Firing a Client - Are You Ready?

Firing clients is very difficult for most accountants, bookkeepers and tax professionals. You really do not want to deal with it. You would rather just keep putting up with it. You would rather just mumble under your breath and think “One day I am going to just do it.” But do you?

I think back to the clients that I have fired over the years. My first one was the hardest and they have gotten easier and easier over the years. Fact of the matter is, most clients do not think that you will fire them. They think you will just keep doing what you have always done. Some do not even realize what a pain they are. They do not realize how much you actually do for them. They do not realize that when they do not send in their information timely it is super frustrating for you. They do not realize when they wait until the last minute it is a big deal but IT IS when you have 25 clients doing the same thing.

How do you know when it is time to fire a client?

• They do not pay you.
• They ignore you.
• They have fire after fire that need put out immediately. 
• They tell you how to do your job and what technology to use.
• They are disrespectful to your team.
• They are not in line with your vision for your business.
• They want you to do work that is out of scope of the engagement and do not want to pay for the additional work.
• They want you to do a lot of work but do not want to pay you the value of that work.
• They want you to learn how to do things specifically for them.
• They do not bring information to you timely and then need the work completed NOW.
• They are a bottleneck in your business
• They refuse to communicate with your team and only want to communicate with you
• They have no boundaries when they call, text or expect things from you.
• They call you in the evenings, weekends, or when you are on vacation and never see the issue with it.
• You cringe every time they call or email you.

Firing a client is very difficult and financially scary! You dread it and just keep putting up with it because sometimes that is easier.

What does keeping the client mean in the long run to your firm?

1. They will take up capacity in your firm that could be filled with an ideal client.

2. They will keep you from taking off from your firm because you are the only one that can deal with them.

3. They will keep you from scaling your firm because they do not fit. They are “special.”

4. They will continue to cause stress for you and your entire team.

5. You may have to hire someone because they are so demanding or the account is too big.

6. You will kill team productivity because no one likes dealing with them.

7. You may have to have “special” technology because of them that you have to learn for that one client.

8. You may have different processes for this particular client which makes it difficult for the entire firm.

9. You will have to learn their “special needs” because they are out of your knowledge level.

10. You will always be afraid to fire them because of a financial need.

When you are trying to decide whether or not to fire a client, you have to look at the long term. I am not saying to fire all your clients that do not fit. Just have a plan to work towards.

For example, in my firm, I would bring on a new ideal client and then fire a non-ideal one. I just did this strategically over the years. It took time but in the long run, it was the best thing for my firm. Unraveling an existing client base is difficult and time consuming but you have to just start. I would also put cash aside for the day that I could fire some of my biggest non-ideal clients.

While this may sound like a crazy plan, it was best for my entire business. I actually feel free and now I work with clients that I love. It has given me time to focus on advisory services in my firm while freeing me from non-ideal bookkeeping and tax clients. It has also made some non-ideal clients turn into ideal clients. It got me working in services that I absolutely love.

The key to this is to plan and execute. If you just keep raising your prices in hopes that your non-ideal clients will go away, that does not always work. You still have to put up with their crap! I tried that too but they still stayed. They became even more demanding. I finally just had to let them go and it was difficult to do. You have worked with them for such a long time and you worry about them and what will become of their business if you are not helping them. You have to get in the right mindset and put your firm first. They will figure it out and it is no longer your problem. 

My point in sharing this with you is that firing clients is difficult. It takes time and effort. You have to have a plan for which clients you need to offload and in what order and work that plan. There is never an ideal time, but you just have to start. After you do, you will feel so much better. You will begin to love what you do again and will see the results in your firm.