We all sort of know how to fire an underperforming employee. Sort of. You let them know kindly, with care. And move on.
But how do you fire a good >client<? One that has been paying regularly, for an extended time? That counts on you?
It happens. The reality is for service providers, you only have so many slots. Some clients are just too demanding. It’s easier to have clients that are less demanding. And sometimes if you do well, you just plain end up with too many clients. And you have to let some go.
The ones that never pay, that’s easy. The ones where you don’t do all that much for, you just wind it down.
But what about the clients that depend on you? I’ve had a few of these conversations over the years. At law firms, accounting firms, and marketing agencies where after a few years, they want a less demanding client than me and/or SaaStr 🙂
I had an accounting firm I’d used for years not want to work with us anymore for example, when managing our taxes got a lot more complicated. And a law firm not want to work with us when we decided not to get as big as A16Z. Etc.
All I can tell you is I just don’t see agencies think about this much at all from the client’s perspective.
Just a few thoughts:
#1. If you can, truly to line-up a replacement agency that is at least pretty good.
If a client has been relying on you for years, just ending the relationship one day is often … awkward. If you’re been in the services business a while, you should at least know one smaller / scrappier / hungry agency you trust to take over the business.
#2. Don’t use price increases just to fire a client.
This does sort of work, you can raise prices so quickly, so dramatically, the client breaks up for you :). But it’s not honest. We’ve see this a lot on our side in event production. SaaStr Annual especially is a lot of work, and people decide they don’t want to do it. So they double pricing :). It works, they force us to break up, but …
#3. Remember a great client can be a great reference check for a decade.
I see way too many agencies and service providers struggle to get a top-tier >current< client as a case study on their websites. I see old clients, or junior execs, etc. Leave on truly great terms with a client, leave them in just a good a place — and you’ll have a true reference account for a decade. So many agencies on event production we meet, all their top references are former clients.
#4. Dumb clients are easier, but it’s the smart ones you learn from. And get better partnering with.
I see a lot of agencies want to focus on clients that don’t actually understand the industry. That don’t understand paid marketing, or events, or podcast, or performance marketing, etc. Yes, “dumb” clients with budget are often the easiest clients to make money from. But you really only get better working with the really, really smart ones. They will push you, though. They’ll call you on stuff. And make you better.
Just a few thoughts on how better to fire … a good client.
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Jason Lemkin, Khareem Sudlow
