Page 195 - Executive Warfare

Outsiders with Influence

that Ed had put her up to it. A blanket endorsement is not a natural con-
versation at this level.
The smart move is to ask the client to say something concrete about
you—for example, that you’ve been very sensitive to certain particular
issues that the boss thinks are a weakness for you—and only if the boss
asks about you.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO DEFY A CLIENT, BE RIGHT
Of course, these rules for keeping big clients happy do not mean that you
should do everything a client wants. What the client wants may be detri-
mental to your organization.
In the insurance business, for example, underpricing is a constant
temptation because you can collect the premium dollars immediately and
may not have to pay any particular claim for decades, if ever. So who cares
if the product is priced too low today? Institutionalize this attitude, how-
ever, and you wind up sinking the business over the long term.
At John Hancock, we had some
group insurance clients we weren’t
making any money on.And I decided to WHAT THE CLIENT
raise their prices. They were just furi- WANTS MAY BE
ous, so furious that they decided to join DETRIMENTAL
forces to go over my head, meet with the TO YOUR
president of the company, and try to ORGANIZATION.
jam the pricing.
The danger here is that the boss has
to listen to these clients, and you are not in the room. Half-truths can turn
into serious accusations in such a situation, such as,“Not only did David
raise our premiums, but he also didn’t return my phone calls for a week.”
Making matters worse, another large insurance company soon
decided that it wanted this set of clients, so it lowered its prices to steal
them from us.

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