You were probably shocked to read the title of this post. It was a hard lesson that I’ve learned these past few days, but it’s true. Even I am guilty of always trying to go the extra mile to please customers, no matter what the cost to my own business. But in reality, there are situations in which it’s best to simply let a client or customer go. Here’s why.
I have a client who pays a ridiculously low rate. I accepted this assignment because I felt bad for her and her inability to pay more, and her obvious need for marketing assistance. My other clients pay, literally, five times the hourly rate that she is paying. Yet, she has been the most demanding and difficult client I have ever worked with. A self-proclaimed “self-taught” html-coder, she did not agree with the W3C compliant standards I adhered to when creating pages and templates for her website.
When she asked me to create a PowerPoint presentation, I took very specific instructions on exactly what she wanted the design to look like. After following her exact specifications of “plain white background with nothing but the text and the logo in the lower right-hand corner of every slide”, her response was that it needed more “design work”. She then proceeded to inform me that she felt I lacked the experience that she needed. I laughed.
After spending countless hours of unbillable time trying to please this client, and then being insulted by her, I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that I must actually fire this client. I have far too much other work to be doing for clients who appreciate the value of my time and expertise to be wasting that valuable time trying to please someone who will never be happy. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when she asked me to help drive traffic to her internet marketing pyramid scheme site that she firmly believed was going to make her rich. I have an ethical concern promoting a product that tries to take advantage of the many people who are seeking desperately for a way to support their families during these difficult economic times and asking them to invest money in a ridiculous scam.
The lesson here is that at some point while building your business, you may have to make a similar difficult decision. If you find that 10% of your clients or customers are taking up 90% of your time but making up 5% of your total income, the unfortunate reality is that you are actually hurting your own progress by continuing to work with these people.
If a customer or client has a legitimate complaint, by all means, you should attempt to resolve it in any way possible. But, if you find yourself continuously jumping through hoops to try to please one or two clients who ar paying very little in comparison with much easier to work with clients, it’s time to re-evaluate what makes sense for your business. Cut your losses and move on to the positive people who will help you grow your business and be successful – and to those who understand the value of your time.
