Ninja Tactics to Karate Chop Your Client

Top 10 Ways to Fire the Client From Hell

How to tactfully rid your business of penny-penching, unreliable and abusive clients.

Clients are the lifeblood of any business. Without them, your venture simply doesn't exist. On the other hand, some clients are so bad that your business, not to mention your personal sanity, is better off without them. So what do you do when you have a client that pushes you to the brink? You fire them! Here's how to give 10 of the worst offenders the pink slip without burning bridges.

1. The bargain shopper: As a general rule, the client who pays the least will expect the most. The words "I need this done cheap" should strike fear in your heart, not because of profit margins, but because this client will nickel-and-dime you within an inch of your life for extra work, support and other nuisances that were not in the original scope.

How to get out: This one's simple: Raise your rates, if only for this particular client. The bargain shopper will move on to the next firm that offers a better price, as he's concerned only with the bottom line, not the value of your work.

2. The client who can't make deadlines: This client wants you to set his project at top priority because he’s on a tight schedule and needs to get something produced right away. You agree, assuming that you’ll have all of the information you need to get it done quickly. Unfortunately, your client drops off the face of the earth, ignoring your requests for approvals and other correspondence until your previously agreed upon due date comes around. At this point, you’re both blaming each other as the reason that the project’s not done, and it’s not pretty.

How to get out: Before this client makes you miss the deadlines of customers who can keep up with you, let him know that no, you can't deliver on your deadlines when he misses his. Push back his deadline and stick to it. Instead of setting a concrete date, make it contingent upon receipt of information, such as a certain number days from the signed approval date. Don't accept any future work from this client, as his habits are not likely to change. Instead, tell him that you're experiencing a high volume of work and offer to refer him to another firm.

3. The client with a not-so-small project: You get a call out of the blue from a new customer who wants you to complete a small, simple project. He thinks it should be easy and uncomplicated, so he's only willing to pay a small fee. You agree that this is fair, until you realize the client is going to make this small project a major pain with endless changes and additions that were not a part of the original budget.

How to get out: If you agreed to do a certain amount work for a particular price, deliver it and do a good job. But if this client pushes boundaries, clearly inform them that extra work will cost extra money. If they refuse to respect your rules, invoice them for any unpaid work and stop the project in its tracks. Give them what you've produced up to the point when you severed ties, but only if they've paid for it.

When Do You Fire a Client?

For some businesspeople, "firing a client" is an oxymoron. "Fire" and "Client" are two words they would just never think of conjoining. "Fire a client? Are you crazy?"

There are many others, though, who realize that divorcing a client is sometimes the right thing to do when a client has crossed the line of irreparable damage to the client/provider relationship.

This relationship should be based on a "win-win" or mutual value premise: providing a valuable service in exchange for compensation, usually in the form of payment. No client in their right mind would want to hold onto a provider who did not perform their agreed-upon service. In this same light, there are times when the words and/or actions of a client lead to a significant loss on the part of the provider, and continuation of a business relationship cannot be justified. This is when it makes good business sense to set these clients free.

Some justifiable causes for firing a client

Prolonged Accounts Receivable
You've had a client for years. The remaining balance, instead of diminishing, has been steadily increasing with each passing year. He's sent intermittent payments of only nominal amounts, or of late has sent no payment at all.

Nonpayment of accounts is absolute grounds for terminating a client.

Chronic Complainer or Overly Demanding
This is the client who perhaps never has anything good to say about you or your business. In their mind and words, you're possibly too expensive or the service you provide is never good enough. This is a person who is often very demanding and cannot be satisfied. You know that what you are providing is exemplary, but they complain nonetheless.

A client who constantly berates you or your business is not a client you should be involved with.

Time Eater
These clients make you feel like they want to take up every moment of your day. In essence, they want you to be at their beck and call 24-7. Traits of The Time Eater may include:

• E-mails or calls several times a day.


• Insists on being able to reach you at any given moment.


• Frequently cancels or reschedules meetings.

A client who takes up a disproportionately large amount of your time is not a client worth having.

Deadline Deadbeat
Your client is being audited by the IRS. In order to properly represent your client, you've asked that she provide you with some critical papers and receipts. You've explained to the client the importance of getting this information to you by a certain date. A month after your deadline -- and one day before the audit -- you receive your information.

A client who repeatedly demonstrates an inability to meet their obligations on a timely basis negatively impacts the quality and integrity of the services you provide. Persistent deadline deadbeats you can do without.

Firing a Client

For many small businesses and freelancers the idea of firing a client is a crazy one. Maybe you’ve thought about it. OK, who are we kidding, you’ve definitely thought about it. But usually it remains a daydream that you never act on. You’ve certainly read about great ways to salvage your relationship with a problem client. But what do you do when you just want to get rid of a client?

The notion of firing a client isn’t as drastic as it might seem at first. If you approach this idea with an open mind, you’ll begin to realize that firing clients makes room for new (and better) clients. The opportunity to have more rewarding projects with better clients should be motivating. Don’t let the fear of not being able to get other work take over.

Clients define our business. Keeping clients that are having a negative impact on your work make you less productive, limits your growth, and will make you less profitable. Don’t subscribe to the “I can’t afford to loose clients” mentality. Instead, realize that what you can’t afford is to keep problematic clients. They create more work and more stress for you, and ultimately will reduce your profits.

Before picking up the phone and telling a client, “You’re fired!”, it is important to understand why you’re firing the client, and to make sure it is really the best decision. You need to recognize the difference between short-term differences and long-term problems that are having a negative impact on your business

Sometimes arrangements just don’t work out or turn out not to be worth the effort. Assuming you are fulfilling your obligations and your client is not, you should start evaluating what you would gain (and lose) by giving up this client. Here are some questions you can ask yourself as you start evaluating the common warning signs that indicate it might be time to fire a client :

• Does the client frequently pay invoices late, or not at all?


• Is the client questioning details of your invoices (don’t mistake attention to detail and frugality for serious problems)?


• Is the client missing deadlines for reviewing materials, affecting your ability to meet project milestones?

Source and Contributors

Top 10 Ways to Fire the Client From Hell by Inside CRM Editors http://www.insidecrm.com/features/client-from-hell-091707/

When Do You Fire A Client? by Patricia Schaefer http://www.businessknowhow.com/marketing/fire-client.htm

Firing a Client by Renee Constantini Published in Client Relations http://www.graphicdefine.org/issue3/firingaclient