Most agencies have difficult customers who are very challenging to satisfy. In this article, I will go over how they behave, what impact they have on your agency and how to best deal with them. Properly dealing with difficult clients is good management, dealing with them in the wrong way will exacerbate the problem, but using the right techniques can make it a win-win for everyone.
Difficult clients are demanding and controlling. Furthermore, they can be deceptive and manipulative. If they don’t get their way, they will make life miserable for you. They will make a huge deal of the smallest things and not let it go. Clients like this will constantly make an issue out of everything and want to put you on your defenses: The premium is too high, the accident is not their fault, you don’t answer your phone, you didn’t get back to them fast enough, and on and on. Then, they will take you to task on a technicality. You have probably been through this already. They are bullies, and they make you feel uncomfortable. This is not good for your business.
Taking their behavior online, difficult clients can write negative reviews and go to great lengths to try and damage your reputation. However, the bigger issues are internal. Collectively, they drain your and your staff’s time. They make your entire team feel uncomfortable and constantly put you on edge, which is what those clients ultimately may want. Problem clients cost your agency money, as the more of these clients you have, the more staff hours you need. They are a huge E&O risk too, as they have a greater chance of filing a lawsuit against you. Essentially, difficult clients are too much of a risk to your agency.
In simple terms, you need to let clients like this know that you don’t need their business, but express this in a polite way. Why would anyone who is not happy with your service stay with you? Keep in mind, in most cases, you will never satisfy them, and they can be a constant battle. In some cases, it may not be a constant battle, but delivering on what they want may be impossible or go well beyond the scope of the client–agent relationship. This is why you need to put yourself in the driver’s seat to take control of a very unreasonable situation.
Always be polite, and don’t lose your cool. If you let the situation get the better of you, that will empower the difficult client, and often that is what they want. The best way to handle this may be to let them know the relationship is not working, that you cannot provide what they are asking for and that they will be better served finding a new agency. Furthermore, let them know that you will work with their new agency and release copies of their current policy if they provide you with written permission to do so and to whom. You may feel like you don’t need to do this, but this is a powerful move; it tells them that you will go to great lengths to get rid of them. This can do two amazing things: it can straighten them out as clients and stop their antics. But more so, you taking a stand makes it easy for them to leave and sends a strong message that their business is not working with you. Lastly, if they decide to stay, you have made it clear you are not tolerating their behavior. Difficult clients are costly, have a negative impact on your agency, are a higher E&O risks, and can be a negative impact on your loss ratio. It’s bad management to serve these clients in the way they want to be served. It’s part of management to properly deal with these clients and have a policy on how you are going to deal with such clients ahead of time. Removing them from your agency or making it clear you are not tolerating their conduct is good agency management.
