I had other terms in mind before I settled down for the final title of this post. I considered “firing translation clients” or “getting rid of translation clients”. But I rejected them as they did not go with the spirit of my thoughts. They are too negative for my liking. Face it guys if you are a professional freelance translation provider, you wouldn’t like to see a post with a title on the lines of firing or getting rid of your translator. Rude is not Good.
So getting to our main purpose, professional translation services providers frequently face situations where they feel that they cannot continue with a current client for some reason. A few such reasons might be –
- The client is troublesome - a pain to work with
- The client cannot pay your standard rates
- The client is always late with payments
The above reasons can also make for broad categories, under which you can list several other ‘sub-issues’.
Whatever be the kind of client you are dealing with, you should always maintain a high level of conduct or professionalism when you are dealing with him or her. Even for clients who have bugged you to developing suicidal tendencies 
Just write a note to such clients, which refers to a mismatch in working styles that has led you to decide on ending the relationship, and request the client to remove you from their list of available translation providers. You can use the same strategy for clients who are bad with payments.
The most difficult translation client to part with is a good client whom you have liked working with, but who is unable to pay your increased charges. But sticking with the client would mean continuing financial loss for you. You should, for obvious reasons, treat such clients gently. While communicating with them let them know that you have increased you rates, which might be more than what they can pay. Furthermore, tell them that you would definitely like to work with them provided they can pay you according to your new rates.
This was just a brief overview of my thoughts on the issue of parting ways with a translation client. Hope it helps you. I would end by reminding you again the necessity of avoiding nastiness and mudslinging, and being as professional as possible.
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One Comment
As you say, the key is professionalism and tact; not burning bridges and not giving the other person a pretext for bearing a grudge that could backfire on you (eg if they try to post unjustified negative feedback about you as a tit-for-tat).
I have had more than one client lament a rate increase only to come back a few weeks (or even years) later at the higher rate.