GB Ep 23: When You Should Fire Clients

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Working in a service-based business like Internet marketing means clients will at times be unhappy and expect more than is realistic. But whether or not you’re delivering exactly what they want or need time to test a campaign, it’s important to figure out your ideal client profile and fire the clients that aren’t a good fit for your company. Here are some things to keep in mind.

• Running a service based business means clients will be pissed off at some point or another. Ideally you want to set an ideal client profile to find the right relationships. [01:22]
• Think about how the client is treating their staff. If they’re abusive to their employees, it’s not going to work. Your employees are more important than the client in the long-run. [01:52]
• Look at the client expectations. If they’re expecting the world, you need to sever the relationship or your reputation will suffer. [02:30]
• Avoid micromanagers. They hired you for a reason and need to let you do your job. [02:59]
• We’ve had clients who have been know it all’s and we had to cut ties. [03:23]
• An abusive micromanager is not going to be a good scenario for your company. [04:05]
• Refuse to work with clients who expect you to do more for them and feel you’re only there to serve them. [04:23]
• Don’t let clients keep adding on responsibilities and the account will become unprofitable and trickle down to your other accounts. [04:53]
• Toggl or Harvest can help you keep track of how much time you’re spending on each client. [05:18]
• Don’t let bad client relationships sit for too long or your company morale will suffer and take awhile to get back on track. [05:35]

Selected links from this episode:

• Toggl
• Harvest

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