IB Australia 5-Star BDMs 2021

SPECIAL REPORT

BDMs Selected by intermediaries nationwide, the top 21 BDMs in Australia this year really are the business when it comes to broker support

CONTENTS

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Feature article .............................................. 02 Methodology ................................................ 03 5-Star BDMs 2021 ....................................... 04 Profiles .......................................................... 05

SPECIAL REPORT BUSINESS STRATEGY

5-STAR AWARDS: BDMs 2021

THE BROKER’S BEST ALLY OFTEN THE initial contact between broker and insurer, business development managers have a lot resting on their shoulders. In a year of multiple challenges for the insurance industry – from COVID-19 and its repeat lockdowns to extreme weather events and a hardening market – how have BDMs been performing? How are they attracting new business, supporting brokers and helping them identify the best products for their clients?

First, some sobering news. In the Insurance Business Brokers on Insurers survey earlier this year, the overall average rating for BDM support took a hit, with some brokers commenting on BDMs’ “limited impact”. Yet the hundreds of nominations

“We have ensured that our BDMs and our underwriters work closely together to obtain the right outcome for the broker and their client” Anthony Porter, AFA

for this year’s 5-Star BDM awards revealed a high level of broker satisfaction across four criteria: customer service, responsiveness, communication and product knowledge.

So, what are the 5-Star BDMs doing to earn that praise – and what is the takeaway

WHAT’S MOST IMPORTANT TO BROKERS WHEN WORKING WITH A BDM?

Responsiveness

99%

Customer service

98%

Communication

97%

Product knowledge

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84%

for other BDMs wanting to boost their standing with brokers? Among the winners IB spoke to, a belief in high levels of service was a strong common denominator.

“It’s crucial for BDMs to listen to their intermediaries, understand the needs of their business and look for ways to add value, especially when you aren’t meeting their needs, as it gives you an opportunity to improve,” says Craig Stanley, a Brisbanebased BDM at CHU. “BDMs can help brokers bring in more business by communicating their risk appetite, but most importantly, they need to ensure the intermediary is receiving high levels of service in both claims and underwriting.”

To ensure this first-rate service, BDMs need to be consummate facilitators.

“It’s important to recognise those people in your organisation that you can match with the client’s needs – whether it be a claims consultant, underwriter, a training provider of products or systems, etc.,” Stanley says.

In the hierarchy of a BDM’s most important attributes, customer service also gets

top billing from Michael Walker, a broker relationship partner at CGU. “Every day, I deal with many escalations that come my way, and you need to try to solve the challenge,” Walker says. “Whether it’s a claim that needs support, or a client’s premium has increased and they are not happy about it, or a policy has lapsed, BDMs are often the first point of call. The customer service piece – being there when a broker needs you most – has set me up to succeed in this role.”

The ability to build and maintain relationships with the full range of stakeholders is also pivotal – an area in which all of this year’s 5-Star BDMs have excelled.

A good BDM ensures they are “valuable and visible, both internally and externally, to generate sales and growth”, Walker says.

“This requires building a good team culture between the underwriters that service a particular broker so that cross-sell and multi-line business works well. Just as critical is building relationships between underwriters and brokers, as underwriters are the ones that make risk decisions.”

Because brokers like to deal with the decision-makers, Walker adds, a BDM “must

and our underwriters work closely together to obtain the right outcome for the broker and their client,” Porter says. “Systems are also a vital part of the cycle, giving brokers easy access to AFA and our offerings wherever and whenever they need to.”

Solutions and rewards In IB surveys over the years, brokers have said they value BDMs who are focused on solutions rather than pushing the corporate line. This comes as no surprise to Philippa Ryan, national business development manager at CHU, who says this is the way the underwriting agency has always done things.

“The type of service we offer to our clients has never been bound by corporate lines,” Ryan says. “In that respect, we are fortunate to have always been able to offer personal service and tailor to the individual needs of each broker. There are no boundaries to how we operate and solve issues – that’s why the job is so rewarding.”

One inescapable restriction of the past 18 months, however, has been the pandemic.

For a job that is so client-centric, it’s been a major challenge.

“COVID has tested us all,” Porter says.

“There are no boundaries to how we operate and solve issues – that’s why the job is so rewarding” Philippa Ryan, CHU Underwriting Agencies be across everything that has been sent through and listen to important and key information that you can relay to the underwriting team to make decisions on what is worth spending our time on”.

Anthony Porter, national business development manager at AFA, agrees that the underwriter–BDM relationship is key.

“At AFA, we have ensured that our BDMs

“Pre-COVID, we were all able to travel and visit our broker partners; that said, I found keeping in touch on a regular basis to offer support was the key for me [to maintain strong relationships].”

For Ryan, too, communication – albeit a video or phone call rather than a sit-down with a coffee – has played a heightened role.

“Some of our clients suffered periods

METHODOLOGY To determine the top business development managers in Australia, Insurance Business carried out extensive research. IB’s researchers contacted 300 brokers across the nation, engaging in in-depth phone interviews to identify Australia’s top-performing BDMs. Brokers were asked to name the BDMs who provided the best support based on four criteria: customer service, responsiveness, communication and product knowledge.

From more than 300 nominations, the list was whittled down to 100 BDMs, and the 21 individuals who were rated excellent across all categories were named 5-Star BDMs for 2021.

52% of 2021’s 5-Star BDMs work for insurers

48% work for underwriting agencies

24% have also featured on IB’s Young Guns list

of lack of self-motivation and struggled to maintain a work-life balance,” she says.

“I would make sure I was in regular contact so our brokers knew we cared. We are lucky to enjoy long-standing relationships with the majority of them, so it was like checking in on a friend. Zoom meetings and phone calls often resulted in more talk about how they were coping with lockdown. I organised virtual social catch-ups to break the monotony and included a cross-section of guests so there were always fresh faces and new stories to share.”

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SPECIAL REPORT BUSINESS STRATEGY

5-STAR AWARDS: BDMs 2021

2021

BDMs

Craig Stanley Business development manager CHU Underwriting Agencies

Jessica Jenkins Relationship manager Brooklyn Underwriting

Phone: 0423 919 083 Email: craig.stanley@chu.com.au Website: chu.com.au

Phone: 03 8352 6734 Email: jessica.jenkins@brooklynunderwriting.com.au Website: brooklynunderwriting.com.au

James Rogers Business development manager GT Insurance

Philippa Ryan National business development manager CHU Underwriting Agencies

Phone: 03 8623 2613 Email: james.rogers@gtins.com.au Website: www.gtins.com.au

Phone: 0414 184 876 Email: pip@chu.com.au Website: chu.com.au

Anthony Porter National business development manager AFA

James Lee Business development underwriter Emergence

Carla Taylor Business development manager Vero Chris Chisholm Senior regional account manager Allianz

Luke Wennerbom Senior business development manager Vero Marilyn De Francesco Account manager Allianz

Colum Williamson State development specialist Source: Deloitte Global Millennial Survey Melissa La Spina NTI Key account manager Hollard Daniel Brown Financial lines senior underwriter DUAL Australia Michael Walker Broker relationship partner Daniel Joiner CGU State manager MECON Naseer Taseer Senior business development manager David Newell Vero Senior account manager Allianz Nathan Sommer George Konstantas Head of casualty Senior business development manager Agile Underwriting Vero Harleen Bhasin Business relationship manager QBE

Stanley agrees that the unpredictability of the pandemic has been an enormous challenge; however, “it’s shown how quickly we can adapt. Prior to COVID, I couldn’t get people to commit to video calls, and now it’s become normal when you can’t meet face-to-face”.

While pandemic preoccupations have dominated, the insurance industry has also

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Tony Tahche Business relationship manager QBE

been dealing with large catastrophic events like bushfires, floods, cyclones and hailstorms – plus an increase in long-tail losses.

Throw in the hard market, and communication becomes all the more vital.

“The current market is fast-paced, timepoor and tough on brokers who are having to explain premium increases, deductions in

“The customer service piece – being there when a broker needs you most – has set me up to succeed in this role” Michael Walker, CGU Underwriting Agencies cover and, in some cases, that risks are not insurable,” says Walker. “BDMs needs to be in regular contact with brokers to let them know about these changes with as much time as possible, whilst setting a clear strategy and pipeline for the financial year with broker partners. Make sure a phone call is made, as emails seem to get lost and misunderstood.

In building new relationships to achieve my strategic goals, responsiveness and building trust have been my strengths.”

Changing times In the years ahead, Stanley believes the evolution of technology is likely to have the greatest impact on the future of the BDM role.

“Millennials now make up the largest generation in the workforce, and they are very tech-savvy,” he says. “There will be greater expectation from our customers to meet high service levels, too.”

However, he adds that relationship management will not only remain fundamental to the BDM role but will become increasingly important in other functions.

“With increased efficiencies coming from AI, other roles such as underwriting have placed more emphasis on adding relationship management as an important skill set,” Stanley says. “The BDM role is important to help mentor underwriters to get better at this.”

PIP RYAN

National business development manager CHU Underwriting Agencies

P

ip Ryan is a solutions-focused BDM who is passionate about delivering great customer experiences to her clients.

Ryan was heavily involved in underwriting in the earlier part of her career. It was then that she learned that the important part of writing and retaining business was to consistently deliver great outcomes. Armed with this knowledge, she naturally progressed to a sales role. Like every other team member at CHU, Ryan delivers personal service and takes ownership of challenges, with a considerable amount of trust and mutual respect for clients.

The past 18 months have been particularly challenging for the strata industry due to COVID-19 and lockdowns. For Ryan, learning new ways to service brokers in this tough business environment has been a big achievement. She adapted in this unknown space by creating stronger connections with clients and developing a deeper understanding of their needs as well as a sense of purpose in terms of what is essential to provide and sustain service in the new world.

Ryan is now focused on continuing to offer mentoring for sales staff and individuals within the insurance and strata industries. She also aims to develop brokers to reach their full potential by maintaining a strong bond with them and an understanding of their businesses, as well as communicating with them and caring for their individual needs.

CRAIG STANLEY Business development manager CHU Underwriting Agencies

C

raig Stanley is a customer-centric, diligent and detail-oriented insurance professional with three decades of industry experience. He spent over 20 years working at Zurich in a range of roles, including financial lines underwriter, e-BDM, BDM, property surveyor and senior underwriter. He joined CHU in June 2020 from QUS Strata Insurance, where he worked for over five years, most recently as national sales manager.

Stanley is actively involved in the growing and ever-changing strata industry. He runs many training sessions for internal and external stakeholders, and regularly contributes to the Strata Community Association (Qld) through presentations on insurance and storm preparation, strata starters and the A100 qualifications for strata managers in respect of insurance and risk management.

Over the past 18 months, Stanley has created and implemented a new strategy, which involves mentoring underwriters to get better at relationship management. He also made sure to be in regular contact with his broker clients, including organising virtual social catch-ups to see how they were coping and to comfort them during a challenging year.

Stanley believes in giving back to the community. He recently managed a program to mobilise all CHU Employees in Queensland and the Northern Territory to work at OzHarvest for a day to create food for the less fortunate.

He has an MBA from the University of Queensland and a Diploma in General Insurance.

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SPECIAL REPORT BUSINESS STRATEGY

5-STAR AWARDS: BDMs 2021

JAMES ROGERS

JESSICA JENKINS

Relationship and development manager, Victoria

Relationship manager

GT Insurance

Brooklyn Underwriting

J

ames Rogers is a seasoned insurance veteran with specialised industry knowledge and a deep commitment to customer service. His outstanding career in insurance started in claims at the age of 18. He then progressed to underwriting (including motor), liability and corporate property insurance before becoming a business development manager at the age of 26.

Rogers joined GT Insurance’s Melbourne branch in 2008 as a BDM and has since made significant inroads into building the company’s Victorian portfolio in commercial and heavy transport. He is responsible for developing mutually beneficial relationships between brokers, GT Insurance underwriters and claims personnel. Under his guidance, the GT insurance portfolio has more than doubled.

Rogers has developed solid long-term relationships with GT Insurance’s Victorian brokers on both personal and professional levels. His proactive attitude, clear communication, loyalty and fairness are reflected in his excellent service to brokers. He empowers them to succeed in developing their own transport portfolios and in providing high-quality support to their clients.

Notwithstanding the challenges of the past two years, including the changes to how people work brought about by COVID-19, Rogers has continued to support his colleagues and broker clients, ensuring their wellbeing and ongoing professional success.

Rogers is well recognised within GT Insurance for his years of dedicated service.

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J

essica Jenkins started her journey in insurance 20 years ago at the Suncorp Group. She took on her first national relationship management role in 2006 at a company called Telstra eBusiness, now Sunrise Exchange, where she was responsible for management of the relationship with underwriters and brokers.

Jenkins also worked at BRIC, Ace, Ansvar, CGU, AIG and Gallagher Bassett before joining Brooklyn Underwriting in late 2019. At Brooklyn, she builds and nurtures existing broker relationships as well as seeking out opportunities to establish and grow the network. She has supported and mentored her peers and colleagues who aspire to become BDMs or want to develop their own interpersonal, networking and presentation skills.

Jenkins’ achievements include establishing the “Women’s Wellness Hour of Power” – a community in which women in the insurance and finance industry come together, empower each other, and remember that it’s “OK not to be OK”. Passionate about advocacy and awareness around mental health, she has also presented to her AXA XL peers nationally on parental mental health, based on her own pre- and post-natal experience.

Asked about her career goals, Jenkins says: “I would like to keep growing my role and also maintain time for mentoring my colleagues and peers to achieve their own professional goals.

I’m incredibly focused on supporting Brooklyn on their journey of growth into the future.”

BDMs

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