Quite a few years ago I worked for a very large firm of accountants. One of the less pleasurable aspects was in dealing with difficult clients. There were clients who paid their bills late of course, there were clients who didn’t take advice, clients who let their affairs get into a mess, and, worst of all, clients who were downright rude.
In a large firm of accountants, each client is allocated to a partner or director. Some of these clients will have been won by the partner etc. and some will have been inherited. Either way, beyond the annual Christmas card, the contact between our bosses and their clients was generally fairly minimal. It was the staff who had to take all the flak, the bad behaviour and the rudeness.
I believe there comes a point with some clients when one really has to review whether they are worth having both in terms of fee recovery and the stress of having to watch the clients’ backs with frankly no gratitude or any form of appreciation, as the clients go their own sweet way. This is true of large firms such as my own former employer, though of course the partner may not protect the staff or even the firm when there is a theoretical loss of revenue no matter how difficult or unpleasant the client.
With smaller businesses though, it is really within our control. If we have had enough of the client in terms of stress, because all the other sorts of bad behaviour cause stress, it is best to tell the client to find someone else.
Dropping the Pilot by Sir John Tenniel, from Punch, March 1890, showing Chancellor Bismarck leaving the German ship of state, watched by Kaiser Wilhelm II.
At certain times we need to be strong and insist the client finds another adviser. There are often protestations and we may be told “things will change”, but sometimes enough is enough. Be polite as possible but get the message over. Let the client sail on into the sunset on his or her own. With less to worry about we can concentrate better on our marketing to find new, better and more appreciative clients.
© Jon Stow 2010
