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Firing A Client - It's Not Always a Good Fit

Boychamp

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I don't share this to complain, but more as an interesting lesson and to hear feedback.

To give a little backstory, I'm working on a mixture of freelancing and building my own business centered around online advertising - mostly pertaining to paid social (FB&IG).

Now my mindset in the beginning of starting a company, is more on the lines of you take the potential opportunities given to you and you make the most of it. You don't really have the "right" to be too picky as you really haven't earned it yet. So again, on this line of thinking, I'm typically very willing to go above and beyond while simultaneously asking for less - yes I know, some argue know your worth etc etc but if you haven't EARNED it, you're not really "worth" anything IMO. Also, I frankly don't care about the money, I just want to succeed and get damn good results for whoever it may be.

Anyway, I digress. To the point. I accepted to work for a client who was actually a neighbor who owns a local business and is promoting an event he's holding - which isn't really a fit for what I'm looking to do but figured I'd give it a shot and help him. In order to help him out further, I reduced rates, waived any set up fees, agreed to do much more than normally involved in my scope, etc etc.

The reward? One of the most combative clients I've dealt with (granted that's a rather small pool). Consistently wouldn't respond to important emails, refused to do any of the work necessary on their end (giving access to brand assets, video assets, inputing their billing information, setting anything up on their end, etc), the list goes on. Not only that, but they then would continually ask to meet for no apparent reason or to set up things for them which was accommodated once (mistake).

I won't bore anyone with all the details, but the choice was finally made to "fire" the client. It was at this point it really hit me just how true it can be that not all clients are good clients nor do you want to work with them. And I think that's an interesting lesson, I'm sure many others have experienced similar situations.

I also wanted to spark a discussion.
Do you think it's better to accept opportunities even if you don't think it's a good fit or say no and continue working for opportunities that are more in tune?
Should you charge "full price" or not discount work because people then don't value your time or what you're doing for them - or as I stated you ain't worth sh*t till you prove it?
Is it a good idea to go above and beyond, especially in the beginning, as people then will expect that from you always and continue asking for more?

I don't think there's any right or wrong answers, just curious on people's opinions and experiences.
 
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broswoodwork

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I don't share this to complain, but more as an interesting lesson and to hear feedback.

To give a little backstory, I'm working on a mixture of freelancing and building my own business centered around online advertising - mostly pertaining to paid social (FB&IG).

Now my mindset in the beginning of starting a company, is more on the lines of you take the potential opportunities given to you and you make the most of it. You don't really have the "right" to be too picky as you really haven't earned it yet. So again, on this line of thinking, I'm typically very willing to go above and beyond while simultaneously asking for less - yes I know, some argue know your worth etc etc but if you haven't EARNED it, you're not really "worth" anything IMO. Also, I frankly don't care about the money, I just want to succeed and get damn good results for whoever it may be.

Anyway, I digress. To the point. I accepted to work for a client who was actually a neighbor who owns a local business and is promoting an event he's holding - which isn't really a fit for what I'm looking to do but figured I'd give it a shot and help him. In order to help him out further, I reduced rates, waived any set up fees, agreed to do much more than normally involved in my scope, etc etc.

The reward? One of the most combative clients I've dealt with (granted that's a rather small pool). Consistently wouldn't respond to important emails, refused to do any of the work necessary on their end (giving access to brand assets, video assets, inputing their billing information, setting anything up on their end, etc), the list goes on. Not only that, but they then would continually ask to meet for no apparent reason or to set up things for them which was accommodated once (mistake).

I won't bore anyone with all the details, but the choice was finally made to "fire" the client. It was at this point it really hit me just how true it can be that not all clients are good clients nor do you want to work with them. And I think that's an interesting lesson, I'm sure many others have experienced similar situations.

I also wanted to spark a discussion.
Do you think it's better to accept opportunities even if you don't think it's a good fit or say no and continue working for opportunities that are more in tune?
Should you charge "full price" or not discount work because people then don't value your time or what you're doing for them - or as I stated you ain't worth sh*t till you prove it?
Is it a good idea to go above and beyond, especially in the beginning, as people then will expect that from you always and continue asking for more?

I don't think there's any right or wrong answers, just curious on people's opinions and experiences.
I screen heavily during the sales process to try to filter out the misfits before any money changes hands. (Man do I have a live - one on Facebook right now too...)Soup-Nazi-Banner.jpg

Occasionally, someone says all the right things and slips past the perimeter defenses though, and you've got to cut them loose.
 

minivanman

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My 1st rule is.... Never work for a friend or a neighbor within 1 mile. I do work for friends but I do not charge them. I did some work for a friend yesterday and he tried to pay me but I would not accept.

I do not accept something that is a wrong fit. No time to waste here on this earth.

I don't believe in real discounts. I might jack the price up and then lower it so it seems like a discount.

In every business I've ever owned directly, we have always gone above and beyond. Not just at first but every day.
 

Boychamp

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My 1st rule is.... Never work for a friend or a neighbor within 1 mile. I do work for friends but I do not charge them. I did some work for a friend yesterday and he tried to pay me but I would not accept.

I do not accept something that is a wrong fit. No time to waste here on this earth.

I don't believe in real discounts. I might jack the price up and then lower it so it seems like a discount.

In every business I've ever owned directly, we have always gone above and beyond. Not just at first but every day.

Well there in lies my first mistake I guess haha.

I see, that makes sense. My thought process like I said was kind of take opportunities as they come, you never know what it might lead to. But that’s a good point about wasting time.

Ah, I didn’t articulate that properly. I was more referring to things out of scope. Example: hired to run ads. Then asked to help with video editing, said sure. Then their email marketing follow-up. Then landing page creation. All not originally agreed upon nor paid extra (not like It’s all about money or anything). That’s kind of what I meant by “above and beyond”.

Appreciate your thoughts though, definitely good to hear.
 
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Boychamp

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I screen heavily during the sales process to try to filter out the misfits before any money changes hands. (Man do I have a live - one on Facebook right now too...)View attachment 26804

Occasionally, someone says all the right things and slips past the perimeter defenses though, and you've got to cut them loose.

Hahaha sounds like I need to implement better processes then. Still in the learning phase here, good advice though.

Well I wish you the best with the client.
 

Kevin88660

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Not so good clients? Plenty for me.

It is really an optimization question on your business.

Ideally you should have enough good and supportive clients so that you do not have to deal with these pain in the a$$.

But come on obviously we are not there yet. That is why we have to deal with these.

My idea is a middle way approach. At this stage we need to keep some of such clients for realistic purpose. But they should not be too many because it takes away time to be spent in servicing and finding wuality clients. Have a few but make sure not too many.
 

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