Q&A with Jacqui Kelly, UK Head of Sales & Distribution
Following her permanent appointment as Head of Sales and Distribution at Zurich, which she took on as an interim in July, Jacqui Kelly explains her plans to deepen the insurer's relationships with brokers.
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How do you intend to drive growth in Zurich’s retail business?
We need to look at brokers differently, in that we need to understand them a lot better. There are a huge number of brokers across the UK and Zurich are proud to work with a lot of them.
The key part for me is really understanding the broker, sharing what we have with them, and knowing that broker’s characteristics to pull together the right proposition for that broker, whether that be through Zurich Club Blue or local trading.
What we have been working on for many years now is truly understanding what the market lens looks like, and how can Zurich bring themselves to that market in the way that is right for both our brokers and our customers rather than [going with] the Zurich approach is always the way forward.
Can you explain the Club Blue proposition and what has been achieved so far?
We are proud of Zurich Club Blue. We’ve been working on it for years now, and for it to be live and for the broker reception to be how it has been, I am truly touched by that. The key part for me is we’ve launched it and have 130 – treble – the amount of broker partners than we had a year ago, and even more coming to us now saying ‘How do I become part of this?’ They are starting to see the value in the market.
It [Club Blue] is about how we support them, and their business, in developing their staff, understanding environmental, social and governance responsibilities and how to manage diversity and inclusion. All those things we know a broker doesn’t necessarily have the access to. We do, and we bring that to them. A nice example of that would be we had a webinar two weeks ago with more than a 1000 brokers registered to come. That is testament to the demand we’ve got in the market for key topics and industry insights.
Rising Broker Network
The other thing we did was launch our Rising Broker Network. This is aimed at newer to the industry brokers, and it is recognising talent in brokerages and helping them develop their own personal network and give access to different areas, insights and training to help them through their career.
We launched it at the House of Lords, where they got to have a great tour and be in a room with like-minded brokers at the same place in their career. They went on afterwards, had a good time together, and have been exchanging messages since. We are seeing that network establish, and there is a huge amount we will continue to do to train and develop them.
How will you deepen Zurich’s relationships with strategic partners?
We have deep relationships with our strategic partners, and it is something that we’re really attuned to. The data and insights from our strategic broker partners is fantastic, so we align that with ours so that we work together to be accessible, supporting our Club Blue members across our regional footprint.
We’ve opened offices in Bristol, Southampton and Chelmsford, Essex, and we will continue to open offices where we see there is a demand. We are deepening our relationships with our strategic partners across all levels, so not just relying on a central relationship, but how regionals engage with their local offices and branches too.
Our regional offices are totally empowered. There is no central referral point for cases to go to. If one of our branches gets a case in from a broker that is handled there. This all goes back to what brokers tell us they want. Every bit of feedback that comes into our head office we listen to and act on.
Some of the things we have done is put in a new infrastructure within our regions with our underwriters. We are supporting our underwriters in the way we trade in the market. We’ve already seen a significant increase over the past couple of months in our quote rate and strike rate. What that tells me is our underwriters, with this culture that we have been pushing across our business, has come alive. Once we implemented this new infrastructure, which took away some of the administrative work they had to do and gave them the ability to trade we’ve seen a huge increase in that.
With our strategic partners, what that leads back to is we know whereto trade with them using ours and their data, and with the empowerment we have across our regions, we are seeing that drive come through in terms of growth.
What do you see as new opportunities in the market?
For us, understanding our brokers and having a clear strategy in terms of SMEs and mid-market, high-net-worth businesses, is a clear area of growth. The new opportunities will come as we develop within our relationships and as we move them more. We will continue to trade with our brokers as we do, and continue to evolve based on the feedback they give us.
The key part for me is sales and distribution within Zurich is a true technical function and there is recognition of that. It is really important in terms of having that voice to work closely with our products and proposition, and heads of [those areas] to bring that broker feedback into our business and do what is needed for the market.
Are you looking to expand the number of brokers you work with?
Absolutely. Our growth strategy has remained focused. We are driving more brokers, recognising that Zurich is from a winning culture and development point of view. There is no cap on the number of brokers we are working with. It is more about getting into the characteristics of the brokers, understanding how we can work together, and pulling that together in plans.
What role have you played in building the team infrastructure in the regions, and what further developments can we expect on that front?
There is nothing in the pipeline today, but we are absolutely trying to work through where next and where is needed. With all this work we do in the market landscape, if there is an area that comes up as really clear that we can do local trading into that area we will support our brokers and customers.
We’ve seen significant growth in the branches we have opened, so it is the way we should be going it is just understanding where and what is the need for us.
What has it been like moving from interim to permanent?
I have been fortunate that I have been working on this for years, so for me it is just having the ability to go out into the market and talk about it more actively.
It is business as usual in a manner of speaking, but I am delighted that it is now my permanent role. I love the team we have. They are really talented. It is just working on the strategy we have and pushing that forward.
