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Daniel: Hello and welcome to Insurance Business TV. I'm Danny Wood, news editor of Insurance Business Australia. Today we're celebrating a broker who's made it to the top of our 2023 ranking of elite brokers. This is an objective ranking based on figures like number of policies, written revenue and new clients. 25 brokers around Australia made the list. Ken Dixon, director of Dixon Insurance Services, was one of the best performers. He's done this for ten years in a row. Congratulations, Ken.

Ken: Thank you.

Daniel: So how does it feel to be in this elite ranking again? And why is the award important to you? It's always an honor who are ranking these awards? It shows the consistency that we operate in. Ten years for me is very important. Insurers and clients can actually see this is a level that we operate at. Here I start the form. So yeah, it's an honor.

Daniel: The raw figures are one thing, I suppose, but mean what do you see is a big reason for your success as a broker?

Ken: It goes back to client service. It sounds like a cliche. It's not. But as brokers, we're always talking about servicing our clients. We are a service industry providing the service, growing the book of business. That's what leads to success.

Daniel: You have three offices. You've got a new one. You recently opened in Brisbane. You're in a sort of Brisbane, northern New South Wales orbit. What sort of clients are you focusing on up there?

Ken: It's unchanged from a normal operations, obviously in Brisbane. You've got more of a corporate style of client. It just allows easy access. I relocated to Brisbane. It allows me access to the Northern Rivers where we've got a lot of clientele with a lot of manufacturing in Brisbane and it gives me easy access to my other offices.

Daniel: What sort of insurance challenges are you facing right now?

Ken: The hard market. The hard insurance market, as other brokers will attest to. It is a challenge. You've got rising premiums off the back of COVID financial global situations. It just makes it difficult for a lot of clients to look at the increased premiums. But at the end of the day, we have to manage that and educate our clients on what's best for them.

Daniel: Dixon, your firm is also marking ten years this year, and one of your priorities has always been staff empowerment. But what does that mean exactly?

Ken: That's an element, is about giving the staff the opportunity, the autonomy, the authority to do what's right for the client. And we train them. We develop the relationships. Putting the staff in the car occasionally with me going and seeing clients, it gives them an ownership and responsibility. Develop that relationship. So empowerment for me is allowing them to feel like they're part of something more than just them. They have the authority to act as they see fit.

Daniel: You're also an advocate for educating the clients. What exactly does that involve for you?

Ken: Absolutely. Education is a big piece with the clients I've got. Risk management obviously looking at how they save premium, how they manage their risk. We educate the client. We're very transparent, sometimes too transparent, but it allows them to understand the risk they have as a business, allows them to work with the insurers, the surveyors to minimize their risk and hopefully minimize their premium.

Daniel: Dixon. Congratulations again and thanks very much for your time. Thanks, Danny. And Ken Dixon is director of Dixon Insurance Services and he's one of our elite brokers for 2023. You've been watching Insurance Business TV. Bye for now.