how to fire a client (and why)
good morning media folks ☀️
As a publisher, you know you’ve reached the right of passage once you come across a problem client. The story often looks like this: you sign on an advertiser that you're excited to work with… all creative, scope of work, and resources have been put in place to support this client. But then you start noticing weird things. Bad communication, asking for millions of revisions, not paying on time…
So the question becomes, what do we do with this? Do you keep working with this client, suffering, with the hopes that they'll eventually pay you? Or do you part ways with this client, and move on to something else?
When I work with publishers, I get these difficult questions and scenarios often. Yes, it may on paper look like a good idea to stay with the client, because the money is important to your business. But is it worth your sanity? Is it worth taking time away from other great clients that you can grow with? What about missing the opportunity to work with future clients?
Firing a client is something you should always take seriously to protect yourself, your team, and your resources. There are always other opportunities out there. So we'll look at how to handle this situation.
recognizing the warning signs
So what are some of the red flags you should look for before you sign a new partner on a contract (and after)?
Let’s start with what you can observe during the pre-sale process. Ask yourself these questions:
- Have they been skittish about the deliverables?
- What's their attitude like?
- Are they rude and demanding?
- Do they not give you enough information?
- Are they prompt?
- Do they question the payment terms?
These are things you need to be asking yourself to make sure this contract won’t burn you later on.
“Ok… but let’s say they are a current client. What’s the approach here?”
The most important thing I tell my publishers is to look at the push and pull factors:
- Are they working as diligently as you are to make a campaign a success?
- Are they making payments on time, and abiding by the dates established in the scope of work?
- How do they treat your employees?
Another factor to look at is content direction and editorial. Never let a client dictate your content as an email publisher. If they ask you to change stories, rewrite one, or delete it all together you need to fire this client immediately. Remember you need to protect your audience at all costs. They are the lifeblood of your business.
managing a professional breakup
It’s important to be diligent about your approach here. The worst thing that you can do is get emotional and set off a client who could eventually post TikToks, tell other folks in their network, file lawsuits, and spread their own narrative. Your goal is to be effective in your communication, concise, to the point, and factual.
Kindly provide the reasoning, examples, and termination clause in your contract. Be sure to state that this was a team decision, and offer some constructive feedback. Don't close the door on them. Leave it slightly open, that way if your point of contact leaves, you can always build a new relationship with them.
Give them something actionable, that way they don't let your breakup sit there and stew. Offer solutions, other publishers they could work with, and any other advice that you can give them going forward.
it’s all about the business, baby
When canceling on contract, you should have a why behind the cancellation. What’s easy to leverage is to point back to your company principles.
The first is editorial integrity. Say that based on your editorial principles, your goal is to protect your audience at all costs. And you think that this content approach and the changes they are asking don't fall in line with your editorial rules.
You can also blame your bandwidth and ability to produce these campaigns. You can say that you’ve decided to allocate resources to other parts of the business, and at this time you don't think you can produce at the level you’d like.
You should be hyperfocused on your reputation across all media channels. You need to handle these situations like you would a newborn baby. Because if you become known in the community for being difficult, the opportunities will dwindle.
On the flip side of this, you want to protect your reputation by canceling a contract rather than working with the client. You instantly protect your audience and your business by doing this. Think long term, not short term. Sure the money would be great to have now, but what about the potential opportunities you could be missing because of the time you're taking to work with a problem client?
situations are situational
I worked with a publisher who had a client that brought in 6 figures in revenue for the organization. However, the client had too many hands in the pot, fractured points of view that delayed the project constantly, and asked for a net 30 payment terms but always paid 30 - 60 days late.
They also overcommunicated outside the established hours. It stressed the team because they would get messages at 1 am about the project. There was even a change in hands: someone left the team and a new member came in very skeptical about the campaign that was initiated by the previous team member. They questioned the publisher's practices, tried to cancel out of terms of the contract, and were consistently late to the campaign dates.
What this did was caused the team a ton of stress, and put their resources to the limit. It started to hurt partnerships with other advertisers.
When it came to canceling this contract, they were concerned that the revenue loss could shorten their runway by a few months. My message was that you can take that same effort and put it into new partnerships and expand current ones with a good retention strategy.
They canceled the contract with the strategies I presented here, and they got a referral from someone on the problem clients team who turned into a great partner.
These things happen. It’s normal in publishing and media advertising. Handle with grace… but be firm.
see you next week,
shaan
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