Every firm owner knows the feeling. A client’s name pops up on your caller ID, immediately overwhelming you with dread. It takes about an hour just to recover from the conversation.
Marilyn Melendez, EA, President of Dalia Tax & Business Advisors in West Palm Beach, Florida, has learned to treat that feeling as information. Her firm is smaller than it used to be, with fewer clients — but it earns about the same revenue. Getting there meant being honest about which clients fit and which ones didn’t.
Below, we’ll cover how to judge client fit beyond the fee, how long to give a client before letting go, how to price without taking rejection personally, and how to pass on prospects in a way that keeps the door open.
Prefer to watch? Here’s the full conversation.
“Not every dollar in costs the same,” Marilyn says. She isn’t only talking about profit margins. Some clients take an emotional toll that never shows up on a P&L.
She noticed it with clients whose style clashed with hers. They weren’t doing anything wrong, but every interaction left her drained. Over time, she started dreading their meetings before they began. Even when those clients paid above her rates, the math didn’t work.
“That dollar is costing me my peace,” she says. “It’s costing me my wellbeing.”The same client might be a great fit for another firm. That’s part of what makes letting go easier. As Marilyn puts it, “They’re just not my folks, and that’s okay.”
Fit problems usually show up as patterns rather than single bad days. Watch for these:
Marilyn doesn’t cut clients loose at the first sign of friction. She gives clients who aren’t following through two or three years. If nothing changes, she helps them move to a different firm. “If I don’t have the buy-in with my clients, then I’m not serving them appropriately,” she says.
Marcus Dillon, CPA, who leads Dillon Business Advisors and co-founded Collective by DBA, says owners often hold on longer than they should because they’re worried about the revenue. With experience, he’s learned that keeping a client who won’t listen does them no favors. At some point, “you realize you’re doing them a disservice by being in the room.”
Letting go also opens space for the clients you want. “There will always be additional ways to make money, but how you spend your time and who you spend your time with is way more important these days,” says Marcus.
Client fit and pricing go hand in hand. Marilyn’s advice is to know your true bottom line and stick to it. “You can’t lower your service to accommodate that person,” she says.
For many owners, the hard part is emotional. When Marilyn asked Marcus whether a rejected proposal feels like a rejection of him, his answer was immediate: “Oh yeah, every day.” That’s why DBA’s first step was to remove him from the sales process. Rachel Dillon now leads most of those conversations.
Rachel sees a “no” differently. Sometimes she wonders whether she communicated the value well enough. “But at the same time, I don’t feel them rejecting me as a person,” she says. That distance makes it easier to price based on the numbers. It also helps to remember that when a client opts out after a price increase, your team gains capacity to serve the clients who stay.
The same thinking applies before someone becomes a client. If a prospect can’t fit within your pricing yet, say so kindly. Marilyn suggests helping them find a firm that suits where they are today.
That kindness often pays off later. A prospect who felt respected may come back once their business has grown. Marilyn imagines them saying they always wanted to work with your firm, even if they couldn’t afford it three years earlier.
Each new client changes what your team’s days look like. “All growth isn’t good,” Marcus says. “Every time we say yes, that shifts culture.” That’s why DBA’s leadership team treats client decisions as a way to protect the team.
For Marilyn, the result has been worth the discomfort of letting go. With fewer clients, she can go deeper with each one. Marcus calls that the biggest takeaway from their conversation: “Doing more with less — if anybody takes anything away from this — that is the gold.”
You don’t need to overhaul your client list in one season. A few small steps will show you where to start.
Deciding which clients to keep, reprice, or release is easier with someone who has made those calls before. Collective by DBA’s advisors can help you define your ideal client, set pricing you can stand behind, and plan conversations with clients who no longer fit. Schedule a call with Collective by DBA to talk through your plans.