Talking to Your Customers After You Quit the Company

packer01

New Member
1
Wanted to get some expert advice on this matter. What are the legalities of talking to your customers after you've left the company and work for a competitor. Say these we're your customers that you originally brought to your former company. Or you gave out your cell phone number during the time that you worked for the former company and now they are calling you, can you inform them that you no longer work for that company but you are still selling insurance at a different company.
 
Wanted to get some expert advice on this matter. What are the legalities of talking to your customers after you've left the company and work for a competitor. Say these we're your customers that you originally brought to your former company. Or you gave out your cell phone number during the time that you worked for the former company and now they are calling you, can you inform them that you no longer work for that company but you are still selling insurance at a different company.

Depends upon what was in the contract with your former company and whether you have a non-compete or not. However, realize that no matter what the agreement was they can always sue you if they want to harrass you and cost you money if they are willing to spend the money.
 
Good reply. Regardless of a contract, they can dig of a variety of reasons to due. Intent to cause harm to a business would be one.

Then it's not a matter of whether or not you win, but how much money and time they can cost you.

The only scenario I'm aware of where there are no potential legal problems when moving clients from carrier A to carrier B is when you're fully independent and don't owe advance debt.
 
The only time that I have heard of problems with this is with the bigger captive agencies, who have the muscle, money and time to pursue these issues.

If its a local broker/company then they probably don't have the resources to challenge you.

I personally know an agent that wrote over 1m in a year for a captive company, left and rolled the business. It was a national insurance company and they did not pursue him.

That doesn't make it right, quite the opposite actually.

I have said it before and I will say it again. If you work for another company and they pay you, they are not your clients. They are the company's. You were paid to find new customers for them and you would have been compensated for that.
 
The only expert opion you will get is that of the Attorney you hire to review your contract....People on here are great but wouldn't it be nice to know what is and is not enforcable in your contract and what your down side is....You will get that from an Attorney.
 
Regardless what his Non-Compete says or doesn't say, there is of course a moral issue.

Think about it... I am assuming your old employer paid you either a base or commission so that you work on bringing in "their" clients? #2, put yourself in their shoes; how would you feel if you paid me, gave me back office support and everything else and when I left I started taking "your" clients... Not good right?
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[quote=Norwayguy;305734]The only expert opion you will get is that of the Attorney you hire to review your contract....People on here are great but wouldn't it be nice to know what is and is not enforcable in your contract and what your down side is....You will get that from an Attorney.[/quote]

Very true but the only thing you're missing is that even if an Attorney told you not to worry about it, it does not prevent me as your previous employer of suing you.

Sure, I may not get paid any damages, but are you aware of how much you will have to fork over just to attain a defense attorney?
 
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"can you inform them that you no longer work for that company but you are still selling insurance at a different company"

yes, but where you take if from there would depend on what contract you had with your former company.

You may have to add, "I'm working at ABC now, and unfortunately I can't contact you about your business until 2011."

You are always allowed to be truthful, you won't get punished for that. That said, if you're peeling off business in conflict to that contract, you aren't really being truthful are you?
 
You have the right to call all of your company's clients with whom you worked (notice the wording their) and tell them that you are no longer at that company, and can even tell them where you are going.

Your non-compete could range wildly in terms of what you can do from there. Depending on how many clients you are talking, and how large their business is with your former company, that may or may not care if suddenly some of them start changing to your new company.
 
why would you want to do this anyway?Didn't you convince these people that you were doing what was in thier best interst,what are you going to tell them now ,what about thier investment and that they trusted you .I have just left a capitive company and I would never ask my clients to move with me ,I may ask for refferels but not for them to give up thier intrest they have already have.Buy sme leads
 
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