Author: Chris Boggs
It was a Tuesday (in reality, I have no idea what day it was, but it's more engaging if I can put it in context of a specific day), Bob, walked into our office, walked past the front desk, past his CSR and stood at my office door. No, he wasn't a relative, he was one of my clients who thought he was uber important.
When Bob arrived at my door he saw I was on the phone with another client. This did not deter him or clue him in that he was not the focus of attention. Polite people would mouth, “Oh, I'm sorry," and go wait in the reception area until I was done (truly polite people wouldn't have walked directly to my office from the beginning); but not Bob, he stood at my door and stared at me until I got off the phone.
When I finished the conversation with my other client, Bob told me what he wanted/needed. We took care of it pretty quickly and he left.
As I sat in my office after Bob left, I ran the situation through in my mind and became angry (this wasn't the first time he acted this way). The longer I thought about it, the angrier I got (I probably should have just gone to lunch). I began to weigh my options until I finally reached a decision.
I went to the files (yes, this is back in the days of paper files), grabbed his file and drove to his office. I walked into his office, walked to his desk, laid the file on his desk and said, “Tell me where you want to move your account and I will make it happen TODAY."
Bob was shocked as he asked, “What's going on?"
I recounted his history of rudeness up to and including the most recent event and told him, “You will never treat me this way again; and if you do – I will cease to be your agent."
Amazingly, he said he didn't want to move his account. We talked, I reiterated that he could no longer act the way he had previously, he agreed, and we parted on good terms. I kept the account until I sold my interest in the agency. The funny part is he stayed with the agency long after I sold my interest. For many years afterwards, I would ask about Bob when I talked with my former business partner. “If you can believe it, we still have his account," my former partner would say.
Although Bob wasn't nasty or mean, he was just rudely egotistical. For some reason he believed (or acted as if he believed) business etiquette did not apply to him – until I called him on it. I was ready to fire him as my client because of his somewhat disruptive attitude. After our confrontation Bob became a really good client.
But beyond the Bob's of the world, I had clients who were also verbally abusive to my staff – once. When any CSR came to me to tell me that a client had just cussed them, that resulted in an immediate phone call to the client – which went something like this:
“Hey, John, this is Chris Boggs. My CSR tells me you just verbally attacked her; is that true?" If they said yes, the conversation continued, “Why did you do that?"
From here I would get a bit mean. “Let me explain this to you, John; none of my employees are here for you to abuse, regardless of the situation. If you can't act like an adult, we will end this relationship NOW! Do we understand each other?" Yes, I truly said this because I believe you have to stand up for your employees!! Cussing me was one thing, but I would not tolerate abuse of anyone else.
Again, I was amazed at how few of those accounts we lost (even though we wanted to get them out the door). Evidently, some nasty people are just bullies who become some of the nicest people in the world when you show them you aren't scared by their tactics and that you are willing to send them down the road.
Life is too short to deal with customers who are unpleasant, rude or just plain mean. These individuals add nothing to your day and ultimately lower the morale of the entire office. You probably have someone in mind as you are reading this.
Be willing to fire a client. Further, let your staff know that you are willing to fire the wrong type of clients. And lastly, let the client know, in no uncertain terms, you are willing to and will fire them. Sometimes they will go away on their own; sometimes they change their ways; and sometimes you have to follow through.
While we are in the business to write insurance, not all business is good business. It sometimes becomes necessary to send a client on their way for the benefit of the agency. Know how and be willing to fire bad clients.
One agency owner I know got the entire agency involved in deciding which clients to fire. Each year he would ask the employees which clients they wanted to fire because they were difficult people. When the list arrived, he would look at the commission income of the accounts and then challenge the staff to replace those accounts with new accounts (in addition to the regular production goals).
If/when the lost revenue was replaced, they would fire the clients. Afterwards, the agency would throw a party in celebration of their improved clientele.
This agency owner found this to be an incredible morale booster for the staff. Not only did they know that had a voice in how the agency did business, they also had the opportunity to build a client base of people with whom they enjoyed working. And because the revenue was replaced, the agency didn't suffer financially because of the loss of some bad clients.
Recently the VU received a question on firing clients, and it's not the first time we have received this question. Following is a link to an article on “Dump Letters;" at the end of the article there are links to several articles on firing clients. If this is an issue you have faced, are facing or think you might face, review these articles:
Last Updated: August 3, 2018