2023 marks the accomplishment of an enviable feat by Ken Dixon (pictured above). The director of Dixon Insurance Services, a brokerage headquartered in Brisbane, has now made it onto the Insurance Business Elite Brokers list for 10 consecutive years.
“It's always an honour to rank in these awards,” said Dixon, who has more than three decades of industry experience. “Ten years for me is very important [because] insurers and clients can actually see the level that we operate at.”
The annual ranking of insurance brokers is based on figures including number of policies written, revenue and new clients. In 2023 Dixon was very near the top of the list, which includes 24 other brokers.
During an interview with Insurance Business TV, Dixon gave a lot of credit to his staff for this rolling sequence of back-to-back Elite Broker victories. He also emphasised the importance of staff empowerment and educating clients.
“It goes back to client service,” said Dixon. “It sounds like a cliché, it's not but as brokers, we're always talking about servicing our clients.”
He said providing service and growing the book of business is what leads to success.
Dixon’s firm recently opened a new office in Brisbane and now runs three branches covering southern Queensland and northern NSW with a focus on transport, manufacturing, motor trade, engineering and large farm clients. He said the new office provides better access to his brokerage’s corporate and manufacturing clients.
The Elite Broker award winner said the hard market is one of the insurance challenges in 2023.
“As other brokers will attest to, it is a challenge,” said Dixon. “You've got rising premiums off the back of COVID and financial global situations.”
He said the increasing cost of premiums is difficult for his clients.
“But at the end of the day, we have to manage that and educate our clients on what's best for them,” he said.
Dixon’s firm is also marking 10 years for another reason. Dixon Insurance Services was founded in 2013. From the beginning, said the brokerage director, staff empowerment has always played an important role.
“Staff empowerment is about giving the staff the opportunity, the autonomy, the authority to do what's right for the client,” he said.
Dixon said apart from training staff he also focuses on developing the new recruits’ relationships with clients.
“It gives them an ownership and responsibility to develop that relationship,” he said. “So empowerment for me is allowing them to feel like they're part of something more than just them.”
Dixon said his staff have the authority “to act as they see fit.”
Dixon also said he is “absolutely” an advocate for educating clients.
“Education is a big piece with the clients I've got,” he said. “Risk management obviously looking at how they save premium and how they manage their risk.”
He said he sometimes feels that their client education process involves being “sometimes too transparent.” However, Dixon said this allows their clients to understand their risks.
“It allows them to work with the insurers, the surveyors, to minimize their risk and hopefully minimize their premium,” he said.
Dixon invests significantly in charities, often those related to his personal hobby of motorsport. For example, he’s participated in and sponsored the Thunderbolt Run, which supports the Beyond Blue and Prostate Cancer charities. Dixon has also helped organise the Track Knights for Amira charity night involving about 30 exotic supercars.
“To be able to give back to the community is rewarding and fulfilling,” he said. “I am honoured to be in a position where I can raise funds for those less fortunate and in need.”
Dixon’s ranking as an Elite Broker places him in the company of 26 other brokers. About one quarter of the brokers on the list also won a place in 2022. More than 20% of the 2023 elite brokers have 25-plus years of industry experience. About 10% have less than five years in the industry.
To find out more about IB’s Elite Brokers for 2023 and the selection methodology, click here
To watch IB’s interview with Ken Dixon, click here
