Tuesday, July 13  

How to burn bridges in 1 easy step

Burning bridges - a simple "How-to" guide

Howdy. I was reading an advertising industry web site I subscribe to (I subscribe to the magazine and the web site access comes free with that) when I read of an advertising agency dumping their client. Not the usual way it goes, but there you have it.

The boss of the ad agency was quoted as saying: "We work with a fantastic line-up of clients, but every now and again someone comes along who thinks they know more than we do."

He went on to say the client was not significant and represented less than 5% of billings.

Okay, all together now....................mmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeoooooooooooooowwwww!

Burning bridges.........then poisoning the water!

Business is hard and tough and can be very frustrating at times. And no-one gets it right all of the time. Sometimes dear reader, sometimes I even make mistakes. Hard to believe, sure. But it does happen.

But I don't think I'm going to burn bridges like that ad agency guy did.

A smarter move for him may have been to simply say publicly, "We didn't feel we could continue to provide the highest quality work due to a range of factors - it was time for both of us to move on and try different things. I wish them all the best."

Because not only did the agency guy stop any chance of working with that client ever again, he has also shown his agency to be very difficult to work with. Potential new clients would be wondering:

* How come this guy went off like that?
* What if he does it again and drags our business into the mud as well?
* How hard is he to work with?

Stuff happens. Deal with it and move on. And don't take things so seriously. You'll give yourself an ulcer.

Don't burn bridges. There is no value whatsoever except making you feel better. And like they say in The Godfather, "It's not personal, it's business."

Cheers.

Brendon