David Parmet at Marketing Begins At Home writes a worthwhile post titled Bad Reputation.

It’s important for two reasons:

1. The use of the term “asshat”. I’d never heard this term before, but being the industrious fellow that I am, I looked it up. (I used GoodSearch.com too, because I said I would. And the money donated by that search went to CHASA.)

Of course, the Internet is rife with information about “asshat”:

* Asshat, the official site for the best word ever
* Instapundit uses the term “asshat”
* Wikipedia

On a side note, I prefer the term “assbag”(which interestingly enough doesn’t have as much information online.)

2. It points out the absolute stupidity in irritating a client that’s leaving you. Clients leave, it happens to everyone. Yes, it’s even happened to me. There, I admitted it. But the worst possible thing you can do is piss them off on the way out. Why bother? Sure, you may be disappointed, hurt or insulted. You might even be sad. Most likely you’re just ticked that someone else beat you out for their business. But regardless, there’s no valid reason to tick off a client that’s leaving.

If anything you should be even more courteous when they leave. Do everything in your power to be friendly and helpful. Leave as good a feeling as you can with them, before they leave. You never know when your paths might cross again, and I can guarantee you that even if a client is leaving, if it’s on good (or great) terms, they’ll reward you for it in the long run, be it with testimonials, references or even coming back down the road.

Thank them for their business and wish them the best of luck. Leave the door open for future communication and always express your willingness to help out and be there for them.

Don’t be an asshat…or an assbag…be smart when a client leaves.

[tags]asshat, assbag, client relationships, dave parmet, customer service[/tags]