When it's time to fire a client

Real talk today, friends. We've all had “that client” before: 🙈🙈🙈

You have a full-body reaction when you see their name pop up in your email inbox;
They grind you on price, but always demand an extremely quick turnaround on your work product; and
They are so hard on your team that you often wonder if it's worth keeping them around (but they pay the bills….).

So, what do you do when you have a client like this. Hmm… well, you know me, I have thoughts lol, but first - a story.

Let me tell you about one of the professional services firms inside my 7-Fig CEO program right now.

This client has had such explosive growth during our time together that they are now getting ready to take steps to open a second location (and likely increase revenues by probably another $600-800k sooner than later).

But like most businesses, the clients this firm loved working with in their first months/years of biz are not the clients they love working with now.

📈 Why?

This firm took deliberate steps to work on their mindset and strategically grow their biz.

When this happens, it's not uncommon to see that a business outgrows its clients, and unfortunately, some client relationships become strained when this happens.

So, what do you do when you've outgrown a client and it's just not enjoyable to work with them anymore?

Well, in my experience, there are just 2 options:

1️- Fire the client (gasp!!) and set new boundaries/minimums for client work

2️ - Keep the client and increase your fees. Significantly. Stat.

🤯🤯🤯

Let's discuss..

Option 1: Fire the client + set crystal clear boundaries for new clients.

Let's be honest. Firing clients never feels good - especially when things like making payroll are very real. And you're probably thinking, isn't the idea to grow my biz and make more money, not turn work away??? 🤷🏼‍♀️

But part of creating a biz that you love so much that you can hardly wait for Monday morning to roll around is taking a risk and making space for the clients to come through who are a perfect fit.

So if your clients are hard on your staff or unable to respect your boundaries after you've made repeated requests for them to alter their behaviour, it might be time to take drastic action… because you and I both know this situation is not going to get better on its own.

The second part of this option is setting boundaries for new clients.

Will you have a project fee minimum? I have one client who has a minimum project budget of $200k stated on their website. This is so badass but it also stops 1000% of all “tire kickers” from inquiring.
Will you reinforce contract highlights during the intake process? Eg. “The scope of your contract includes X and if you want it to include Y, we will agree to that separately in writing”.

Option 2: Keep the client but increase your fees. Significantly. Stat.

Yes, I'm talking about a PITA premium (aka pain in the ass upcharge). It's not a kind term, but sometimes there needs to be recognition that Client X requires additional time, energy, and hand-holding.

When should you do this, friend?

Well if you routinely feel exhausted after interacting with a client, it's highly likely that the energetic exchange is off. As in, you're putting out more energy than you're getting back from them (in the form of 💰), and you are feeling resentful/not excited to work with them anymore.

So, you need to adjust your fees. Stat.

And remember: this specific fee increase is done in fairness to your OTHER clients.

➡️➡️ If you're charging $8,500/month to one client who is great to deal with, treats your team well, and is extremely respectful of your services agreement, it's highly unfair to charge a (significantly more) challenging client the same amount of money when they require a disproportionate amount of your time/energy and are hard on your team.

One final note on increasing fees: when we increase our fees, we sometimes lose clients. And that's okay… especially in this situation. 🧐.

What first presents as a “loss” is actually very much a “gain” aka you’re making space for better clients to start coming through when you say to the uni - “I deserve better and I believe in this so deeply, I'm going to proactively take action to make room for 'better'”.

So consider this your permission slip to go ahead and make that list of the 3 - 5 clients who keep you up at night and decide if they're getting a fee increase or if you're parting ways.

And if you’re ready to start attracting more perfect-fit clients, we should chat.

I’ve just launched The 7-Figure CEO “Light” Program which is geared towards anyone who is interested in taking the steps to get to 7- or multiple 7-figures in revenue - including getting super clear on who you want to work with, how much you’ll charge them, and what boundaries will protect that professional relationship.

Here are the details:

20 hrs/month of consulting support from my team of Operations, Finance and Leadership pros so that you learn from the experts instead of making the usual mistakes biz owners make when they’re trying to hit big growth goals
3-month contract with the opportunity to re-sign
Investment: