One balmy day in March, I got a panicked call from a colleague. Turns out she had lost four good, retainer-paying clients since the start of year. Three of them left in the same month.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, she was freaking out.<\/p>\n
None of these clients left because her service was bad. The reasons varied: One brought her services in-house. One client was closing up shop. Another was pooling company talents after a merge and wanted to review again in six months.<\/p>\n
Still, even if it\u2019s not your fault, losing clients can make you panic. It\u2019s never fun to begin with, plus there\u2019s the added stress of things like, you know, paying the rent and whatnot.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why I\u2019m going to share a secret with you.<\/p>\n
At least four times in my career, I have lost my best client.<\/strong> And when I say my best client, I mean a client who was spending more than the next three best clients combined.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t panic about it now. Here\u2019s why: Every year that I\u2019ve been out on my own (save for one), I\u2019ve always made more than previous years. And even the exception was within 5% of my peak.<\/p>\n In short, I\u2019ve always managed to keep the opportunities rolling in. Whenever a \u201cgood\u201d client left, there were always two to three more ready to step up and take their place. So I thanked those good clients for the time we spent together, made a note to check in with them in six months, and moved on.<\/p>\n I\u2019m betting you would love to be that nonchalant. (OK, full honesty here, I do panic \u2026 but for all of three minutes. See below.) It\u2019s hard work to be in a place where you can afford (literally) to be that carefree. Here\u2019s what you have to do:<\/p>\n And if you lose that prime client, go ahead and panic, just a little. Complain to a friend. Crack open a bottle of wine and, in private, rant about the client. Cry about your future prospects. Wonder out loud if you\u2019ve chosen the right career path.<\/p>\n After you\u2019re done, you will have purged your system. You\u2019ll feel better, and then you can get back to the work of rebuilding your book of business.<\/p>\n You can totally do it. I\u2019ve done it four times and counting.<\/p>\n\n
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