- How do you fire a client? Listen to this listeners suggestion, and find out.
Hi, it's Alan Berg. Welcome back to another episode of the "Wedding Business Solutions" podcast. Here is another listener suggestion, this time from Mary Lee in Connecticut. And thank you anybody who's sending in suggestions. I really love it, please keep them coming. So this suggestion is, how do you fire a client? In the case of this particular person that reached out to me and gave me the whole story, it's a client is just really not a good person to work with, right? Not a good fit for you. You didn't think so when you signed them up, you thought it was going to be fine, but then you find out later how demanding they are or how they're just doing things outside of your normal way of doing business that just doesn't work for you, creates too much friction in the process.
And yes, we want to over-deliver for our clients, and yes, we want to make them happy, but there are times when it just takes you out of your regular flow so much that it affects your other clients, and it affects your life. So that's when you want to do that. So first of all you have to decide that, is this something that you can correct, or is it, you know, with a conversation maybe? Or is it something where you just need to cut the cord? And it's also a question of when?
Like, I've had planners telling me and people telling me that at the wedding they wanted to fire clients because they were being so unreasonable. I remember this one planner telling me that, you know, she had brought all these great vendors onto this wedding and it just, the Bridezilla, if you looked up the definition you were going to find this particular bride and her mom. And they were waiting for the valet to bring around their car for whatever it was, this, I guess, obviously wasn't at the wedding itself. And there was a, I guess, there were some cool drinks out there, maybe a pitcher of iced tea or soda or something like that. And apparently it wasn't happening fast enough for the bride, and she takes this pitcher and she pours it over one of the valets that was there. I mean, this is just inhuman stuff that you just shouldn't be doing to anybody at any time, and certainly not on your wedding day.
And believe me, I know that people get stressed. My wife was extremely stressed two weeks before the wedding to the point where I had a conversation with my future mother-in-law and said, "Is it me?" And she said, "Oh no, honey. She's doing that to everybody." "Okay." Now we didn't have a planner back then, but she was stressed, right? But some of this can be cured with a conversation, right? And if someone is overstepping their bounds, I think it's a matter of taking back control and saying, "Hey, listen. We want to help you have an amazing wedding. There are some things that are happening here that are just not going to work for me, right? And we're not going to be able to give you the kind of results that you want if these things are going to be happening. So let's talk about them."
Now, if it's far enough away from the wedding where you're not leaving them high and dry, again, at the wedding, the day before, or, you know, things like that, I think the conversation is basically, "This is your day. This is your day to have an amazing, amazing time. An amazing experience for you and your guests. And in order to do that, your providers have to feel like they're going to give you everything that you're looking for, and that they're totally in sync. And right now I'm feeling like we are not in sync, and that what you are looking for is not what we can do for you. Not what we are going to either be able to, feel comfortable to." Or whatever the right language is for you in that particular situation. And then say, "It's not fair to you to not get the results that you want. So what I'm going to do is give you back your deposit.", or whatever the terms are going to be like that is, "You need to find somebody else."
Now if you can refer them obviously to a better fit, do that. But you need to find somebody who's going to be able to give you those kind of results, and be in sync with you much better than we are right now. Because this is your one shot to do that, right? So, I'm sorry that it didn't work out for us, but here's what we're doing.", right? And then send them a letter, talk to your lawyer, send them a check, whatever. Give 'em all their money back so you can have a clean slate on that. I think it is okay to cut that cord.
I think with some people you can also say, you know, "If we can't get in sync, then we're going to have to part ways. So, here's what has to happen for us to be in sync. And if that works for you, great, let's do that." And then you, again, what are the boundaries you need to set? What are the things that are causing the problem? So if you feel that you can bring it back in and take control of that, great. And if you can't, then you just have to tell them. But, be a professional. That planner that told me that the bride poured this pitcher of fluids, or whatever it was, onto this valet, she said, "I wanted to walk off right then, and I would've pulled everybody with me. But, you know what? I brought these vendors in. It was my choice to bring them in. I recommended them, and I'm not going to do this to them." She said, "'Cause I would've refunded that bride all of the money right then and there and walked away. But I'm not going to do that to these other professionals." So she didn't.
The crazy thing is the day after the wedding she gets a call and she sees the caller ID and it's the mother of the bride, and she's like, "Oh, here we go." And the mother could not have been any nicer and any more complimentary in saying, "It was absolutely amazing. You guys did an amazing job. Thank you so much, thank you so much." So, it was stress probably. Maybe the mother was stressed because of the bride, 'cause apparently the mother was being just as bad as the bride was, right? Or maybe it's just reflecting on it, saying, "You know what, it was an amazing day." And, you know, maybe they're just a little Jekyll and Hyde. I don't know.
But it was just crazy how she gets the compliment the day after that it was absolutely amazing. So, should you fire them is the first thing, right? Or, can you make this work? Can you take back control, set the parameters, whatever it is that's making you not want to do this. If they're looking for results that they didn't pay for, that's another one, you know, the champagne taste on a beer budget, then you have to make it clear to them. Say, "Listen, I know what you're looking for, and I know what you're budgeting for, and they're not going to match up. And if you need these results and that needs to be your budget, then we're not going to be the right fit." 'Cause that's the client you're going to get a three-star review when you did everything they wanted 'cause they're not happy that they didn't get what they wanted, but they got what they paid for, right?
And that's probably happened to some of you already, and I know it stinks. It's like on Amazon, I think "Shut Up and Sell More" has a review, it's a four-star review that says something like, "Best book I've ever read." Or something like that. I'm thinking, "Best book you've ever read and you can't give me five, right?" But, you need to make sure that you're clear on the results that they want, and that you can do those. And if you can't because of either something they're doing, or that they've changed the scope after and they don't want to change the budget, it's okay to fire the client. But you have to have that conversation, make it clear. Some of them, when you tell them that you're going to fire them are going to be, "No, no, no, no! I want you to do it, you're going to be great." And you say, "Okay, if we're going to do it, this is how it's going to go down.", right? And then set those ground rules, set those boundaries, whatever, and say, "Listen, if we go back to this, what we're doing now by this date, we're done. We're done, that's it.", right?
So I think it's better having a conversation, a matter of taking control. And again, kind of I've said in another one, I'm going to do a whole episode on this, but, don't punish the masses for the ills of a few, right? Don't punish all your clients because of one that's misbehaving or overstepping the bounds. And if they're interrupting your work with your other clients, that's a good reason for firing them as well. So, thank you, Mary Lee, for this. I know these are uncomfortable conversations to have, but if you don't have it, it just is going to get worse. So, keep the suggestions coming. You can email me at alan@weddingbusinesssolutions.com, and thanks for listening.
I'm Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you'd like to suggest other topics for "The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast" please let me know. My email is Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.
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