The safest pair of hands

With their expert knowledge and experience, an insurance broker can save a business from going under Online services simply don’t match up, as Aston Lark sales director Lewis Doyle explains

WHAT’S THE most fulfilling part of working in insurance? To answer that question, Aston Lark’s Lewis Doyle recalls a client whose premises had been ravaged by fire.

“He said that if he hadn’t used us, and taken our advice regarding the cover to buy, he would have lost his business and made his entire team redundant.”

As Commercial New Business Sales Director, Lewis’s top priority is to secure the right cover for organisations at the optimal price. “We know times are tough right now, so if we can deliver efficiencies, then we know we’re making a difference.”

After joining the industry in 1998, Lewis took up a position at Aston Lark in 2005. Four years before that, a desire to work directly with customers led him to the broking side.

These days, as head of the UKwide commercial sales team, his role is to help guide companies – many of them SMEs – through a myriad of options so they can go about their business with confidence. Other insurers are content to sell policies impersonally, via the internet. But the broker-client relationship is a crucial part of Aston Lark’s success.

Expert advice

“Internet searches often direct SME businesses to buy insurance online, just like we do when buying our holiday travel insurance,” Lewis explains.

“The issue is, no advice is provided, so insurance is bought without the advice of an expert.

“We help our SMEs get value by ensuring they have the cover that they really need, and we do this by talking about their business, so we can help them buy the right product.”

Due to our parent company being global broker Howden, we have the leverage and scale to get our clients great products at a competitive price”, says Lewis.

At the same time, businesses are continually growing and evolving

– which might mean that their insurance cover fails to keep pace.

“This is another reason why it’s important to engage with a broker,” he adds. “We can make sure the insurance protection is relevant.

“The environment will present challenges to a business. Whether it’s Brexit, a pandemic or the economy, it can result in the priorities of a business changing the way they deploy their services.

“Our job is to make sure entrepreneurs remain protected by insurance, whichever direction they take.”

The big issues

Sometimes SMEs will be unaware of issues that potentially threaten them, such as underinsurance – a hot topic in the insurance world.

“Simply put, the cost to reinstate or rebuild a property has escalated so rapidly that, according to our research, over 80% of properties are inadequately insured1,” says Lewis.

“That means at best, in the event of major damage to a building, such as flood or fire damage, there won’t be enough money paid by the insurer to reinstate the property.

“At worst, insurers in some circumstances can keep the premium paid, cancel the policy and pay no claim at all. So, ensuring insurance remains fit for purpose is essential.”

Cyber presents another major challenge. “We see clients insuring their desks and chairs without fail year on year, but not everyone buys cyber protection,” Lewis notes.

“Whether it’s stolen customer data or payment fraud, businesses are at risk, and it’s really important to consider the right insurance protection.”

Risky business

It can be very tempting to buy a cut-price policy online without consulting a broker. If the worst comes to the worst, however, the results could be ruinous.

What would Lewis say to someone thinking of taking the budget route?

“I suppose I’d ask them to think about how they engage with other professional service providers,” he replies. “If they were involved in litigation, would they want to sit down with an expert or buy a product without any advice?

“It’s the same with insurance. It’s one of those products that isn’t that relevant, until it is. And when it becomes relevant, it means something has happened – and at that point, the difference between the right coverage and an off-theshelf and non-advised solution can be the difference between being paid by an insurer or not.”

Insurance policies can be complex, he points out. They have conditions that impose certain obligations on a business, such as handling waste as specified or securing property in a certain way.

“We help our clients understand these obligations. If these conditions are hidden in a large policy’s wording, it’s down to the client to digest this – all while they’re busy running their business.”

During the pandemic, Aston Lark worked with a number of clients to retrieve some of their premium from insurers – for example, when they weren’t using vehicles.

“We proactively helped them remove unneeded cover,” says Lewis. “One client said that the return of premium helped ensure he was able to pay his staff that month.”