Firing Toxic Clients Is Good Business

Some clients are not worth the pain it takes to do business with them

His name was William and he was the client from the gates of hell. My staff cringed at the mention of his name, then disappeared on coffee runs and personal errands when he visited the office. He wasn’t our largest client, but he spent enough with us where he believed he had the power to be a bully.

He fired off unreasonable demands an hour after we closed, he would hammer his assigned reps when they were on vacation asking for unnecessary work that could have waited until they returned, and his office visits were ongoing struggles to be nice to a person who was petty and mean to us.

Our business was a startup just hitting eighteen months. We were beyond the daily fear of death by financial distress, but we were still a year away from where we knew we would be.

We couldn’t afford to lose clients, but in the end, we couldn’t afford to keep William. The final line to be crossed was his sexual harassment of one of our reps. Demands for Starbucks runs were a common courtesy we were happy to extend to him and every client, but harassing one of our people was the end, but not atypical for a bully.

I called William personally, let him know he was no longer a client, and my only regret was I didn’t have the experience and courage to get rid of him sooner. My team threw an impromptu Friday afternoon party celebrating his demise, and as they drank beers while telling their own versions of a personal William horror story, I became embarrassed realizing I put money over the sanity and safety of my people.

Toxic clients damage your business. Yes, the client pays, but at what true cost to you and your business? There has to be that line drawn where the client’s money becomes secondary to the toxic atmosphere he creates

Every small business has clients that are needy, who demand your attention at their command, who text you when you are at home, or on vacation, just to make you jump. Many of these push their power but are harmless except for the inconvenience.

New small business owners struggle to deal with this type of client. On one hand, the client pays, but on the other, the…

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