roydan
Elite Member
- Dec 17, 2013
- 5,621
- 14,558
As some of you know, I have owned a PPC agency for a few years, and before that, I used to do it as a freelancer.
When I launched my agency, I decided that I would never raise prices to old clients as a way for me to thank clients that have been with me for a long time.
Today’s story is about my first client, he has been with me for 10 years, and I just fired him.
We’ve been working together for so long that we have become friends. In the past, he had some rough times, in which I allowed him to postpone payments for a few months and then pay more each month until the “debt” was cleared.
This is obviously not something I like to do with clients, and I have no desire to offer interest-free loans, but it felt like a nice way to help a client in need.
Years have passed since, and his business is in excellent shape. I know that because, as his marketing agency, I had a big role in his success. I don’t say that to complement myself, just to show that I knew the ins and outs of his business, and I made sure that his campaigns reflected his biggest strengths.
Every now and then, he allowed himself to pay me a few days later than he should or “forget” to pay until my accountant reminded him. It annoyed the shit out of me, but it didn’t have a real impact on my cash flow because I never raised his retainer, so he paid what my clients paid 10 years ago.
In the last year, his late payments changed from every now and then to every month. I sent emails and made phone calls but always got the same response: 'You’re right. This was the last time it happened'.
I could’ve put an end to it, but this required me to make a conversation I really didn’t want to make. Sometimes it’s a lot easier to come up with stupid excuses to avoid doing this type of thing.
On January 22nd (in Israel we work Sundays), my accountant told me that we never got paid for December, and asked me what I wanted to do. I asked him to send the regular email, and after the email was sent, I called the client.
I told him that I was very sorry, but I couldn’t work with him anymore. I’d be happy to help him find another agency and promised to instruct the new agency and make sure the handover goes as smoothly as possible. He interviewed a few agencies but didn’t want to hire any of them. In the meanwhile, I handed over the account to his employee, who took over the account.
A month passed, and he called me, asking that I take over the account again.
Now he pays in advance, and he pays my current pricing.
I started writing this post thinking there were only two lessons, but now I realize that there are three:
When I launched my agency, I decided that I would never raise prices to old clients as a way for me to thank clients that have been with me for a long time.
Today’s story is about my first client, he has been with me for 10 years, and I just fired him.
We’ve been working together for so long that we have become friends. In the past, he had some rough times, in which I allowed him to postpone payments for a few months and then pay more each month until the “debt” was cleared.
This is obviously not something I like to do with clients, and I have no desire to offer interest-free loans, but it felt like a nice way to help a client in need.
Years have passed since, and his business is in excellent shape. I know that because, as his marketing agency, I had a big role in his success. I don’t say that to complement myself, just to show that I knew the ins and outs of his business, and I made sure that his campaigns reflected his biggest strengths.
Every now and then, he allowed himself to pay me a few days later than he should or “forget” to pay until my accountant reminded him. It annoyed the shit out of me, but it didn’t have a real impact on my cash flow because I never raised his retainer, so he paid what my clients paid 10 years ago.
In the last year, his late payments changed from every now and then to every month. I sent emails and made phone calls but always got the same response: 'You’re right. This was the last time it happened'.
I could’ve put an end to it, but this required me to make a conversation I really didn’t want to make. Sometimes it’s a lot easier to come up with stupid excuses to avoid doing this type of thing.
On January 22nd (in Israel we work Sundays), my accountant told me that we never got paid for December, and asked me what I wanted to do. I asked him to send the regular email, and after the email was sent, I called the client.
I told him that I was very sorry, but I couldn’t work with him anymore. I’d be happy to help him find another agency and promised to instruct the new agency and make sure the handover goes as smoothly as possible. He interviewed a few agencies but didn’t want to hire any of them. In the meanwhile, I handed over the account to his employee, who took over the account.
A month passed, and he called me, asking that I take over the account again.
Now he pays in advance, and he pays my current pricing.
I started writing this post thinking there were only two lessons, but now I realize that there are three:
- If I had fired him a year earlier like I originally planned, I’d have had an extra 12 months where he would have paid me a lot more, and in advance.
- I could’ve avoided all of that by just communicating better. I should’ve told him when he was late the first time that the next time would be the last.
- He could’ve saved a lot of money by just paying on time.
