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Many people make the mistake of focusing on gaining clients instead of focusing on the most important clients. These people believe that they can change every client so that every client becomes a quality client. The problem is that the process takes too much time, and in the end, the client never changes. Ever. Instead of trying to make all of your clients happy, only focus on the clients who are the most important ones you have. Here is why you need to do that.
- Breaking up with bad clients will save you oodles of time. Imagine the amount of time it takes to write reports and talk to the client. That can take up several hours every week. Imagine how much time you would save if you could break up with 5 bad clients.
- You can focus more of your time on the good ones. Now that you have more time, your conversations with the good clients can get longer, and you can provide more insight in your reports. Focusing on your good clients allows you to treat them like VIPs. Giving them the VIP treatment will encourage them to do more business with you in the future.
- Bad clients will not refer you, but the good ones will refer you. In addition to saving more time, you are able to spend more time with the clients who are more likely to refer you to their friends. The good clients are the ones who tell others about what you do. Those are the kinds of clients who you want to talk to, not the ones who do not like what you offer and wouldn’t even think about referring you to their friends.
- You get to keep a positive attitude. You probably have a few clients who simply ramble on about their problems and bring you down. Breaking up with those clients will allow you to keep a positive attitude and be a happier person. Not only will this have a positive effect on your business, but it will also have a positive attitude on your life.
- It will be easier to get more quality clients. Quality clients are hard to come by. However, if you focus on your quality clients, those clients will refer you to some of their friends. Those friends will most likely be quality clients as well. In addition, you will discover the characteristics that your quality clients have. Then, you can find consumers with those characteristics and tell them about your business.
Those are the five reasons why you need to break up with bad clients as soon as possible. By eliminating the bad clients, you will be able to focus more of your time on your quality clients–the ones who pay on time, make you happy, and enjoy your service. What are your thoughts about breaking up with bad clients?
Don’t neglect the difference between a BAD client and a NEEDY client! Yes, a small percentage of your clients will take up a majority of your time and energy. But we are in the service business, and there will be people who need more hand-holding and support than others.
Great distinction Dan. Some clients will want you to help with every small detail, but some of these clients can also be good clients depending on the situation. Bad clients are by definition ones that you dread interacting with.
Brilliant article! A large consultancy that I deal with is currently in danger of going out of business because they focused so much on trying to satisfy their client (a very large & instantly recognisable global brand) to the extent that they lost ALL of their other clients through neglect and mismanagement. That very same ‘bad’ client has now terminated the contract without notice. It’s definitely better to have a few good quality clients, who love what you do & want to shout about it, rather than focus on the one client that will never be happy with what you do.
Interesting story Danielle. Focusing on the good clients results in more good clients because those good clients may choose to tell their friends about you. No matter how much the bad clients give you, even if they pay you more money than your good clients, you must cut those bad clients off.
Thank you for the feedback Marc. I totally agree.
My pleasure Danielle.
It’s my experience that people and companies hang on to bad clients out of fear. They believe that they cannot afford to lose any business. They do not understand the opportunity cost that is associated with bad customers.
YES! That is exactly why businesses keep the bad clients. They are afraid of taking steps forward because settling is so much easier and “safe.” Bad clients sap at a business’ potential to make a difference in the right people’s lives.
Good point Marc! Firing bad clients is nothing to be afraid of and a good idea that will increase profits. A quarterly or bi-annual production review of your client base will let you know which clients are a drain on time / profits
Those reports would be very useful especially for big organizations or people who have a lot of clients.