A Subcontractor Is Trying to Poach Your Customer (Decision Tree)

Why this matters

You spent years and real money earning a customer, then handed a sub direct access to them to get a job done. If that sub goes around you and takes the account, you lose the customer and the referrals that came with them. But the right response depends on what actually happened and what you signed. Accuse a sub who did nothing and you burn a good relationship. Ignore a real poach and you train every sub on your bench that it is safe.

Start here: what actually happened?

Separate two very different situations before you react, because they call for different moves.

• The sub solicited. They actively pitched the customer, handed over a card, quoted side work, or undercut your price directly to your customer. This is the sub reaching for your account.
• The customer approached the sub. The customer, on their own, decided they liked the sub and reached out. A customer is free to hire whom they want, and this is much harder to control.

Get the facts before you accuse. A customer mention, a rumor, or a card you did not see change the whole picture. Confirm what happened, from more than one angle if you can.

Check what you signed

Your leverage is mostly defined by your sub agreement.

• If there is a non-solicitation clause, a term barring the sub from pursuing customers you introduced them to, you have real footing to stand on. See the related reference on that clause.
• If there is no clause, your legal footing is weak and this becomes a business and relationship response, not an enforcement action. You cannot enforce a promise the sub never made.

If the sub actively solicited and you have a clause

You have both a violation and a remedy. Move deliberately, not hot:

1. Document the solicitation: what they did, when, and how you learned of it.
2. Remind them in writing of the clause they signed and what it prohibits. Many subs back off the moment they realize you have it in writing and you noticed.
3. Weigh enforcement against value. A formal cease-and-desist or an attorney is worth it for a valuable, recurring account and a clear breach. For a one-off customer, a firm conversation and cutting the sub may be the cheaper, cleaner end.

Keep the whole exchange away from the customer. Your fight with the sub is not the customer's business.

If there is no clause

You cannot enforce what you did not write, so protect the account on its merits:

• Reinforce why the customer hires you: the warranty you stand behind, one accountable company for the whole job, the record and reliability a lone sub cannot match. If that value is real, remind them of it by delivering it, not by badmouthing the sub.
• Tighten your next agreements so the next sub cannot do this cleanly.
• Decide the sub's place on your bench based on the breach of trust, even without a contract term to invoke.

If the customer approached the sub

You cannot stop a customer's free choice, so look inward and forward:

• Ask why they were tempted. Were you adding real value, or were you a markup on top of the sub the customer figured out they could hire directly? An honest answer tells you whether to fight for the account or improve your offer.
• Focus your energy on your agreement with the sub going forward, and on being worth the customer's loyalty, not on a customer you cannot legally hold.

Decide the sub relationship

A sub who poaches once will poach again, clause or no clause. Cut them, but do it clean:

• Pay what you genuinely owe them. A payment fight on the way out gives them a grievance and a reason to talk to your customer.
• Keep it professional and quiet. Drama that reaches the customer damages you more than the sub.
• Log why, so the reason is on record if they ever come up again.

Recap

1. Establish what happened: sub solicited, or customer approached.
2. Check the agreement for a non-solicitation clause.
3. Solicited plus a clause: document, remind in writing, weigh enforcement against the account's value.
4. No clause: protect the relationship on merit and tighten future agreements.
5. Customer's own choice: fix why you were replaceable.
6. Cut a proven poacher cleanly, paid up and quiet.

References

• State law on non-solicitation enforceability (varies by state; confirm with an attorney)
• Trade-standard subcontractor-management practice
• See related: The Non-Solicitation Clause That Protects Your Customer List; Managing a Subcontractor on Your Job