Have you ever had a client stop working with you before you completed the project or were finished with your goals? This is not an easy thing to handle and sometimes business owners take this hard. Your ego gets bruised from rejection of this kind.

Well, you’re human so it’s not surprising that you felt the sting. Sometimes clients do not want to finish your program and ultimately it is their decision to make. However, how you handle this is essential to building a business with a good reputation and staying in good standing. Below are four suggestions to help you work through the abrupt end of a work relationship.

1. Take the high road

Above all else, you must handle this ending in a positive, professional manner. Be polite, maintain an even keel and stay calm. You want to part ways with good feelings as much as possible to end on a good note. How you handle the exit leaves a long-term mark, so take the high road whenever you can. Send your client love and wish them the best in the future.

2. This too shall pass

Positive self-talk can help you move past this rejection quickly. It might feel personal, but often your client’s decision is all theirs and has little to do with you. Some people aren’t ready for success or to do the work needed to get the results they want. This resistance can put a strain on your working relationship and manifest as missed appointments and unfinished homework, among a myriad of other things.

3. Review feedback honestly

If you did receive specific feedback, take time to think about it carefully and evaluate if there is any truth in it. Put yourself in the client’s shoes to see if there is room for improvement. You might actually discover something that changes your process, product or service for the better.

4. Therapeutic exercise

Derek and I have both done this exercise. Go into your email, click on compose and type “Working together” into the subject line. Then, draft an email about what you wish you could say to them. Talk about how you felt, what you liked, what you didn’t like and what hurt. There’s no need for blaming or accusations, but present your case.

Do NOT send the email – it’s just for you. This works like a catharsis to get it off your chest and help you let it go. Save it to your drafts or delete it, but make sure you do not hit send. You could also do this in a word document. This is a great way to move on and express yourself without any repercussions. You’ll feel better right away, or the very next day.

Your Client Attraction Assignment

When a client leaves unexpectedly, that might be a good time to review your process. See if you can come up with a step that can be inserted before leaving. Perhaps you add something to your policies about ending the relationship so you address this before it happens. That extra step might give you the chance to turn things around.

This is just one of the many best practices we dive deep into with the students of The Client Attraction Business School, the premier training school for growth-minded entrepreneurs looking to quickly attract more clients and make more money. If you’re interested in finding out more, visit www.ClientAttractionBusinessSchool.com for more details. To speak to an enrollment coach, click here.

Hiring assistants is a big part of leveraging your business to grow faster. You can’t be everywhere or do everything yourself. At some point, you will not have the bandwidth or physical ability to get it all done alone. Many small business owners struggle with how to hire an assistant and what that person’s responsibilities should be.

I have found hiring mistakes tend to happen when you compromise on what you need from your staff. There are times when you get frustrated because you can’t find the exact mix of skills and personality you desire. As a result, you decide the person in front of you is good enough. Sometimes that is true, but other times it turns out to be a disaster.

My first assistant helped with a variety of tasks. This worked okay for a while, but did lead to frustrating situations. Trouble cropped up when I tried to have one person take on several different roles. Often one area would go well, while other responsibilities weren’t handled with the same excellence. Usually the person wasn’t wired to do both aspects of the job. Segmenting the roles and responsibilities was more effective.

I discovered that it’s natural for people to excel at certain tasks, which is why it makes sense to let them shine where they do a good job. Then, I would pass on other activities to people who are good at those things. As my business grew, I started hiring different assistants to handle very specific assignments.

This kept me sane, to tell you the truth. Even though it meant I had to oversee more staff members, it actually made things a lot easier for me. I didn’t have to teach anyone the skills sets – I hired people who already had them.

I put together a document for myself called Virtual Team Components. The list included each virtual assistant (VA), the job function they performed and duties expected of them. Here’s an example of possible job functions:

Virtual Team Components
VA #1: Operations Manager
VA #2: Client Contact and Client Relations Manager
VA #3: Technology Manager
VA #4: Membership Site Coordinator
VA #5: Social Media Manager, etc.

I call this “going vertical” in terms of organizing your staff and the jobs they perform. Allowing your people to focus on what they do well will help keep you sane in the whirlwind that is your business.

Your Client Attraction Assignment

If you are ready to start hiring assistants, take time first to segment the roles and responsibilities. You can start small and add more help as needed. Isolating the tasks will help you find the right person for each role rather than force fitting the VA to several job functions.

This is just one of the many best practices we dive deep into with the students of The Client Attraction Business School, the premier training school for growth-minded entrepreneurs looking to quickly attract more clients and make more money. If you’re interested in finding out more, visit www.ClientAttractionBusinessSchool.com for more details. To speak to an enrollment coach, click here.

As a business owner, you have to make a lot of tough decisions. One of them is when to let someone go or hire someone new for your team. If you plan this well, you can create a system for employee transitions, having the person who is leaving actually train your new hire.

Let me share an example. One of my students followed this series of steps for bringing on a new social media manager.

1. Put training in the contract. In the employment contract, a new team member is made aware that part of the responsibility will be to train a replacement should you part ways. This sends a clear message that people will explain duties and responsibilities of the position before departing the company.

2. Create a checklist. Have your current team member develop a checklist for all training that will be covered. This will work like a table of contents and can go at the beginning of all documentation for the position. For social media, you would include how often to post on each platform, details if you use a scheduler, credentials and passwords, etc.

3. Write an operations manual. Have the employee write the operations manual for the position, explaining all duties and responsibilities. This must be specific, going over all the actual tasks they complete as part of that job. Now you’ll have a handbook so someone new can look up how to do a particular task. Documenting the duties is extremely helpful for creating a smooth transition between employees and having a reference guide once the transition has been completed.

4. Set up a calendar for upcoming projects. Have your new team member work with your outgoing employee to create a calendar of the projects that are coming up. This ensures everything is planned and organized so your new employee knows what needs to be accomplished without any gaps. For example, with social media, you can plan Facebook posts that cover promotional messaging, content sharing and posting of photos for a few months into the future.

5. Schedule web sessions. If your team is not on site, using software like GoToMeeting allows employees to share screens for training purposes. This is excellent hands-on training so the new hire can see exactly how things are done. Many people learn best by actually going through the steps.

Here are a number of safeguards to keep in mind:
• On occasion, when there is a problem with an employee, make sure there isn’t going to be a lot of animosity while training the new hire. If you pick up on this, you may need to rethink your training process.
• Watch over how the training is going. Ask your new hire if there are any unanswered questions.
• Make sure your operations manual document is locked, so that once it’s finished, no one can change it or sabotage the process.
• Be sure to review the manual to ensure everything is in there and nothing gets left out or overlooked.

Your Client Attraction Assignment
Do you have training or operations manuals for all the positions in your company? If not, make that one of the goals for your next 90-day plan. This is a big project for your employees, so be sure you give them enough time to complete it and do a thorough job.

This is just one of the many best practices we dive deep into with the students of The Client Attraction Business School, the premier training school for growth-minded entrepreneurs looking to quickly attract more clients and make more money. If you’re interested in finding out more, visit www.ClientAttractionBusinessSchool.com for more details. To speak to an enrollment coach, click here.