MY LAST two columns described our agency's efforts to end walk-in premium payments on direct-bill accounts, freeing time for our employees to offer our clients other, more valuable service. Last month I explained how we began communicating to customers why it was not in their best interests to make direct-bill premium payments at our office. We were then ready for the final step in the process-establishing a "termination date" after which we would firmly discourage customers who still brought payments in person.

We were ready for the possibility that some customers might find our new policy inconvenient and thus take their business to another agency. In our initial assessment phase of this plan, we had determined that the loss of business would be tolerable even if all walk-in customers went elsewhere.

To begin the final phase of our plan, we displayed posters announcing that we would no longer maintain a "cash drawer" at the agency after July 1, and thus could not make change when people brought their premium payments in. After our cutoff date, all payments would need to be in the form of checks, money orders or exact change. We explained that part of our reasoning was a concern for the safety of our employees-a claim that gained credibility when we cited the robbery and murder of an insurance agent in the area who was leaving his agency with cash receipts. Every time we explained our new practice to a client in person, we also emphasized the importance of eliminating walk-in payments to allowing our agency to provide new and more useful services to clients.