Do you have a client that seems to be constantly unhappy? Perhaps they honestly feel you haven’t been taking care of their tasks and projects the way they’d like you to. Even when you’ve done all you feel you can they are still unhappy and loudly and unpleasantly let you and others know. It may be time to let them go.
If you’ve done all you can, it doesn’t matter if they are right or not. You will do more harm to your business keeping them as a client. As we state on page 39 in The Commonsense Virtual Assistant – Becoming an Entrepreneur, Not an Employee: ” If you decide that an ongoing relationship will do more harm than good to both of you, calmly, politely let them know that you’ve done all you can. Apologize that you haven’t been able to make them happy. Express a genuine hope that someone else who offers the same product or service will be able to do what you can’t. And that’s all.”
Have you had to let a client go? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
I had to do this just this last week. Usually when this occurs, if you look back to when you first started interacting with this client, you’ll realize that you had some niggling doubts as to whether the chemistry between you and the prospect was right. Many times, you’ll ignore that little warning bell because you need the money or the project sounds exciting – but know that it always ends up being more trouble than it’s worth. However, once you drop that unhappy person you will feel like a lead blanket has been removed from your head and you’ll finally be able to breathe! And in my 10 years as a VA, these unhappy people – whether it’s 3 weeks from now or 3 years – will ALWAYS come back and plead for your help. Don’t do it!! Avoid the toxic clients! Great post!
Thank you for your comments Cheryl. Yes, I’ve always found that the clients I’ve let go are ones that I shouldn’t have taken in the first place. I’ve learned to listen to Joel’s intuition as he’s always told me from the first conversation with a prospect if he thought it was going to work out or not. Had I listened to him, I wouldn’t have had to work with ‘challenging’ clients.
I completely agree. The insanity, in my opinion, is when we insist on trying to make it work. When we continue putting up with negative behavior from the clients. When we get to the point where their tasks always end up on the backburner simply because we don’t want to have to deal with them. We unconsciously start rebelling against them in very passive, but effective ways. That situation bodes well for no one.
Thank you for your comments Renae. If we can make it work, that’s wonderful. But there are times it just won’t and it’s time to let go!
Renae, I know *exactly* what you mean! It’s so great we can commiserate and keep our sanity!
It’s those situations where you cringe when the phone rings and you recognize Client A’s phone number yet, no matter what you do, you keep on at it. It’s crazy!
Yes, when I started feeling stressed every time a particular client emailed or called, I knew it was time to let that client go. Fortunately I haven’t had one like that in a long, long time.
I recently had a client who wanted me at his beck and call. Whenever I couldn’t answer his phone calls, which were at all hours of the day and night, weekends and holidays or if I didn’t get his work done the same day, he would get a tone with me. Once I worked all his hours for his retainer, I did not ask him to renew. Ugh, I am not a robot nor am I at your service 24-7-365.
Good for you Cindy. I’ve done the same thing with clients and just told them we’re done. We have business hours as well and need to stick to them. If a client can’t appreciate that, they can find someone else to be at their beck and call.
Brava ladies for sticking to your guns! When a client hits your ‘hairy edge’, the point where you’re over it, it’s time to say buh bye.
Hard to do when you like the client, though, and feel guilty because you know it’s partly your fault for taking them in the first place.
You might want to bring up the behavior and see if there’s a way to shift it. 1)Be transparent- invite your client to the conversation by saying you want a better relationship. 2)Share what you’ve experienced, in your business and personally, because of their behavior. 3) Ask them to share their story about it.
Gives you both a chance to make adjustments and you can still fire the client later if you want.
Exactly, Dina. Save the relationship if you can, by all means.
What’s also important is to give ourselves permission to let it go. Take the pressure off, and instead of doing what we think we have to do, we can think clearly about what’s best.