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“They may be missing you just as much as you’re missing them”

How would it feel to finally understand your clients better?

I’m unpacking the 5 reasons why clients leave. (It might surprise you!)

Keep reading and you’ll walk away with knowing that sometimes:

1. Losing a client isn’t about you

2. Losing a client is about you… but for different reasons than you’re thinking

3. Building a clientele is not a linear process

And so much more!

BTW I’ve got something super exciting in the works and I can’t keep it in anymore! I’m hosting a FREE 5-day bootcamp to help you attract the clients you love, finally set boundaries, get organized in your biz and properly set your prices. The Build Your Business Bootcamp is coming up in just a few short weeks, it’s happening in January! I’ll personally be guiding you through all the good stuff. 

You in? Join the FREE bootcamp RIGHT HERE. (Don’t be like me and say you’ll do it later, ‘cause I know you’ll forget. So go ahead and request to join right now.)

I won’t be opening the group until mid January, but this will save your spot for when we start. I can’t even tell ya how great this is gonna be!

There’s no doubt about it, it’s hard to not take it personally when you lose a client. 

When a client stops seeing you, it can be difficult to separate yourself from the fear that you did something wrong. I’m that this post will allow you to not stress about this as much as I used to. 

I’m dishing all the deets on this juicy topic that’s going to help you better understand your clients…

5 Reasons Why Clients Leave You (That have Nothing to Do With You)

#1 – Budget Changes

Money is a hard thing to talk about. We don’t even like telling our clients when our prices go up, so you can only imagine how hard it would be for a client to tell us that their budget has changed. 

Especially with the past couple of years that we’ve had. People have lost jobs, they’ve moved houses, needing to pay for medical bills, having babies – there are so many reasons why someone’s budget may shift. And it’s never easy to tell someone that your budget has changed. 

When people need to reevaluate their spending that might mean cutting out our services. Unfortunately, your clients probably aren’t going to tell you when their budget changes, so of course we think the worst. 

One thing I’ve recently learned about myself is that with my ADHD comes rejection sensitivity, which means I often assume that I’ve done something wrong when it comes to being rejected (like losing a client). A lot of times we find our worth and our value in the happiness of others and we need the people around us to affirm our worth. So when someone stops coming and that affirmation is no longer there we automatically assume that we’re the ones to blame. 

Something that helps to shift my mindset was said to me by my friend when I was 18 and we were driving around town: “Being insecure is one of the most selfish things you can be.” 

I remember feeling like my jaw hit the floor when she said that, I did NOT like hearing that. How could she even say that?! She continued on explaining that if you assume that everyone’s thinking about you it’s a little self-absorbed. I still hear her voice in my head when I get anxious about a group of people laughing around me. (No, Dawn, they’re not laughing at you…)

#2 – Schedule Changes

Work, a new job, a promotion, a new child, new hobbies, a new relationship… there are so many reasons why someone’s schedule would change. 

If you’re like me, you’ve probably bent over backwards to change your schedule to fit someone in. But here’s the kicker, clients who respect and value you won’t ask you to work outside of your schedule. 

Which is honestly really amazing and so respectful. 

You see, your clients do love you and they do respect you and that’s why they’re not coming to see you anymore, because they would never ask you to work outside of your schedule. 

The downside to losing clients is that sometimes you lose clients that you love, who always seem to be happy and they might be leaving from a deep respect for you. 

I hope this is a bit of a “mind-blowing moment” to shift the perspective to see that these people respect you so much that they would never ask for anything. They might feel embarrassed, they might feel too uncomfortable to have the conversation that they’re bummed they can’t see you anymore. 

They may be missing you just as much as you’re missing them. 

#3 – Convenience

I am all about convenience. I love things to be convenient (classic Taurus energy over here) and if something’s too far out of the way, I gotta be honest, I’m not gonna go. 

Maybe your client moved, maybe they changed jobs, maybe they used to work close to where you worked and now they’re farther away. Even if they didn’t leave town, they may need to find somewhere closer, for convenience. 

Once again, this has nothing to do with the service at all. 

Even though convenience is a HUGE factor, I’ll still go out of my way for a kick-a$$ service. This is a great motivator to really WOW your clients with the whole experience of coming to see you. 

#4 – Priorities Shift

Their car broke down, they need a new furnace, they want to buy a house, they had a new kid, or maybe they simply don’t allot the same amount that they used to for a service. 

I know in my 20 years in the industry I’ve seen people move through many stages in their life and watched their priorities shift. 

We, as service providers in the beauty industry, are a luxury service. It’s not a necessity for life. Although someone can’t live without food for a year, someone could certainly go without getting their hair cut or colored for a year. 

It’s important to remember when someone says “you’re too expensive” or “I can’t afford you” what they’re actually saying is: “I don’t prioritize my money there.”

This is a great opportunity to work on communicating the value of the services we provide. 

#5 – Trauma

This is a big one. When people go through trauma (losing a loved one, an accident, a relationship ending) they often share it with us and it can be really hard. 

Coming to see you might remind them of the trauma. 

There’s no denying the bond we create with our clients is a special one and we get to see them through the highs and the lows of life and that’s incredible. 

That being said, I want you to know people process trauma in different ways. When you start to rebuild your life after trauma, sometimes there are certain people or places that remind you of that big hurt. Sadly, sometimes those people or places include us. 

Maybe you were such a shoulder to cry on and created such a safe space for them during that hard time that now you’re a reminder of it. 

I’ll give you a personal example. My divorce 10 years ago was a foundational part of my life and it was incredibly hard to go through. When I started to rebuild my life after being shattered into a million different pieces and began putting myself back together again. No matter how hard you try, you’re never quite the same as before. 

There are people and places that are still really difficult for me to visit because it reminds me of who I used to be and I’m not that person anymore. 

Don’t ever think that it takes away from who you were for that person or how you were there for them. Although you might be confused and maybe a little hurt that you walked through this hard time together and now they’re not coming anymore, remember that it likely has nothing to do with you. And it doesn’t take away from how much you helped them. You might simply be a reminder to them of that pain and that hard time. 

And there you have it, the 5 reasons why clients leave that have nothing to do with you: their budget’s changed, their schedule’s may have changed, it’s no longer convenient, their priorities have shifted or maybe they’ve experienced trauma and they need to rebuild. 

I want to remind you that building a clientele is not a linear process. These things will happen, it’s not a one and done task because you will lose people for different reasons (like we just talked about). 

I like to refer to the client building cycle as the “Success Wheel” where you want to have a constant churning of new clients coming to see you to replace the ones that leave. 

If you want to learn how to consistently attract new clients, check out my FREE Client Attraction Playbook with the 7 key steps to attract the perfect clientele. Because building a clientele is one thing but maintaining a healthy, thriving clientele is cyclical, it’s not linear. Clients will come and go for many different reasons and that’s just part of the cycle. 

It’s important to realize that you will need to continue to attract new, ideal clients at every stage of your career. And that ideal client may change as you move through your own seasons of your career. 

I want you to hold true to your boundaries and don’t overwork yourself out of fear. Know that you are amazing and you’ve got this. 

Did you love this post? I wanna hear from you! Shoot me a DM over on Instagram @dawnbradleyhair and let me know that you’re embracing the “Success Wheel” of building clientele.

Let’s be besties?