#007 - Be careful who you let on your bus

Strategies for hiring and curating your clients

Last week, we fired a client.

Truthfully, it should have happened months ago.

Was it a difficult decision? Yes.

But we needed them off the bus.

Who you choose to work with, that is, who you choose to “let on the bus,” impacts your ability to do your best work.

In his book ‘Good to Great,’ Jim Collins discusses how great companies excel at “getting and keeping the right people.”

He describes it as getting the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus.

This metaphor applies to building your freelancing business too.

Except on your freelance bus, you’re filling seats with clients.

Seats are limited, so it's vital to ensure the right clients fill each one.

Hiring clients and, when necessary, firing clients are crucial skills to ensure the right clients are on your bus so you can do your best work.

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Here are some principles to follow:

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1. Hire Your Clients

I approach “new business acquisition” as hiring clients because I choose them as much as they choose me.

Hiring clients is as much about assessing fit on character, values, and beliefs as finding a match between their problem and your capabilities.

Example:

The client we let go should never have gotten hired in the first place.

They had an urgent need, and we knew we had the capabilities to help.

But, their urgency, coupled with our eagerness, caused us to skip steps in our client-hiring process.

We failed to see the red flags that, with hindsight, now appear clear as day:

• a lack of understanding of basic marketing concepts
• not valuing marketing as a strategic partner
• unrealistic expectations on time to value
• an abundance of red tape
• a mismatch in culture, personalities, and values

To be clear, I’m not blaming the client for any of these things. They were always there.

When I step back and ask, “What did I do to contribute to this outcome?” I let the fact that we could help overshadow whether we should help.

Hiring clients requires having a defined process and the discipline to apply it consistently.

Systematizing your discovery calls to uncover valuable insights and assess client fit is a good starting point.

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This step-by-step blueprint for better discovery calls can help. It’s free, and it's fantastic!

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2. Curate Your Client Base

Adopt a mindset of curating, not collecting clients.

• Collecting clients: accumulating customers with a general focus
• Curating clients: active involvement to ensure your client base remains healthy and reflects your value (and your values) as a freelance marketer

The curation process involves difficult choices: who stays on the bus, and when necessary, who needs to get off at the next step.

The idea of a client go is daunting (especially now, when it feels like new business is hard to find).

But, holding on to a bad-fit client is toxic and dangerous:

• They drain your energy
• Divert your focus
• Siphon attention away from your best customers
• Risk reputational harm to your freelance brand

Despite knowing a client should go, we often wait, delay, and give third and fourth chances.

We build systems to compensate for the client’s shortcomings and hope the situation will improve.

We avoid taking action out of fear:

• We worry about the time and effort it will take to replace them
• It will put a hole in our revenue
• The thought of having the conversation is stressful

While valid, the anticipation of these concerns often surpasses the reality of confronting them.

If you’re struggling with whether a client should keep their seat on your freelancing bus, ask yourself:

1. Would you hire this client again?
2. If they came to tell you they were making a change, would you be terribly disappointed or secretly relieved?

Example:

When we stepped back and assessed our challenging client, we evaluated the partnership through several lenses: values, impact, energy, and finances:

• There was misalignment around core values like communication and respect
• We were not in a position to do our best work, make an impact we would be proud of, or that would meet the client’s needs
• This account was draining our energy, not feeding it
• Because of these factors, we were over-servicing to try and make things work

Once it was clear we needed to make a change, we moved swiftly.

It was a difficult conversation with our client. But it was the right thing to do - for us and them.

We felt lighter after resigning the account, knowing we had acted with integrity.

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The lesson here is not to be reckless in curating your client base; it’s to be rigorous.

Taking action to open a seat on your freelance bus creates space to hire the right client - the kind who allows you to share your craft and make an impact you're proud of.

-Jeff

Freelance Marketing Alliance

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If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! The newsletter is still young, so I'd appreciate you sharing it with other freelancers.

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