Like most people in insurance, Crème Insurance director Mark Mallard’s foray into the industry was not planned – an all-too-common phenomenon that the broker believes can be addressed by promoting the sector better in a bid to attract more people to a field of expertise he has come to love.
“We need to make sure that we are presenting our industry into schools and other places, and giving people options of working in the industry,” Mallard told Insurance Business. “I see a lot of other industries that are very good at doing that.
“[Insurance] – it’s not something that we’ve seen at school and gone, ‘I’m going to do a degree to go and do that in the future’. I just think that we need to do a better job of marketing to schools and younger students to get them interested in our industry and then provide them some of the training.”
A former salesperson, Mallard said he stumbled upon insurance in his mid-20s about two decades ago. Prior to switching to the broking side of the fence, he worked as an underwriter for Star Insurance.
Recalling his beginnings, Mallard shared: “I just fell into it, like everyone else. I got offered a job that paid well, and then found I loved it because it’s really nice helping people when they have problems.
“I enjoy the sales side of it, but then when people have problems and you’re helping them – [like] after they’ve had a residential fire and you put them into a temporary accommodation with their family and doing things like that – it’s a really nice feeling.
“It’s one of the few industries I know where you get that feeling of helping somebody out. It’s a nice restorative cleanse of why you do your job.”
For Mallard, whose 12-year-old brokerage became an NZbrokers member in 2022, these are the industry’s selling points.
“I am proud,” the Crème Insurance boss told Insurance Business. “I do love the industry, and I’d like to see more people have a good-quality job in insurance. I think the only way you do that is by going and doing training early.”
In Mallard’s view, the sector’s success stories should be celebrated to help spread the word.
“If kids are looking from the outside, [they’ll go], ‘Hey, look, there is some really big money to be made in this industry with really good opportunities to help people’. There aren’t many industries where you can get both of those things.
“Usually you have to choose between helping people or getting paid well, whereas in insurance you can get both. That’s what we should be telling people.”
But does one have to be a business owner in the industry to earn the big bucks? ‘No’, according to Mallard.
He said: “I got paid well before I owned my own brokerage, and some of the top executives throughout New Zealand get paid extremely well… There’s more returns for people who own business, but there’s also more risk to lose.
“So, it works both ways, but there’s very well-paid employees in this industry. We try and look after our staff really well, and I do believe that it pays for what we do very well.”
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