Fire That Client!
Most entrepreneurs want to get business, not turn it away. But sometimes a customer isn't worth keeping.
By Rachel Weingarten

(FORTUNE Small Business) – Four years ago I posted a sign above my desk that I look to when things get frazzled. It reads, DON'T GET INDIGNANT. After all, in the marketing and public relations world, the occasional difficult client is par for the course, and making him happy is a big part of what my company, GTK Marketing Group, does. Clients [including Warner Books, which, like FSB, is owned by Time Warner] hire us to work for them; we rarely stop to consider how they work for us.

Recently, though, I had to fire someone I'd been working very closely with for several months. Not an employee, not even a vendor--I fired a client. As a charismatic media personality and the author of a new book, this woman was a rising star. While earning a healthy monthly retainer, my company created a marketing plan for her that worked so well she soon became the go-to source on everyone's speed dial. She then made a critical mistake: She believed her own hype.

She was a bit of a diva from the start, but her demands escalated. She would phone six or seven times a morning and send back artwork and copy countless times for revisions. The mood in our office went from creative, relaxed, and fun to tense, with constant bickering. I would pull account executives off other projects to finish work on hers, just to avoid a new round of nasty e-mails and voicemails. To top it all off, she started ignoring my invoices, claiming it was now worth far more for our company simply to be associated with her.

After five months I had an overwhelming desire to fire her, but doubts crept in. Was I a failure if I couldn't make this business relationship work? Could I just walk away from the significant monthly income she brought, and how would I replace it? Professional ego also kicked in at the thought of some other agency reaping the benefits of the brand we'd worked so hard to create.

While dropping her went against everything I'd learned in business, it turned out to be the best decision I've ever made. Over lunch I let her know--without getting indignant--that it was time for her to seek another agency. After overcoming her shock, she unleashed a litany of complaints about the ineptitude of my company and left the table while I was in mid-reply. I felt overwhelming relief, and yet I didn't sleep any better that night. I was riddled with self-doubt and wondered where our next big client would come from. I panicked that she would badmouth us to the partners we'd negotiated for her. Through the grapevine I found out that in fact she did attempt to spread some nasty gossip about us, but our reputation spoke louder than she did. Within weeks we landed two new clients, showing me that not only had we done the right thing by ridding our agency of such a negative influence, but we'd further opened ourselves up to attracting and retaining the right kind of client.

Slowly, things got back to normal. I'd forgotten just how appealing normal could be. The time I'd spent worrying over how to handle the situation was immediately replaced with a welcome flurry of creativity. When faced with daily annoyances, I still have to remind myself not to get indignant, and of course I can't fire all difficult clients. But I have learned to value my talents and not let any customer's demands take control of my business.