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Managing director Jon Stack tells Insurance Business how Action Insurance Brokers has achieved 25 years of success
With an unapologetic focus on SME clients, Action Insurance Brokers has successfully carved out a niche providing industry-wide services for general insurance and risk management. This year marks the firm’s 25th anniversary, so it seems an appropriate time to reflect on the achievements of the past while looking towards the future.
“Encouraging a culture where the focus is always on the client is critical to success,” says Jon Stack, managing director of Action Insurance Brokers. “We are seeing a return to clients seeking personal, face-to-face service, and we’ve always prided ourselves on the standard of service we provide.”
Over the course of a quarter of a century, Action has seen plenty of growth and change. The company has expanded into the mid-market and corporate sector, and has developed numerous schemes with specialities in entertainment and events, construction, service stations, the security industry, fire protection, tyre fitters, and a number of others.
Still, the core values that drove the organisation at its inception continue to propel the wider business. A glance at Action’s corporate structure reveals an inversion of traditional expectations: Clients sit at the top, then frontline team members and support team members. Management is at the bottom, providing support to the other layers.
“We have many ‘golden rules’ that form the foundation of the way we operate,” Stack says. “It’s important to have rules that the whole team buys into, and as such, it is our team who have devised, designed and built our rules – not management.”
Stack firmly believes that this culture of managing from the bottom up has been a key component of Action’s success. The brokerage’s placement on Insurance Business’ 2018 Top 10 Brokerages list suggests that he’s correct. It’s an approach that Stack feels could be leveraged to improve the overall recruitment process in the insurance industry, where, he notes, the benefits of working in the field are not always effectively advertised.
“Brokers, underwriting agencies and insurers alike are all battling with the need to keep quality team members,” he says. “We could learn a lot from other industries, particularly accounting, about how to attract and retain quality people.”
In the long term, staff retention is likely to present a variety of challenges not just for Action, but for the industry as a whole. Compared to 30 years ago, the average account manager handles two to three times as many clients and policies, and that requires both a natural talent and a deep understanding of procedure.
“There’s a reduction in technical knowledge throughout the entire industry,” Stack says. “We see a significant increase in the number of claims either disputed by or incorrectly handled by insurance companies. That means we have to be on our game constantly to help insurers understand how to meet their obligations under the contract of insurance.”
Technology can certainly provide some aid on this front. While Stack remains sceptical about the idea of ‘robo advice’ replacing face-to-face interaction, he’s still effusive about the benefits of technology in both the present and future of the industry.
“Technology is a key aspect of the future operation of modern broking firms,” he says. “Comparative quoting platforms certainly save a lot of time and energy – systems such as Steadfast’s SVU/SCTP platform serve an enormous benefit to our business.”
Looking ahead, Stack feels there are numerous positive developments on the horizon. Action is constantly researching and testing new products and schemes and has numerous projects in the pipeline. But even with 25 years of experience to build on, there’s still work to be done and innovations to be pioneered.
“I believe part of our success is that we never sit still and accept the status quo,” Stack says. “We always look for improvement. We have a saying – if you don’t like change, then you’re in the wrong business.”
