So, I came back from jury duty and a client terminated their engagement

This email is to advise you that effective immediately I am discontinuing our engagement. Our contract states either two weeks notice or non renewal. If you have a check in your possession I suppose it’s two weeks notice. Otherwise it’s simply not renewed. I am in meetings all day today and do not have time to connect. I haven’t been happy with things for some time, it’s been over a year since this has generated a new search for us. My understanding is that you would have missed hours for jury duty anyways. I would prefer not to incur any further cost for October.

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This person runs (a term we will use loosely) an “executive search firm” out of Canada. This was the first time I had heard she was unhappy with anything I did. In fact starting in January 2019, all through June 2019, she had one meeting per month including a few introductory calls which would have put her on vendor lists or in consideration for future needs. Then had two scheduled meetings in September/October. Lets review the situation in more detail.

1. The only conversation I had with my client during the entire year was in June 2019. When I was absolutely stunned to learn that not one of the meetings generated turned into any business. In that call – I was the one who had expressed shock and disappointment.

2. This client refused to provide any feedback or follow up with me after any meetings were scheduled and then there is this:

a. The client had a meeting with a major food company and I learned months later, after I followed up with the prospect that they “did not want to work on retainer”. My client did not make it clear to the prospect that she could or would work on contingency and literally blew the call.

b. A private equity firm interested in working with my client asked for very specific information including a bio, references, and overview of services. My client refused to provide the information in full and only included what was felt needed to be included. No further interest was expressed on behalf of the prospect.

c. A small company was seeking a mechanical engineer and wanted to learn more. I found out that my client never called the prospect back. He did not remember speaking to my client.

d. A midsize food company was seeking a COO. I have no idea what my client did, though I know she reached out. I found out months later that the company engaged another Executive recruiter to handle the search – one who had a lot of experience in the U.S. food industry.

e. An energy company wanted an introductory call scheduled to put my client on the vendor list, I saw the communications about setting up the call. The prospect provided 3 dates/times to schedule. My client picked one and told the prospect “you can call me at that time”. My client did not, as proper protocol dictates, actually schedule the call.

f. My client lied. Flat out lied. She had undertaken a search for a company in the Spring and was unable to deliver for that prospect.

And there are more examples. Including the one with a household name company that wanted to discuss a prospective engagement to hire resources for a new market that they were exploring. I had the initial discussion with the prospect who was baffled by the fact that my client: did not have an active website, no social media presence, no case studies or examples of work done and did not share it with me. I was unable to give her any cogent information about anything recently done. The call ended along with any further interest in engaging.

All of the calls I generated were qualified, in my clients range of expertise and all had interest in talking or engaging my client. Apparently, my client expected “bullseyes” – she wanted to sit back, give some info, send a contract and do the work. While this happens and did happen, quite often, you have to prove yourself or make the case as to why you are the best fit to handle an opportunity. This client also worked only on an exclusive scenario, so it was all the more important to convince the prospect that the firm was the best choice. It is unrealistic to expect to win every situation, particularly when you don’t provide information the prospect wants, don’t follow up, or make a case as to why someone should work with you.

This client terminated her engagement with me one month before the six month pre-paid term was up, did not abide by the two week notice I mandate, lied, and threatened not to pay the final invoice. Plus as you can note, blamed me and my “incompetence” in not delivering any searches for her. I won’t even mention some of the rude and “crazy” emails this client sent me or the fact that there was no bonus/commission on the searches completed. If I sucked so bad, why the hell did she renew and continue our engagement earlier in the year?

As I always say, it is easy to blame the salesperson for a business failure. I am glad to be rid of this client and hope to work with someone more honest, ethical, and capable of actually closing business in the future.