For Kay Jackson (pictured), director of Simplex Insurance in Victoria, the white noise surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic has created unnecessary feelings of alarm. She believes people just need to stick to the facts.
“Don’t panic!” she said. “Listen to the government advice and not all the noise and opinions that are out there. Make sure you are making decisions based on the facts.”
Jackson started out in the insurance industry in 1986 in the mail room of an insurance company. She was later offered broking work in 1997, which she accepted and, despite the challenge, has never looked back.
“At first I was daunted,” Jackson admitted. “I felt I knew everything (and I did for that insurer). To start with, it was hard getting to know which insurers had the best product and pricing for a client.”
But soon after, she says, she loved the work and “really enjoyed” getting to know clients and their needs to ensure they had the right cover in place, the need for which has only been exacerbated since the pandemic took its grip on businesses.
“It’s been difficult explaining to clients why they still need insurance even if their business was not operating,” Jackson said.
“For example, if a café is closed and a client calls to cancel insurance, I need to explain that cover is still needed. Usually under a lease it specifies that glass, building and liability needs to be in force and that they even need to keep the cover for their contents.”
Jackson added that she has had to explain to clients amid the pandemic that if their property is vacant, there is a higher risk of break and enter, or malicious damage. Then, she says, she needs to help them come up with a solution they can afford.
Another challenge on the horizon for Jackson and her business will be contacting the growing list of clients when the embargo is lifted for rent default options under commercial and domestic landlord policies.
“Clients are going to want cover for pandemics, but underwriters will be pulling back on the limited coverage that was there prior to this pandemic. Meeting client expectations for coverage in the new post pandemic world will also be a challenge,” she said.
But insurers also need assistance amid this ‘new normal’. Jackson says business sustainability in the insurance sector is under threat because profits and revenue are dropping.
“A threat for us is to make sure the insurers survive, so we do not have reduced capacity in our markets, that the premium stays affordable and that clients are able to get the cover they need,” she explained.
“I am concerned as to the endorsements now coming through on policies such as communicable diseases in liability policies, which puts a blanket on all diseases not just a pandemic.”
For Jackson herself, her future has been sealed by the hard work she has put in over the course of her career.
“I am pretty much living my career goal,” she said. “I started in a mail room in 1986 and now I am an owner and director of a multi award winning insurance brokerage.”
She added that Simplex Insurance is still experiencing growth, despite the slight slowdown amid the pandemic.
“My goal for Simplex will be to reach our targeted growth over the next 12 months,” she added. “We have certain KPIs for customer service in our office, we have a wonderful team who genuinely care, and we focus a lot of our attention on our claims service.”
This, she says, is where the company feels their clients really need them. If Jackson’s team gets “everything right” when placing risk, then it is “easy” to provide an exceptional claims service.
“Our current NPS for client general satisfaction is 82 and for claims our NPS rating is 83 - which is considered world class service,” she concluded.
