You probably know how hard it can be getting new clients and keeping a good relationship with them. But sometimes you are much better off giving your clients to your worst competition, and this is why…
At the time I was setting up one of my businesses and already had existing clients from years before. I was very stretched , as I just had my first newborn baby boy and I was struggling to juggle between taking care of the clients I had, helping my wife with the baby,and setting up my new business. Needless to mention, I desperately needed more hours in the day and in the night.
I spoke with my then exhausted wife and asked her for advice, and she, despite being very tired and half asleep made sense as usual, and asked me to look into the things that rob me of my precious and so little time. That was good advice. The next morning, I sat down and analysed my time. The cocnlusion was so so clear. There was one client, only one client that was literally robbing me of my time. This specific client was not an email type of client, which is perfectly fine, but each phone call took hours and on top of that, he kept changing his mind over and over again about what he wanted. So, I spent hours on the phone and then hours making endless changes to what he had originally asked. It was not a one time thing, it was a pattern.
After finishing the job for this client ,I decided not to take a new one and cut the cord with him. I actually realised that this client was LOSING me money. I recommeded a competitor of mine to this client explaining that I was no longer taking any new jobs.
The beauty of this was not only did I get my time back, I also let a competitor of mine deal with him now.
