Connect Newsletter - July

CONNECT

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NEWSLETTER News inside

Insight at your fingertips with MI Dashboard Spotlight on mental health A day in the life of Richard Pitt Regulatory round up IHP Motor products from Ageas Is there ever a right time to sell your business?

Who is the Bravo Group?

LAUNCHING APPRENTICESHIPS CONNECT WORLD

We’re delighted to announce that our new Apprenticeship programme is now available for Connect Members.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE YOUR BUSINESS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS? The Broker Network MI Dashboard provides all key performance indicators on one page and is available 24/7 on PC, tablets, and even phones Helps to identify where revenue may be increased Designed to save Members’ time, take month end reporting stress away, and add value, it’s changed the way many of our Members run their business as well as interact with key suppliers As our database continues to grow we will start to analyse market trends using significant sample sizes to drive out meaningful statistics Available for Connect Members.

Want to know more and how to get your own Dashboard? Contact me by emailing Matthew.Nelson@ brokernetwork.co.uk or calling 01423 554182

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WELCOME...

S

ince our April edition of the Connect Newsletter, it’s been a hectic few months for me personally; I passed my CII IF1 exam, bringing me one step closer to my Insurer Practitioner award through our apprenticeship programme with the CII. I’m pleased to say that we’re now offering the apprenticeship to Connect Members. Please read the article on page four to find out more.

I

’m thrilled to say I also had the opportunity to join the Mental Health Warriors team at Broker Network recently. We’ve been focusing on boosting the mental health of the Broker Network team, and to help you, one of our key features in this edition of the Connect Newsletter is mental health in the workplace. I look at 10 top tips from Mind UK on promoting a positive mental health culture in the workplace, as well as the fun ways we have helped to raise money for Mind.

I

hope you enjoy reading this edition of the Connect Newsletter and if you have any queries, please email me at Matthew.Nelson@brokernetwork.co.uk or call me on 01423 554182.

Yours, Matt Nelson Business Development Executive – Connect

CON TENTS

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Introducing apprenticeships!

Good news! As a Connect Member you can now sign up for our apprenticeship scheme.

Day in the Life

Go behind the scenes as Chief Network Officer Richard Pitt take you through a typical day of how he powers growth for Members.

Putting Mental Health first

We equip you with top tips to boost the wellbeing of your people.

Is there ever a right time to sell?

Find out more from MD of Ethos Broking, Richard Tuplin.

Sneak a Peek

Would you like to promote your scheme through the Network? Discover more about our directory for Members.

Who is the Bravo Group?

You may have seen the name in the press, and in this feature, we provide clarity on Broker Network’s parent company.

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OUR APPRENTICESHIP SCHEME IS NOW AVAILABLE TO CONNECT! We’re excited to announce we’re launching our apprenticeship programme to Connect Members. We know the power of learning together, which is why our programme is like no other, as Members can study and network with one another.

There is no catch and we’re confident it can make a huge impact on your business and people.

Why have we developed an apprenticeship programme?

An apprenticeship is the perfect way to empower people to achieve their full potential by providing them with an avenue to gain professional qualifications, in addition to developing technical and behavioural development skills which will be invaluable to their role and career.

Apprenticeships are for anyone, regardless of age, previous experience or qualifications. Our programme is an opportunity to build on your knowledge and achieve industry recognised qualifications.

How is our apprenticeship programme different?

We trialled the programme with Broker Network staff, so we could fully understand the process from both a learner and a business perspective. We’ve worked with the CII to delve into industry knowledge, and we’ve also tapped into the knowledge of the Network and worked with our training providers to create a truly bespoke programme that is specifically designed for the broking industry.

What makes it different?

We’ve added to the standard apprenticeship to make it broker-specific. There are new interventions based on what we know brokers need; as well as modules on useful and relevant soft skills. We benefit from a deep understanding of our industry and we’re in a unique position to create a learning programme that truly meets brokers’ needs.

How does it work?

Learners will join a cohort of their peers who will become connections for life. The programme really brings the apprentices together to share experiences in both digital and face-to-face workshops. It is a holistic offering, which will allow learners to achieve their Cert CII and Insurance Practitioner Level 3 qualification, as well as providing them with invaluable soft skills that are designed specifically with their role in mind. However, it requires serious commitment from both the employee and the employer, so it’s not a decision to be taken lightly.

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Cert CII Qualification

CII Aspire/Broker Network Insurance Practitioner Apprenticeship Cert CII Qualification • CII

Study text and exams for three modules

• CII

Membership included

• Gain

an understanding of the insurance industry while developing both workplace and personal skills

CII study text and exams for three modules

• Structured

blended learning programme – online learning, Virtual Classrooms, coaching, mentoring and peer support

• Individual

Tutor support and one-to-ones

• Network

peer group

learning • Broker

specific programme

LEARNER! WHAT DO THE NEXT 18 MONTHS HAVE IN STORE FOR YOU?

Enjoy 18 months of professional, supported learning

Build a network of peers for life

Enjoy a networking launch Share knowledge and experiences with professionals from across the UK, at all levels of their career

Ultimately achieving your Cert CII and Level 3 Insurance Practitioner qualifications?

...simply choose to complete your Cert CII exams without taking advantage of all of the above?

To discuss the apprenticeship in more detail, please get in touch with Learning Network team by emailing at learningnetwork@brokernetwork.co.uk

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REGULATORY ROUND UP CAPITAL RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS The FCA requires firms to hold a minimum amount of capital so that they have sufficient resources to absorb routine losses and redress claims against them.

It is always a firm’s duty to maintain adequate resource and not just when they come to complete their RMAR. Failure to maintain adequate capital resource will result in your firm being in breach of regulatory requirements. This reportable breach is notifiable to the FCA and can have a serious impact on your firm.

>> Please click here to read the full article

SENIOR MANAGEMENT & CERTIFICATION REGIME – STATEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITY

On 9th December 2019 the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) will come into effect for insurance intermediaries. The FCA recently published final guidance on Statements of Responsibility under the SMCR and in this article we take a look at the requirements and what firms should be considering when drafting a Statement of Responsibility.

>> Please click here to read the full article

If you would like to find out how you can get assistance with your compliance from our dedicated team of experts, please get in touch on: T: 01423 554182 E: matthew.nelson@brokernetwork.co.uk

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A day in the life of…

Richard Pitt

Our Chief Network Officer talks us through a typical day of powering growth for Broker Network Members.

>>

7am

I usually arrive at the Knaresborough office bright and early, ready to get a head start on the day. First job of each day is to review my ‘Urgent & Important’ matrix, making sure the important / not urgent stuff gets my attention each day.

>>

8am

After I’ve set out my plans for the day and caught up with the other members of the Executive Team, I’ll usually grab a cup of tea (white with one sweetener) and touch base with each of my direct reports and say ‘hello’ to anyone else that’s already in.

>>

8:15am

Every morning I check in with my family on the school run.

This is a really important part of my day and I’ll stop whatever I’m doing to make sure I don’t miss them. I then take a quick look at my emails. It’s great to have good people around you, this allows me to only do the things that no-one else can.

This forces me to delegate effectively and to use my time to maximum effect in generating value for our Members.

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9am

As the Organic Growth Programme (OGP) continues to increase in popularity, I’ll usually spend at least two days a week leading a group session. These can be anything from ‘Business Planning and Budgeting’ to ‘Recruitment and Creating High Performance Teams’ or ‘How to Work on the Business, Not in the Business’. Having now created an increasingly popular Winning New Clients session, we are finding ourselves delivering practical tools and tactics to really drive revenue growth. Nothing gives me more energy and pleasure than our Members turning many years of zero revenue growth into 20% revenue growth inside 18 months. So far we have helped to create over 50 millionaires from the Organic Growth Programme.

>>

10.30am

During a break, I’ll return any calls received. I tend not to read emails as to me email is a method of confirmation and not communication. I prefer to use the phone as the written word can often be misinterpreted and misunderstood. I only read the emails that start “As discussed...”

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1Pm

Lunchtime for me usually involves a quick salad. These seem to get a lot of attention within Broker Network as I love to make these up from scratch. They always look far tastier than the shop bought offerings. I often find an OGP delegate wants a bit of one-to-one time during lunch to talk through a specific issue they are facing, perhaps a challenging member of staff, a scheme opportunity, a deal with an Insurer or finding ways to raise cash for an acquisition.

>>

2Pm

If I’m not running an Organic Growth event then most afternoons are spent in discussions that focus on powering growth for our Members. Whether it’s developing a particular Member Service with one of our department heads, speaking with an insurer over a specific opportunity or catching up with an Affiliate on the benefits to our Members.

>>

4Pm

Our BDMs are constantly on the road visiting our Members’ offices (it can be a lonely life out on the road), and I’ll often catch up with one of them or our Head of Broker Development, Ian Wainwright to discuss any upcoming consultancy days or business health checks that our BDMs have booked in. These really encourage our Members to focus on their business and how they can best drive growth. If Ian’s out on the road then I’ll often catch up with our Head of New Sales, Adam Lee to help in moving joiners through our funnel management process.

>>

6Pm

I’ll either round off the day by catching up with the Executive Team, heading into another meeting or preparing for to the day ahead. I love my job, it’s the only one that I’ve ever had that allows me to do exactly what I enjoy the most – and that’s to enable businesses and people to become the best they want to be.

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Mental Health Top tips As a Broker Network Mental Health Warrior, I wanted to share 10 tips on how to promote a positive mental health culture in the workplace.

Stress, anxiety and depression are the biggest cause of sickness absence in our society. Mental ill health is responsible for 91 million working days lost and costs UK employers £34.9 billion a year. Promoting positive mental wellbeing in your organisation will ensure that staff are happier, more engaged and more productive. How can you do this?

1| LEAD BY EXAMPLE Send a clear message to your staff that their wellbeing matters. Actively encourage your team to adopt healthier working habits by working sensible hours, taking full lunch breaks, annual leave and resting and recuperating after busy periods.

2| BUILD YOUR CONFIDENCE ON MENTAL HEALTH Familiarise yourself with your organisation’s mental health policies and practices and the ways staff can seek confidential advice and support. Routinely publicise internal and external support pathways to staff.

3| NORMALISE MENTAL HEALTH Touch base regularly with your employees to check how they’re getting on and think about what might be causing them stress. Create a space for them to ask questions, raise concerns and talk about home and work issues.

4| TAKE STOCK Include an agenda item at team meetings to discuss people’s wellbeing and what factors are affecting it.

A planning session can look at the issues in detail and develop a team action plan to address these.

By running a staff survey, this could form the basis of the discussion.

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5| BE AVAILABLE FOR YOUR STAFF Regular one-to-ones and catch-ups can help maintain good working relationships and build mutual trust. Managers should also help staff to manage workloads – by ensuring work is clearly defined, communicating expectations clearly, and agreeing reasonable deadlines with individual staff members.

6| TREAT PEOPLE AS INDIVIDUALS Treat employees with respect, praise good work, offer support if there are skills gaps, and try to use a coaching style of management. Listen to your staff and flex your management style to suit the needs of each team member and task. Ask for feedback about the support you provide and help they need to achieve their goals.

7| EMBED EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT Promote a culture of open dialogue and involve employees in decisions about how the team is run and how they do their job. Empower staff by using a management style that allows them to be autonomous while ensuring they still feel supported. Make sure employees understand their role in the bigger picture and their contribution to the organisation’s vision and aims.

bonus tip Another fantastic way to promote the importance of mental health in your business is to host a fundraising event in aid of a charity, such as Mind. At Broker Network, we recently held a Mental Health Week, where myself and the other Mental Health Warriors hosted a series of events across the office. As exercise is so important for mental wellbeing, the main event was a challenge which saw our staff collectively cycling for more than 400 miles on exercise bikes. We raised over £1700 across the week for Harrogate Mind.

8| CREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR COACHING, LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT Make sure employees are confident, well equipped and supported to do their job to a high standard.

You can help them gain confidence and skills by developing, rewarding their capabilities and being available for regular work-related conversations as well as providing formal training.

9| PROMOTE POSITIVE WORK RELATIONSHIPS Support a culture of teamwork, collaboration and information-sharing both within teams and across the organisation and role model these positive behaviours to staff. For example, feeding back as soon as someone does good work can develop a culture of praise which helps staff feel their efforts are recognised and keeps lines of communication open.

10| RAISE AWARENESS Managers are in a great position to challenge stigma and prejudice throughout their business and to get mental health on the agenda with senior leaders.

Thank you for your support!

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INSURER HOSTED PRICING MOTOR PRODUCTS FROM

Following the announcement towards the end of last year, Ageas arranged access to its new suite of ‘Insurer Hosted Pricing’ private motor products, Ageas Excellerate, for all member agents via Open GI. Have you made the switch yet?

The Excellerate range directly replaces Ageas’s old suite of non-IHP private motor products. Please remember that the non-IHP suite will soon stop accepting new business.

So why not make the change for your customers today?

One of the biggest benefits of using Ageas Excellerate is that you’ll get access to the latest private motor rates on Open GI and be able to pass them on to your customers instantly. This occurs because IHP uses real time pricing directly from Ageas, whereas their non-IHP products use rates sent to Open GI around three months before.

To see the old products you might still be using and what products you’ll need move your customers to in order to start using Ageas Excellerate, click here.

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If you need help with setting up Ageas Excellerate, please contact the Ageas Data Operations team on 02380 353811 or email them on EB.OperationsUK@ageas.co.uk

IS THERE EVER A RIGHT TIME TO SELL YOUR BUSINESS? The Managing Director of Ethos Broking, Richard Tuplin, recently penned a column for Insurance Business Magazine on the driving factors behind selling your business – and why finding the right buyer is so crucial.

We know that many of you are interested in the acquisition process, so wanted to share this with you. Here’s a snippet from the article: “It’s easy to lose the human element within the world of mergers and acquisitions.

Many of our competitors are hard line consolidators buying with nosebleedinducing multiples. These multiples are so high, in fact, that by definition the consolidator is forced to make a drastic impact on the business they are acquiring in order to leverage enough revenue to support the deal.

“As a business owner, especially an SME, that notion can be terrifying. I understand this on a personal level because I have lived and breathed this whole process as a broker myself. For you, each number isn’t just a number – it means something tangible,

emotional and personal. Your GWP includes that astounding success your top salesperson landed last month. Your costs include your infamous staff Christmas party. Your profits drive the bonuses you’re able to reward your employees with at the end of the financial year.

It’s all inextricably linked to your people.

“Your figures are of course crucial to ensuring that your business thrives. I’m not here to lecture you on multiples, but what I would say is that it’s impossible to reduce your business into something that can be broken down into neat parts, without losing a piece of the magic that makes it unique.

“With the process of selling your business being such an emotional experience, the question of timing only seems to add to the complexity of the issue. However, there are a few driving factors that can push you towards the pursuit of the right bidder...”

TO READ THE FULL COLUMN, CLICK HERE

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A SNEAK PEEK AT PREMIER & ADVANTAGE Our Schemes, Facilities and Affiliates Directory was produced as a result of feedback from our Members and our ongoing commitment to helping our Members grow and creating business opportunities for them.

AFFILIATES Our Affiliates Directory brings together a group of third-party suppliers who offer discounted rates for Premier and Advantage Members. The directory contains information on individuals and companies offering a range of services which we would generally not supply in-house within the Network due to the specialist nature of the service.

MEMBER SCHEMES Our Schemes Directory brings together our Premier Members who have a scheme or facility that they would like to share with other Members.

Unlike other networks, we use the expertise and experience of our Members to administer the schemes.

There are around 20 Member schemes or facilities in the directory which includes everything from Equine

Insurance, Licensed trade, Motor trade, Trade Credit Insurance to Agricultural insurances and more.

We understand that the needs of your brokerage are constantly evolving, so we wanted to give you a snapshot on what’s on offer at the Network from our Schemes, Facility and Affiliated Directory.

If you have a scheme or facility and are interested in being included in the Schemes and Facilities Directory, please get in touch with me.

E: Matthew.Nelson@brokernetwork.co.uk

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T: 01423 554182

DEMYSTIFYING

BRAVO GROUP You’ve no doubt seen some activity in the press recently on the Bravo Group, so we wanted to provide some clarity.

IN THE PRESS

Bravo Group has been in existence for a number of years as

The reorganisation gives Bravo a

a holdings company, but as the relationship between Broker

60% share of the network space

Network, Compass and Ethos Broking became increasingly prominent in the press, we felt that it would be useful to

according to O’Connor, made

bring Bravo Group into the light as an umbrella brand.

up of the 230 Compass members (£600m GWP) and 550 Broker

The Bravo Group strapline is ‘Stronger Together, Yet Distinctly Different’ and this is exactly right. The two networks, as

Network members (£1.8bn

Group CEO Des O’Connor explains in the Insurance Times

GWP). Ethos is also sitting at

interview below, offer completely different propositions and

480 staff with plans for over 600

it will continue to remain that way. Meanwhile, Ethos Broking

employees by the end of 2019.

is available as an exit route option.

If you ever have any questions about the Bravo Group, please don’t hesitate to ask.

4TH MARCH 2019

BY MARK RICHARDSON

But O’Connor said the propositions offered by each network were very different, and that each would remain distinct. Broker Network members will only have access to Broker Network insurance services, and Compass members will only have access to Compass insurance services.

“It’s important there’s no confusion in the marketplace,” he said. “Broker Network has a compelling service led proposition. Compass has a

London Markets

compelling insurer led proposition.

“They attract two very different types of member and we want that to continue because it allows both businesses to grow.”

TO READ THE FULL COLUMN, CLICK HERE

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GET IN TOUCH If you have any queries please get in touch with me at Matthew.Nelson@brokernetwork.co.uk or call me on 01423 554182

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