Ed Gandia walks through when and how to end a client relationship. He covers red flags that signal a bad fit, how to communicate the decision professionally, and what to do with their projects to avoid burning bridges.
Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast, helping you propel your writing business to a whole new level. And now, here's your host, Ed Gandia.
Hey there.
Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast. I am your host, Ed Gandia, and this is the podcast for business writers and copywriters who want to earn more and less time doing work they love for better clients.
You can find show notes for this.
Episode@B2B launcher.com, episode 202. Those notes include a summary of our discussion as well as links to resources we mentioned during the show. This episode is a little different and much shorter than usual rather than my typical 30 to 45 minute format. Today I'm sharing a really quick tip with you. This is part of the regular audio insights that I publish for my coaching clients as part of our work together and I thought you'd find it helpful. So here we go. I hope you enjoy it.
Question that often comes up is how.
Do I fire a client?
How do I let go of a client that's no longer a good fit for me? So the first thing that you need to understand is that it's very common to feel this way, number one. Number two, it's healthy.
It's healthy to let go of clients. It's on a fairly regular basis.
There's nothing wrong with losing clients every year. Sometimes it's just regular attrition, sometimes it'll just be you determining that it's no longer a fit. When you do that, whatever the reason, it makes room for better clients. So how do you decide which ones to let go? Well, there's a few factors to consider and then we'll talk about how you.
Can let them go.
The first is look at each client and I suggest that you evaluate clients at least once a year.
Twice a year is even better. And look at first the value of each client.
So look at what kind of revenue.
That client is generating.
But more than that, look at it more deeply and evaluate your internal hourly rate for each client. Look at the work consistency of each client. Consider the hassle factors so the level of stress of working with them, how they respect you or not respect you, the amount of maintenance required to work with that client. Also consider the people and the topic. So the people you're working with, how do you click with them? How do you get along with them? And then the topics that you're writing about, do you like the topics? How do they impact your happiness? We're in this for more than just the money. There should be more than that. And There should be some joy in the work we do, so that's important. And of course, your interests and passions, which is kind of what I just talked about, but it's kind of a separate thing as well. And do they line up with what's important to you? Do these clients line up in some respect? I mean, I think there should be some kind of balance. Many times you can't have every client really kind of hit all of these things, but you want to make sure that you have some of that. I find that it's better to let go of the bottom every year than it is to try to raise your fees with those clients, which is something that many writers try to do instead.
Of letting them go.
All right, so let's talk about how you let them go. It's actually simpler than you think. First of all, many times if it's just not a fit, your client is.
Not going to be surprised.
And you never know, you might actually be doing them a favor. They might actually be glad that you're the one who brought it up. But the way to do it is just to, I suggest having a conversation instead of just sending an email and explain that you've decided to move on. So let them know that right off the gate and then tell them why and explain whatever the reasoning is. Maybe your other clients are paying you more based on the value you've been delivering to all your clients and you can no longer afford to keep working at the entry level fee from whatever three years ago when you started working with them or whatever you think it's best for you and for them to move on. So justify, explain that it's been great working with them, that you really appreciated the opportunity in the business. You feel it's time to move on for these reasons, want to stay in touch and that's it. Pretty straightforward. You don't have to elaborate, you don't have to pad that message any further. It's business, you know, be courteous, be professional, but be swift and make sure to put it out there and be.
Clear about your intentions.
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