When it comes to winning awards, Austbrokers Coast to Coast seems to have cracked the secret formula and the firm’s trophy cabinet is bursting at the seams with prestigious industry accolades.
In fact, the business has claimed so many awards that it’s self-styled as the “most awarded insurance brokerage in Australia” – but it hasn’t always been that way.
CEO Dale Hansen is credited with “turning the company on its head” after he made the bold decision to move the brokerage towards a full-advice model.
“Moving to a full advice model was a huge change,” admitted Hansen. “We moved into a sphere of broking that was dominated by internationals and very large independent brokerages.”
In order to execute the strategic overhaul successfully, Hansen and the Austbrokers Coast to Coast team adopted a proactive approach and decided to find out exactly what clients really wanted.
“We reached out to existing and past clients to gain a better perspective on what they were looking for from their insurance broker,” Hansen told Insurance Business.
“We focused on what each staff member was doing, why they were doing it and what skillset each individual had – then we then aligned those skills to our clients’ specific needs.”
Hansen described the process as “long and exhaustive” but said it ultimately led to changes within the team which were necessary to engage with clients in a different and better way.
Now, he says Austbrokers Coast to Coast is more agile and more attuned to the needs of its clients.
“Our staff have more autonomy and are empowered to deal with any situation they find themselves in,” said Hansen. “Team members are encouraged to take extreme ownership of situations and accept total accountability for those decisions. This has delivered new and better service for our clients and built more meaningful relationships with them.”
