For many insurance brokers, 2020 was a year marked by consideration of the nature, and purpose, of office work. Firms generally enjoyed similar levels of productivity after staff members transitioned to working from home, and videoconferencing tools made meetings relatively easy to conduct.
During this time, the family-owned brokerage Omnisure took the opportunity to move its offices from North Sydney to Grosvenor Place in the city’s CBD. According to Schalk Van Der Merwe (pictured), Omnisure’s managing director, the move was motivated by a desire “to be closer to our clients and suppliers.”
“We still feel that insurance is very much a relationship-based business that works best through face-to-face meetings,” Van Der Merwe told Insurance Business.
“The amount of referrals and meeting requests that we’ve received since moving offices towards the end of last year has been overwhelming. Additionally, most of our insurers are over here – Chubb is based in this building, as well as a couple of our accounting partners, and they’ve all been very enthusiastic about meeting up and checking out our new space.”
On the topic of referrals, Van Der Merwe highlighted the expanding number of avenues through which Omnisure is now able to attract new clients.
Read next: Broker reveals his keys to customer service
“Every broker needs to look after their current clients as well as possible to potentially get referrals from them,” he noted.
“While this is a point of emphasis at Omnisure, we’ve also found that structured referral partnerships with accounting firms, commercial property brokers, solicitors and so on are a great source of referrals. For micro and SME clients, meanwhile, having the means to efficiently transact business online is definitely a difference maker.”
Though Omnisure understandably experienced a “downtick in renewals for clients in tourism, hospitality and retail” in 2020, the brokerage’s focus on acquiring new clients in the commercial sector meant that it enjoyed “a really good 2020,” Van Der Merwe said.
“We’ve been a business for almost four decades at this point and have built up experience dealing with companies and their exposures across a wealth of industries,” he said. This experience is sure to help the brokerage weather what is shaping up to be a difficult insurance market.
“We’re going through the same challenges as all other brokers in regard to a hardening premium and claims market,” Van Der Merwe said.
“For us to deliver for our clients, communication remains key. Renewal conversations were relatively straightforward when premium rates were stable – now it’s a bit more of an intensive process, where we’re offering them multiple solutions and side-by-side comparisons to show them what’s actually available in the market.”
This comprehensive approach is one of elements that sets Omnisure apart, according to Van Der Merwe.
“There’s always going to be cheaper options out there, but they won’t give the advice, understanding and expertise that we have here,” he said.
