[Tom Edgerton]

This policy may seem counterintuitive, and there's a temptation to not send the commission check if the client subsequently comes to you directly. But I've always done it, and if you spread the good will around, the folks spreading the word about you will spread it that much harder.

Besides, you wouldn't have known the client at all if the agent hadn't introduced you and promoted you. So it's not a bad instinct to "dance with the one that brought you." You won't be sorry, in the long run.