Happy Clients Newsletter

Home > Select Clients Articles: Can't Charge Enough

Why You Can’t Charge Enough Money to Stay in a Bad Client Relationship

Your ballpoint pen.

That is what is causing you this intense pain.

Your legs are shaking from the fatigue. Your arms, outstretched in front of you holding your pen, ache so much you feel as though they are about to fall off. You are inside a climate controlled 72-degree building, but sweat is pouring off you as if you were in a sauna.

Yet, you are in peak physical condition and have only been standing here for 10 minutes! The minutes tick by slowly, they feel like hours, and the thought of standing here for an hour seems like an eternity.

You are a U.S. Naval Recruit in basic training. And the great weight in your hands causing all of this discomfort is just your simple, standard one-ounce ball-point pen.

The Slow Drain of a Bad Client

That’s what working with a bad client is like.

The bad client could be a royal pain: making angry complaints, openly disrespecting your efforts and time, or shifting blame for anything unexpected. That kind of bad client is easy to spot and it is easy for you to decide to terminate the relationship.

This kind of bad client could resemble the recruit commander (what the Navy calls a drill instructor) who will berate you and deliver the real punishment when you drop your arms or pen. And, eventually, every recruit drops his or her arms or pen.

But bad client behavior can be far more subtle: missing key meetings, failing to follow through on agreements, not returning emails or phone calls, or slow paying. This kind of bad client can say all of the right things and apologize profusely. But, they will wear you down like that small pen of yours dancing at arms length.

You only have so many hours in a day; only so much mind-space to spend in your chosen field. Your very best clients deserve your very best work. You cannot do the best work for your best clients if you are expending resources attempting to please the unpleasable, or work with the unworkable.

Can’t Buy Me Love

The Beatles had a point. You cannot throw money at a problem or spend money to fix a relationship.

You may think you can make the relationship with a bad client worthwhile by raising your fees. Double your fees. Triple your fees. Quadruple your fees. You may have more money at the end of the day, but how much energy and time will you lose not doing the work you love for clients you love?

If you are doing the work that is suitable for your gifts and interest, you are not doing it for the money. The money is merely the means to live the lifestyle you wish to live. And even with the money in hand, your best clients lose out. When your best clients lose, so do you.

Confront Your Problem Clients Sooner Rather than Later

Any engagement should start with an agreement that holds both parties accountable for contributing to a measurable goal. Hold yourself to the agreement. Hold your client to the agreement.

Raising fees to chase bad clients away is inauthentic. If you disagree, ask yourself what your purpose was in raising the fees in the first place. If it was to tell your client to find someone else, then tell your client it is time to part ways. Just do it nicely.

Naval recruits are required to carry a black ballpoint pen on them at all times. One form of punishment is to require the recruit to hold the pen with both arms outstretched at eye level.

Some recruits can stand at attention for extended periods. Some recruits even learn to sleep at attention. But by holding a pen in front at eye level, even the strongest of recruits can tire quickly. If a recruit commander stuffed a $20 bill in a recruit’s pocket for each minute he or she held that pen, the strain would still become unbearable.

No amount of money is worth the aggravation.

Happy Client Retaining,

If you aren't already a subscriber,
your journey starts with a single click.

If you like this article, you have permission to share this article with your own list, post it on your website, on your blog, or add it to your own autoresponder; so long as you leave it intact and do not alter it in anyway. All links must remain in the article.

And include this at the end of the article:

© 2004-2007 Jeff Simon Consulting. All Rights Reserved. Wouldn't you love to peer into your client's head and know what they are thinking and feeling? Could you have better success at keeping and choosing your best clients if you could decode their behavior? Check out the Happy Clients Newsletter at: www.happyclientsnewsletter.com.

Please notify me when my article is used online or offline.