We abandoned a $250K project last year. The client asked us to sack our producer on the project and we had a moral objection to removing her from the project as she hadn’t done anything wrong, rather it was the client’s nerves about the scale of the project. (Two alpha females!)

We felt sick (like you) then we felt proud. We stuck by our employee who we still believe in til this day and we saved our relationship with the client by not pursuing what was going to be a nightmare job. We have since worked with the client on other jobs with no ill feeling as we gave them plenty of time to find another supplier.

We now only put male producers on jobs with this ad agency!

We really needed the money at the time, but one year on, I still feel like we did the right thing.

Interestingly, we did look at dropping our producer and finding someone else at the time, but after a few calls we realised nobody else was going to take a job with this client, so we felt vindicated on that level too.

You’ll feel good about it. You did the right thing.

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David! Good for you.
I have done this before. When clients get ‘toxic’ and expect the baby + the bathwater + the bathtub (or else)… it is draining for everyone in the company. More than that – it means that ‘nice’ customers pay. If you have just finished a conversation with ‘Toxic’ and then have to talk to ‘Nice’ it shows and so your relationship with ‘Nice’ can be tarnished.
I find this liberating… because in all good and honest relationships it needs to have 2 way respect, irrespective of who is issuing and paying invoices.
You have done the right thing for you, for your staff and for all your ‘Nice’ clients.

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Interesting and good on you for sharing I imagine an issue many identify with and some wish they had acted earlier. I too often find the equation of what you in blind faith put in and put in and stretch to help a client is often not valued/appreciated or mostly overrriden by as per comments earlier by the clients toxic environments. It takes a brave and strong person to face facts and act accordingly and based on what you have said it certainly appears that you have. Feel proud and use all the revived energy in existing and new clients.

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Thanks Sonja, Fran, Rebecca,
My mood has been boosted by your comments.
Can we wave a magic wand and prevent this for ever and ever?
DLM

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Life is too short, there are too many deekheads, the world is changing fast, we have mothers giving booze to their 5yr old kids…what hope is there for the “moral”?

Future pace what will happen, if the shite hits the fan and you can hack it then do it. If not, then cut and run the sooner the better, but be clear about why you’re doing it.

All comes down to time and risk management, be a man of principle, chill and go swim with whale sharks…enjoy your mofo life!

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great article, and resonates with me at the moment as we have just re-focused the business to seek out and service those who appreciate what we do, and are prepared to pay for it (after a period where we were a bit too quick to let anyone in the door). In my experience (and in our field of advertising and design) the smaller the client the more difficult the “service sell”, and often the upfront effort isn’t rewarded with an actual project going ahead, or if it does a nightmare can occur.

sacking a client is an interesting dilemma…..I have always had a view that there’s a bad karma around doing this, and instead have tried to use the hindsight that comes from the bad experiences we’ve had over the years to pick them BEFORE they get too far in the door. This seems to be working and is all about making objectives, terms, costs etc all very clear before an iota of work is done. if anyone baulks at that early stage, read the signs and run for the hills.

i don’t think the service model is flawed, as many companies have profited from it over the years (think IBM, the big accounting and consulting firms) but the secret is to match your business with the right group of customers, and having the confidence and clarity to know when the fit ain’t so good and walking away.

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As service providers we can sometimes slip into being task focused, rather than looking at the big picture with the client and asking them questions that will uncover real needs and problems. If we stop asking questions we’re no longer seen as a ‘peer’ by the client, just someone who is told what to do.

I’ve made this mistake in the past. When I reviewed the situation, I’d let the value of the relationship decline in a bid to keep everyone happy – only doing what was asked. I can’t say I’ve officially sacked a client but I’ve certainly parted ways with organisations that simply wanted a yes-man instead of building a partnership.

Are we selling a service or value?

We need to watch our mindset, we should be exchanging time for value, not simply money. If there’s little or no value achieved on a project or task, however small, in the mind of the client we slowly become a ‘provider’ instead of a ‘peer’. Unfortunately we also become a price driven commodity in the process.

Providers are expected to ask how high when a client says jump, a peer will stay seated and first ask if that’s the best action.

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Continually trying to keep the customer happy without properly managing expectations can be counterproductive and even more damage to your business. There are times when saying no to the customer may be a better way to keep them happy and your team from imploding.

Managing the customer is not always about giving in to every demand and sacrificing the company principles and resources where it does not make sense. Managing client expectations and delivering to those expectations is the art of customer relationship management.

Although a customer is critical to any business, it can be a diverse and difficult animal to tame. Customers can make demands on the organization that cause your team to become underappreciated and resent the customer relationship over time.

It is important to service the customer needs but not at the expense of the business and its core competencies. There will be times when promises are made that cannot be delivered upon which will cause more damage to the relationship than if the answer was no in the first place.

http://gravitygarden.com/build-customer-loyalty/customer-retention-strategies.html

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Hey,

David Ogilvy once sacked Rolls Royce and told them there cars were crap to boot.

Now that takes some serious balls.

Can you imagine an ad agency doing that today?

I don’t think so.

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