Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

If you work directly with client accounts someday you may lose your flagship account- your baby. The account that you devote the greatest amount of time and brainpower can (and sometimes does) leave you. If you have ever experienced this you may understand what I mean when I say it sort of feels like a "real" break-up. You may crave the regular correspondence you once had with the client, you may wonder what you did wrong, you may be hesitant to get too involved with other accounts. So how do you get over the client "break-up" blues? Follow the four-step plan:

1. Don't Blame Yourself
   It's important to find out why the client left you- Did they choose a competitor? Did their needs change beyond what your company could offer? Was it a personal matter like a death in the family or messy finances? Work with the client before you part ways to get as much detail as possible. In general I would say that if you care enough to be consulting this article and you truthfully do not know why they canceled, it was probably not because you are terrible at what you do and the client hated your guts!
   Once you know for sure why they left, don't personalize it. If it was your company's shortcoming, use that as leverage to push for expanding your services. Become the advocate that that client would have wanted inside your own company. If they chose a competitor, consider pitching to your company whatever factor was attractive enough to cause the client to stray. Objectively weigh your services against that competitor's services and figure out how you can make-over your service to woo more clients like the one you lost.
2. Remember The Bad Times
   In a break-up it's easy to romanticize the relationship and just remember the good times, but no client is all smiles. Remember the times they kept you working around the clock, didn't return your calls, dumped extra work on at the last minute, imposed unreasonable deadlines, etc.
3. Fill The Void
   Now that you have extra time on your hands find something to fill the void, otherwise you'll just mope. Devote extra time to other client accounts, read up on industry news, learn new skills in your field, look for business opportunities/partnerships for your company. Just do something productive!
4. Get Back In The Game
   
   Just because you lost that client doesn't mean you can't attract new bigger better clients. Create training documents for your sales force to recruit new clients, look for opportunities to up sell the clients you already have, or develop an incentive program for your clients to bring you more clients. Get out there and make it happen ;-)

Have any more tips? Share them with our readers!