Follow Through

An example of follow through can be seen in the negotiations between an insurance agent and their client. Here the agent offers a liability policy to a business person. The client has asked the agent for a high quality policy. The businessperson needing insurance for a construction has certain exclusions regarding construction on condominiums. He calls the agent to ask a very technical question about changing a fan in a condominium. At this point a professional agent would contact the policy underwriter for clarification, since this level of service was implicit in the negotiation although not actually specified. However, there are many other agents who ignore the context of their sales pitch and refuse to deliver adequate service. To some, having to stop in the middle of their day to contact an underwriter for a trivial issue is seen as a loss. Here the agent is actually being asked to do something and many agent refuse to act on such requests because they could be making much more money doing something else. Instead of calling the underwriter they might simply assure the client that everything is alright. But on the back end of the deal, when a claim is submitted, the agent simply denies every having said the policy cover a certain condition.

• Due Diligence