Tim's renewal was coming up. I was using social media to keep up with his wife’s progress. His last Facebook post stated that the doctors had done all they could do and that hospice would be called in.

Around this time, Tim sent me a note asking about the upcoming term. Should we meet to review? My reply was no, take care of your family, I’ll take care of this.

In fact, we were already taking care of “this.” Tim's account had been shopped to six carriers, and we had found a standard home for his business once again and were back to his “normal" pricing.

I said that if he needed me to come to his house on a Saturday to review, I could swing by. Under the circumstances I thought it best that I manage this for Tim as he was spending his last few months with Cindy.

Tim texted me that he would like to see what we were able to do for him and asked that I drop off a summary. I did and the next day he ordered loss runs. No surprises -- every few years, Tim gets an alternate quote, but under the circumstsances, I found this a little perplexing.

My partner Ronn has a large motor home that he uses Tim’s shop to maintain. A few days ago when Ronn was at Tim's shop, Tim confided that he was very upset with me. Maybe I had outgrown his account and Ronn should take over.

Ronn told him that garage insurance was not his specialty, that I was the best agent for Tim's account, and that he knew I had been working for Tim behind the scenes.

Tim swore Ronn to secrecy about his comments and told him he was getting another quote, but that he didn’t really want to move the account.

This Tuesday, Ronn got a call from Tim that the competitor's quote was $1,500 less than ours. Ronn told him to hold tight, he wanted to talk to me first. So I stopped by Ronn's house that night.

The story he told broke my heart. Tim's perception of my management of his account was that I was no longer paying attention to him. I didn’t want to take the time to see him and I was not working to keep his insurance costs in check.

The reality, or maybe my perception, was that I was allowing him family time. I had worked his account as we work all accounts, had successfully returned his premium to standard rates, and would simply take care of the change as I had many times in the past.

I thought the last thing Tim would want was to meet with an insurance provider, but that is exactly what he wanted. In hindsight, I realize now that Tim wanted a distraction. He wanted to keep busy.

Ronn and I visited Tim’s shop and had a heart-to-heart in his office. With tears in his eyes he told me he thought I had become too busy for his account. He had been concerned about his insurance for the last three months, but I had not advised him about our plans. He questioned if we were even doing anything.

I apologized, explained my strategy and told him that that my actions arose from my perception that he didn’t want to mess with insurance at a time like this -- that I would, as I had in the past, simply take care of it.

After a few minutes, he said, "OK, let’s do this, but answer me honestly: Are you too busy for me, or is our account too small for you?"

I looked him I the eye and said, “Tim, you are my client. My book of business is made up of guys just like you, some big some small, but I’ll never be nor have I ever been too busy for you.”

The business meeting was over and for the next 45 minutes Tim talked about his wife’s deterioration and eventual move to hospice. It was a gut-wrenching conversation.

This has been one of my greatest lessons. At a time of great anguish and pain, some people need a distraction. My approach of texting Tim and providing support through words was not enough. Tim perceived my handling of the matter as meaning that I didn’t care when in my mind, I was taking something off Tim’s plate that would allow him more time with his wife.

My experience with Tim should serve as a reminder that even commercial insurance is a very personal business.