What to do better in business for the new year? If – and only if – your professional service business is positioned correctly for it, you might consider pruning your client roster. Some of your clients are easier to deal with, some are more reliable, and some are less so. 
If you aren’t close to capacity in your business, forget it. Pruning clients is most important for businesses that can’t easily expand, most typically the one-person service that is mostly booked solid. If that’s not you, then pruning might be a bad idea.
But if it is you, you’re already thinking of how much nicer life would be without client X, who is always asking too much, tends to complain regardless, blows off appointments, and just makes your life harder.
Strategically, the idea is to give yourself room to expand with more of the the right kinds of long-term clients that offer more of a future that can help you build your company.
How do you do it? Consider changing your pricing or policies, perhaps, to allow the clients who are hardest to manage to fall gently out of your client base.
(Image credit: Anna Jurkovska/Shutterstock)
Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software and Bplans.com. Follow him on Twitter @Timberry.
