When to Fire a Bad Client
If a business relationship is negatively affecting your sanity or your bottom line, it’s time to end it
Years ago, I landed a whale. This was a client you could casually name-drop in a conversation and put someone’s heart on pause — if you were the name-dropping kind. My team was jubilant. Music blared, pizza was ordered, and GIFs circulated. We practically made a template for the inevitable agency case study with the brand’s logo in lights. If only we had seen the neon sign saying RUN blinking above their heads. If only we had noticed the chalk outlines of the dozen or so fired agencies, discarded PowerPoint presentations, and Odyssean conference calls trailing in their wake. Or maybe I had just chosen to ignore all the warning signs that this big-name client would end up being a complete and utter nightmare.
It started with the creative director who OD’d on GaryVee motivational videos and read one too many Mashable articles. This creative director proclaimed himself a social media expert and proceeded to doubt and micromanage our every recommendation. Every minor tactic — even simple Tweets promoting their new launch — had to be backed with research and rationale on the level of a PhD dissertation. But even that paled in comparison to the review process of our work, which involved at least 26 rounds of…
