I was having dinner a few weeks back with another long time settlement professional who started in the business about the same time I did, back in the early 1980's when many of the customs and procedures of the 50's and 60's were still firmly in place at many of the insurance companies and law firms in the city of Boston where I started out.

As a green rube of a kid, and that was putting it kindly, I assumed in my Eagle Scout mentality that all the men sitting in the offices were honorable, that every lawyer was an Abe Lincoln in training and that people did business with you because you were good at your job, and for no other reason.

As the holidays rolled around that first year in businees, I went to the considerable expense of providing leather bound, personally embossed day planners to each of the valued clients and prospects I had, thinking that this would be both appreciated and useful. After shipping them out and dropping them off, I called one of my claims adjuster clients on a case, to see what he had to say about it. He said, great day planner but I have to be honest, the guys in the claims department are a little disappointed in them. When I asked him why, I figured it would be that they weren't the right style, not sufficiently professional or something like that. No, his complaint was that "the boys were hoping for a little green to be in the pages, as they have gifts to buy for their families and they think your being a little light with them." In other words, their idea of a Christmas gift from a vendor was cash, or a pay off, to make sure you got your share of business assigned to you the following year.

I was of course, both disappointed and annoyed, as I had zero intention of giving any of them any cash, as quite frankly there were very few of them I could stand to have a cup of coffee with, let along drop cash on their desk in return for them steering business my way. Relating this to my mentor in the business, he casually related how his job when he started at this particular company, was to go make the rounds after Thanksgiving at all of the law firms they directed legal work too, and load up his trunk with gifts and his brief case with envelopes, as a Thank you, from the lawyers to insure that they stayed in the good graces of the insurance companies that sent them so much work. Once back at the office the bounty was split up by a caste system with senior claims managers getting first pick and the crumbs and cash filtering down to the rank and file guys.

It was a disgusting cultural phenomenon, one that thankfully has slowly gone by the boards due to legal, regulatory and societal pressure, and one that I reflect on each year as I struggle with a way to thank my best clients with out seeming to "buy them off" with too large a gift. The SEC requires that any registered representative is prohibited from giving a gift of greater then $100 in value to any client, and  God knows I would have appreciated that legislation 25 years ago as I watched the parade of settlement "professionals" who went up the elevators and out to lunch during the holidays with these claims guys, who returned with their pockets bulging with cash, travelers checks and gift certificates generously provided by my competitors. They of course had "company rules" that prohibited this, but the tradition and amount of money was so significant that the rules were "bent" to make sure the poor under paid adjusters got their extortion money.

And people wonder why I don't like most claims adjusters and won't do deals with most settlement professionals.