Eventually it happens, how you deal with it is up to you completely.
Telling a client you have to fire them or no longer work with them is a tough decision to make. The potential for things to go wrong in the process is huge.
- You lose the money (although, the time they were costing you more than probably makes up for the money).
- You do damage to a persons (many times) fragile ego.
- You lose any goodwill with that person (chances are good they will talk bad about you to as many people as they can).
- You may find it incredibly difficult to do - sometimes even reversing your "firing" and taking them back (almost always a huge mistake)
- You may find it hard to do and it may keep you awake atnight
BUT...
- You may find it the MOST liberating experience of your business life when you finally realize it is YOU that is incontrol, not them.
So, how do you know when the time has come?
If you find they are eating up way more time than theyshould be. Calling throughout the day, insisting on meeting after meeting, saying things that just don't make sense, even putting words in your mouth as to what you promised (contracts in place fix that).
At times, you will have that feeling deep inside the pit of your stomach that tells you this is not a good, healthy relationship.
Having just gone through this process last week, I can sayone thing - ALWAYS listen to your intuition or gut feeling.
In this case, right from day 1, I had a feeling something was amiss... but ignored that feeling. Which was a completely stupid decision on my part... I almost always listen to my gut feeling and it has almost always lead me in the right direction.
This was one of those cases where I thought I would use the facts to out weigh the intuition. A successful businessperson (so they claimed). A fascinating business model. An exciting project. And a decent compensation model for my work (base rate plus residuals from seat sales).
All combined, it seemed like a good thing.
Not.
It was trouble from day 2.
So, I bit the bullet and fired them this week.
Yikes!
True colors get really shown in a situation like this. Now is when you experience what the person it truly like behind locked doors.
You know what else is interesting?
Once they have been fired, chances are good you will also start hearing other people complaining about this same person - even if you never brought their name up.
Other people will somehow sense what is going on and contribute their experiences with that same person - in this case, it happened 3 times without my bringing the persons name up.
If you have a client that is causing you more grief than they are worth, fire them!
It may be a difficult thing at first, but once you get used to it, it will be the most liberating thing you do. Now YOU are back in the drivers seat and you can pick and choose whom you work with.
You will realize that there is no sane reason to put up with a clients abuse - let them drain some other poor souls blood and energy.
Once you gain back control, you will experience a completely different outlook on life, and you will start attracting more of the right type of client.
Don't let these kinds of clients drag you down - it is not worth it at all.
Be like Trump - "You're Fired!"
Or you can be more understated - "I just can't continue towork with you right now"
However you say it, it will open up a new world.
Try it, you'll like it.
http://advertising.ducttapemarketing.com/2006/04/how_when_and_wh.html
About Me
- Jeffrey Summers
- I am the expert you call when you need to learn how to increase top line sales, lower your operating costs, increase your profit margin, hire and train better managers and staff, evolve your operation into more and better ways of doing business, buy or sell a restaurant, improve your service, engineer (or re-engineer!) your menu, market your business better and less expensively, keep yourself from going nuts because you have no life anymore, open more and better restaurants, don't want to have to give up your first born child to pay a consultant and have more fun! My mission is to enhance the quality of life for my clients by providing the best products and services to help them achieve their personal and professional goals. I take great pride in my clients, my company, my commitment to service and the products I sell. I am a recognized expert in the hospitality industry with over 24 years of success at planning and executing strategies for delivering dramatic results, a former "GM of the Year" for 2 major, full-service, franchises, an Award winning Multi-Unit Executive with 2 of the largest restaurant chains in the U.S., published author, husband and father of two.