time. It's not personal its business. 

Dissolve contract 

The last step in how to fire your client is to dissolve the contract or partnership. Look at the action steps that need to be done, to follow through on dissolving the collaboration. Are there any payouts that need to happen, people to be notified etc. Make sure you take minutes during your meeting, especially with this section. Make sure that your client gets a copy of these. 

So there you have it! Possible reasons you might have to "fire" a client and workable action steps to make the process a little bit easier. We know this is one of the less "exciting" things to do as a business owner or entrepreneur, but hopefully, you will find these steps of support, should you ever have to "fire a client".