Lisa, I couldn't agree more. We don't see a lot of loyalty in clients in this industry. That's a shame. I have one client out of maybe 80 that has been with me for 13+years. They have been solicited by other abstractors, even those who used to work for me. They stand firm on quality and loyalty. I am sure if we did sloppy work they wouldn't hesitate long in changing. This industry is $$$ driven. 4 years ago we were paid a fair price of $125 for a current owner search and they were delighted to get it that cheap. However, after all the wanna be clones jumped on the band wagon and undercut these fair prices, we had to drop our fees in order to stay in business.
  I feel sad that we have to have so little trust in our colleagues and business contacts in order to survive. I guess I will always have a certain amount of trust in my employees and clients. I can't imagine a world that is so consumed with paranoia and suspiciousness.
  As for not allowing employees to know our clients, that would be next to impossible given the structure of our business. Our employees send and receive orders from our clients and manage our vendors in the field. I certainly couldn't do it myself with our volume.
  Even family can take advantage of you (especially family.) Our daughter worked for us for 4 years and got upset over something or other 4 years ago and started her own company and took some of our clients. We haven't spoken in 4 years. That has been very heart breaking for us. But, we just keep moving on!
  I totally put my trust in one of the employees that left our company recently to start her own. I thought she was the epitome of honesty and integrity. So guess I was fooled, but I can't say I wouldn't do it again.

Sharon