1. What it’s like to work in a Konsileo Hub
At Konsileo, our independent Client Directors are employees, but they manage their book of business in a way that works well for them. They also group together to form geographical ‘Hubs’, creating local teams who can collaborate to support clients – and each other.
The North West Konsileo Hub covers Liverpool, Merseyside, Manchester and Lancashire, and consists of 8 Client Directors. We talked to some of them about what it’s like to work in a Hub, how they work together, the benefits for them and for Konsileo clients.
What is a Hub?
“It’s a team of brokers located in the same area, who’ve grouped together to collaborate, share ideas, support each other, and do the best for local clients,” says David Moffitt, based in Liverpool.
“We all love the independence you get with Konsileo, but it’s also nice to feel like you’re still part of a team,” adds Christian Newby, from Salford. “Most of us have come from corporate backgrounds there wasn’t a lot of freedom in terms of leads or markets, and where you’re encouraged to be in competition with others. Here you’re encouraged to innovate and collaborate.”
“The beauty of Konsileo is that it lets you do the job in your own way,” agrees Anthony Leathert, from Burnley, “but it also helps you work with and learn from others, too.”
“I think lots of people think that working for Konsileo might be lonely,” continues Racheal Burndred, the newest member of the Hub based in Stoke-on-Trent. “After all, most Client Directors work from home. But the opposite is true. In fact, I speak to people more often now than I did when I was going into an office every day!”
Why do you think your Hub works so well?
“Because we’re not in that traditional hierarchical corporate structure you’ll find in most insurance organisations, no one is competing,” says Manchester-based Steve Marrs. “We’re all very different, but what we’ve all got in common is wanting to do the best thing for our clients.”
“We know we’re good, we don’t have to prove it to ourselves, or each other, or meet targets before we get paid. So we can actually support each other, celebrate each other’s successes, and share tips, contacts and expertise,” agrees Graham Walker, who works in the Wirral.
“It also means we’ve got depth and breadth,” adds Racheal. “So we can go small and niche as well as servicing bigger and more complex insurance programmes for larger organisations.”
How do you work together?
“We tend to meet up at least once a month, somewhere in the region, and we’ll chat through any challenges and developments we’ve got, brainstorm ideas, strategies, or deep dive into someone’s specialist area,” explains Anthony.
“Sometimes we get an insurer to come in, so we can meet face to face and build that relationship,” adds Christian.
“It’s not all shop talk though!” David stresses. “While it’s been brilliant to have Racheal come along, for a group of middle-aged men we’ve always been pretty good at talking about things like our mental health, and what’s going on in our personal lives too. There’s a lot of trust between us, and we can talk about anything, and make sure everyone’s doing okay.”
Steve says: “Konsileo is all about being able to bring you whole self to work. You’re not a robot, you’re a person, and that’s how you add value to your clients.”
“We’ve got several group chats going on, and we use a lot of voice messages, too,” says Racheal. “The other day I asked about something on behalf of a client and I had about 10 messages to listen to with advice and ideas!”
“We’re not greedy here,” confirms David, “we’re not out for ourselves, we’re out for our clients. We share leads, and even share commission. The Konsileo system lets you do Virtual Team Contracting, so you can literally work together and share a percentage of the profit.”
How do your clients benefit from the Hub?
“Everyone here has their own specialisms and preferences, and that means we can all tap into each other’s skills when we need to,” explains Graham. “Our clients get the personal attention of a local broker, but the knowledge of a whole team – and the wider company – at their disposal.”
Steve continues: “I was up against it with one client recently, and got Christian involved. He knows his hospitality markets, and we managed to turn around a quote within the day, with a quality capacity holder, and saved them £15k. If we didn’t work as a Hub, they wouldn’t have got that deal. And we could just share the commission equally.”
Christian says: “For some of my clients, an off the shelf policy they can find online or even through a call centre just isn’t going to give them the peace of mind they need. A lot of independent tradespeople for instance are finding they can’t get consistent cover for height work or heat work anymore, because if it’s too hard it’s out on its ear. We can step in and plug that gap by providing a more bespoke service.”
What kind of results do you get?
“In 2023 in the North West, between us we placed £3.5m of premium,” says Anthony. “I think we can all be pretty proud of that.”
“I also think our retention rates say a lot,” says Steve. “People come on board and they stay – and that’s what we want. Our job is about relationships, not getting empty volume through the door. We want clients to stay with us for the long haul, and we spend time getting to know them, their needs, risks and challenges.”
What challenges do North West businesses face?
“Times are tough for businesses everywhere, and that makes insurance more important than ever. People need that back-up – but they’ve sometimes been burned before,” says David.
“If they’ve had a policy over-sold, or not respond in a crisis because the cover wasn’t right, they can be pretty sceptical about the value of it,” says Anthony. “We make sure we get to know each business, explain what they need, and are completely transparent about cost, cover and quality. Often we’ll spot things they hadn’t thought about.”
“Cyber cover is one of them,” Rachael points out, “and that’s likely to be a challenge for lots of businesses over the coming months.”
What makes your Hub so successful?
“I think the way we communicate and the way we collaborate is very special. It’s the best team I’ve ever been part of,” says Steve.
Graham adds: “I think it works so well because we’re quite typical northerners. We’re straight talkers, hard workers, and we’ve got strong ethics. And that’s very much reflected in our clients. People it the North West are grafters, and they appreciate honesty and commitment. Lots of North West businesses will know their accountant by first name, and their solicitor, and even their postie, but they won’t know their broker. We want to change that.”
What are the Hub’s goals for the future?
“There’s a lot of innovation and development going on in the North West,” says Steve, “and that’s something we’re looking to support.”
“Life sciences and technology are a huge growth area,” says Graham. “We already have relationships with several science parks, and we’re developing an North West strategy for science and technology.”
“One of my focuses is the cycling industry,” says Rachael. “There’s great countryside in the North West that’s popular with mountain bikers, as well as amazing city mobility schemes, and all the businesses that grow up around them.”
“The North West is an exciting place to be,” says Anthony. “Despite the cost of living crisis, businesses and communities are thriving, and we’re here plugging into them and helping them put in place the safety nets they need to keep on growing with confidence.”
2. Konsileo’s North West Hub supports local business growth
Independent broker Konsileo is helping hundreds of North West businesses find better insurance back-up.
The commercial broker has a local Hub with 8 client directors working with business clients from Liverpool to Lancashire, Manchester to Merseyside. They recently won a Konsileo award as the best performing hub in the company, having placed over £3m of premium in 2023.
Steve Marrs is a Konsileo Client Director based in Manchester. He explains: “What businesses get when they come to us is not only a bespoke, personal service, plus access to the expertise of an incredibly experienced team with a wide breadth of specialist knowledge.”
Rachael Burndred, from Stoke-on-Trent, adds: “When it comes to insurance one size doesn’t fit all. We take the time to get to know businesses and carry out a thorough review of insurances and business needs – and we’ll go above and beyond to find the right cover at the right price.”
“We’re straight talkers, hard workers, and we’ve got strong ethics,” adds Wirral-based Graham Walker. “And that’s very much reflected in our clients. People it the North West are grafters, and they appreciate honesty and commitment. Lots of North West businesses will know their accountant by first name, and their solicitor, and even their postie – but they won’t always know their broker’s name. We want to change that.”
Konsileo work with hundreds of businesses, ranging from large life sciences companies to individual tradespeople, working across construction, hospitality, property, motor and fleet, marine, recycling, science and technology and manufacturing.
“There’s a lot of innovation and development going on in the North West,” says Steve, “and that’s something we’re looking to support. We’re also looking to support businesses for the long haul. What we do is all about building relationships, not getting empty volume through the door. People come on board with Konsileo and they stay with us because they trust us to get the job done, and we get it done right.”
Tyres4uWirrall is one of the businesses working with Konsileo. Tyres4uWirrall’s Debbie Mearns said: “My personal experience with insurance is that I don’t like doing it over the phone. I don’t like talking to someone I can’t see and who doesn’t see me as an individual or care about our business beyond taking our premium. I don’t want to be sold to – I want to be understood and I want to feel confident I’m getting the right cover.
“Graham is just a great guy. He definitely sees us – and he really knows our business. He’s got that holistic view, and that for me is priceless. He’s also very knowledgeable and very approachable – I honestly can’t rate him highly enough.”
