13. How to Fire BAD Clients

And eventually you get to the point with some of these horrendous clients where you're, like, pulling your hair out. You're like, I'm done. This is my breaking point. There's no way that I can work with them anymore. I'm firing them today. And you sit down to write the email, the breakup email, and you're like, I'm going to give them a piece of my mind. I'm going to tell them how I really feel. And then it dawns on you, like, wait a minute. Well, how are they going to react? What are. What are they going to say? What are they going to say about me? Maybe this isn't the right approach. And then you're kind of frozen because you're not exactly sure what to say. But what I can tell you is it is so smart to begin with the end in mind to take the high road, to treat them and the situation with dignity and respect, regardless of what they've kind of put you through. And that will de. Stress the situation so much and make it a much more positive experience for. For you as the service provider.

Let's just say it out loud. Firing a bad client is hard. And I think especially for those of us that come from working for a larger firm where we're taught that there is nothing more sacred than the billable hour. You know, there was this expectation that we're gonna still get those billable hours. Even if a client berates us or belittles us or violates boundaries or they're just a pain to work with, we' still got to get those billable hours. But now that we're the CEOs of our own company, we don't have to put up with that if we don't want to. Right? That's one of the benefits of having your own firm. But that doesn't make it any less hard to fire a client. And I think one of the reasons it's so hard is because there's a lot of emotion that comes along with the process of firing a client. First, there's all the feels that you get from working with the bad client, right? You get angry and resentful and all that kind of stuff. And then you finally hit that point where you're ready to push the button and you sit down to write the email. And now there's a whole new, fresh set of emotions. There's uncertainty around what they're going to do or how they're going to respond. There's a little bit of fear. Are they going to go out and trash us on social media, but at the same time, you want to give them a piece of your mind. Right? And so it's like, how do I even handle the situation? And it can honestly be kind of a paralyzing thing where you might be inclined to still deal with that bad client even though you know it's time to fire them. And so today, what I want to share with you is my five step framework that I've developed for letting a client go. And I think the magic for me about this framework is it really de escalates a lot of the potential drama that can come from firing a client. And it gives me a sense of peace because I know that I did it the right way. So I'm going to share my framework with you. But before I dive in, I want to remind you of one of the most important things that I see people getting hung up with on the breakup email, and that is the fact that there is no perfect, magical way. There's no serious series of words that you can string together that are going to make this a wonderful experience for everyone involved. Right. There's no way that you're going to be able to put this email together where you're going to feel great. The client is going to think that, oh, wow, Amy just broke up with me and she did it in such a great way, and I'm so glad that she let me go today. It's not going to happen, so don't spend a ton of time trying to craft the perfect verbiage that is going to deliver this experience on a silver platter. So with that said, let's go ahead and dive into the five step framework. Number one, I want you to begin with the end in mind. This is what I mean. The end result we're looking for is we want to offboard this client as quickly as possible with as little drama and back and forth as possible. Right? That's really what we're trying to do. But what we want to do is we want to give these clients a piece of our mind. We want to tell them all the different reasons that we're breaking up with them and that we're firing them. But that doesn't serve anybody well. Because the truth is, the reality is there's nothing that you're going to tell them that is going to give them this, aha, epiphany that they're bad to work for. You're not going to change their mind, that they need to change their ways. And so when we send off these emails and we say all these reasons why they're bad. All it does is invite them to respond and rebuke it and get into this dramatic back and forth that doesn't serve anybody well, including you, your team and the client. And so before you get into crafting your message, I want you to be mindful to keep the end in mind. And remember what we're shooting for here is to just get this bad apple off of our client roster as quickly as possible and as professionally as possible without any ensuing drama. The second thing I want you to think about, this is going to be tough, especially because these we're talking about bad clients today, the ones that violate boundaries, the ones that disrespect you. Despite all those things, I want you to start your email, the breakup email, by showing gratitude. And the reason I want you to do that is twofold. Number one is kind of the tactical reason. And that's when a client opens up an email and it starts off with you being grateful and humble, it starts their mindset off in a really good place. You might say, hey, Bill, let me first start by saying that I am so grateful that I've had the opportunity to serve you and your team for the last year as your bookkeeper. I'm humbled that you've trust me and my team to serve you in that capacity. So when I say start with gratitude, that's what I'm talking about. So the first reason, like I said, is because we want to get them in the right mindset when they go into reading the email. But number two, when you start with gratitude and humility, it really helps to further kind of calm you down and get you kind of off the ledge, so to speak. And so, so important to start with gratitude and humility at the beginning of the email. And it doesn't have to be any more than the example I just gave you, just saying, hey, thank you for the opportunity to serve, thank you for allowing us, you know, into your finances, etc. Etc. That's all it has to be. I want you to go ahead from there and cut right to the chase. Right? We don't want to beat around the bush. We don't want to have this long, you know, five paragraph explanation for what's going on. I want you to cut to the chase and say something along these lines. After your gratitude introduction, it's become apparent to me over the last few months that my team is no longer a good fit to serve you and your team the way that you need us to serve. And so because of That I want to let you know that effective maybe at the end of next month, you get to pick the date. But effective some date, I will no longer be providing you accounting services, tax services, bookkeeping services, whatever those services are. And so you'll need to find a new service provider no later than that date. And the reason that I like to just go right in there and cut to the chase is again because it really de escalates, it sets expectations. You're giving them that respect that you're just kind of teeing it up. Notice what was absent though from that cut to the chase part, the specific reasons that you're leaving them. You know, you constantly call me at all hours of the night, you are demanding and you never ask and you're completely unthankful when we bend over backwards to serve you. Those things are absent from this email. And again, it's because they're going to just fire back at those things. They're going to capture counter accused and it's just going to make so much more drama for everybody involved. So what I like to do is just say it's become apparent to me over the last few months that we're just not a good fit to serve you any longer. And it really does close those doors. The other thing that I was really deliberate about in there was setting a very specific date in the future so they know exactly when our services will no longer be provided. Now, depending on the severity of why you're firing them, you can make that date as quick as tomorrow, right? If they maybe are cursing at you or your team, maybe if they're doing something that's illegal or unethical, I will, I would just cut that off tomorrow. But if it's more around, they're just generally kind of a pain to work with. They have these really high out of boundaries expectations and you just kind of had your fill of it, then I would probably give them a little bit more leeway, a little bit more Runway to go and find another service provider. So in that example, maybe, you know, we're at the end of March when I'm letting them know this, I might say, look, we will continue to provide bookkeeping services maybe through the end of April. But really this is a one paragraph, four to five sentences really just kind of cut to the chase, let them know exactly what's going on and what to expect. The next thing I want you to do, again, depending on the severity of things, right, illegal and unethical, just cut it off. But again, if it's more of Somebody that you're just kind of tired of working with. I want you to lay out how you're going to help them with a smooth transition to another provider. And what that looks like is in that last bit, you're telling them that they need to find somebody by May 1st. And so what you might say is, I would encourage you to find a new provider by the middle of April. And during that last two weeks, I'm happy to work with your new accountant and answer any questions he or she may have. I'm happy to turn over any notes that they might need. And normally that process that takes about two weeks. Know that I am here to make this as seamless of a transition as possible for you, Bill. You know, just really do what you can to facilitate that handoff, because, again, I think it's so important. Again, we're not talking about the unethical or illegal behavior here or those people that were just, you know, cursing at you as an example. You really want to finish things off on a strong note. You don't want to set them up for failure. You do want them to have a positive memory of your experience together. And the thing that they're going to be most inclined to remember is the last part of it, right? So really helping to ensure that smooth transition, give them some specifics about things that you can help them do or that they can do to set themselves up. So when New Bookkeeper comes on on, you know, May 1, that the transition has been smooth and it's a seamless process for them along the way. And then the fifth part of the framework, it's going to feel icky again. I want you to end the breakup email by showing gratitude one more time. Again, I know this is hard because you're breaking up with them for a reason. They're a bad client. But again, it's, you know. So, Bill, I'd like to finish by saying I'm very grateful that you have trusted us for the last year, and I really look forward to making this transition as seamless as possible for you. Thank you so much for trusting my team and I to do this over the last year. As always, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out and ask. And then that's it. No drama. You've taken the high road. You've set them up for a seamless transition. You've shown gratitude. And what that does is it really helps to make it a less dramatic experience for everybody involved, sets it up so that they don't have any reasons to fire back. At you or yellow or scream at you or to talk bad about you on social media. Now, is there an opportunity that those things are going to happen? Absolutely. But I have found that this is the best way to minimize those chances. Now, let me share with you one final pro tip, because there are going to be those times where the owner maybe fires back and says, I want some more detail on why you're letting me go, or screw you for leaving me. I can't believe you would do this. You've been the worst bookkeeper ever. What I want you to remember is that you are under no obligation whatsoever to respond to any of that nonsense. You can just leave it in your inbox. And in fact, I would just archive it, file it away and pretend like it didn't happen. Continue to take the high road, continue to be grateful, continue to make that smooth transition. And even if the client doesn't respect you for it, or maybe they're not grateful for you. Despite all of that, you will know that you did the right thing. Your team will see that you did the right thing, and it will set you up for more success in the long run. All right, thank you so much for being here this week. If you know somebody that needs to hear this message, you know somebody that's struggling with that horrible, horrible client, please share this episode with them. Leave a comment below. Share some of your horror stories, your client offboarding horror stories with me. I'd love to hear them. In the meantime, I will see you next week, my friend. Have a great week. Cheers.