Not all clients are created equal—and hanging onto the wrong ones can sink your best work, your team’s morale, and your margins.
Every MSP has been there: a needy, low-paying client constantly demanding top-tier support but balking at every recommendation. These clients eat up resources, undercut your processes, and exhaust your technicians.
One Reddit MSP nailed the reality with brutal clarity:
“Focus on your A and B clients and give them great care. Work to get your C clients to move up and cut them loose if you can’t.”
It sounds harsh, but it’s the truth: not every customer is worth saving.
The ABCs of MSP Client Tiering
To run a scalable and profitable MSP, you need to start categorizing your clients. Here’s a breakdown of what A, B, and C clients typically look like:
A-Tier Clients
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Pay on time, every time
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Trust your expertise
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Follow your processes
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Don’t fight on scope or value
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Often grow and refer others
B-Tier Clients
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Mostly cooperative but may need coaching
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Sometimes slow on payments or adoption
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With effort, can move up to A-tier
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Worth investing in—up to a point
C-Tier Clients
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Constantly question your pricing and methods
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Cause the most tickets with the least revenue
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Disregard contracts or timelines
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Drain your team and destroy morale
“We learned the hard way that bending over backwards for C clients usually means short-term revenue and long-term headaches.”
Why Cutting C Clients Sets You Free
It might feel counterintuitive to walk away from paying clients. But here’s what happens when you let go of bad-fit accounts:
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Support queues drop
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Ticket response improves
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Your team’s morale climbs
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Client satisfaction (and referrals) increase
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Profit margins grow without adding new headcount
“It’s amazing how much better your team performs when they’re not drowning in bad-fit tickets.”
One MSP on Reddit summed it up perfectly:
“Some people operate their business by constantly trying to be a pain in the ass to their vendors. My motto is: let them be a pain in the ass to my competition.”
How to Identify—and Fire—C Clients Gracefully
Here’s your practical playbook for handling C-tier clients:
1. Review Client Profitability
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Look at time spent vs. revenue earned
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Identify consistent red flags (SLA abuse, slow pay, aggressive tone)
2. Communicate with Honesty
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Offer a final opportunity to reset expectations
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Be transparent about process violations or scope creep
3. Require Account Settlement
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Before you offboard anyone, collect all past-due invoices
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Secure a written confirmation to prevent payment delays
4. Offboard Smoothly
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Transition services professionally
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Deliver final documentation, passwords, or exports
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Protect your brand by ending relationships cleanly
Onboarding: Where Tiering Starts
The best way to reduce C-tier clients is to never onboard them in the first place. During onboarding:
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Set clear expectations around communication, escalation, and scope
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Use language that positions you as a partner, not a servant
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Establish payment terms and reinforce SLA boundaries
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Watch for red flags early: nickel-and-diming, excessive demands, constant reschedules
“These days we’re very upfront about expectations during onboarding and try to coach struggling clients into that B tier.”
It’s not about being selective—it’s about being strategic.
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