At Kingsbridge Wholesale, we know that building relationships is a crucial part of success. That’s why events like Broker Expo are so important — they provide insurance brokers with a chance to network and discover the upcoming trends or emerging patterns affecting the market.
We recently attended Broker Expo 2023 the largest broker-only conference in the United Kingdom— if you saw us at Stand 10, thank you for stopping by! The event featured over 1,200 UK-based insurance brokers, which created incredible opportunities for our team to gain industry insights and form new partnerships, as well as attend CPD-accredited courses, workshops, and presentations.
One of the team who was in attendance at the Expo is Mike Harris, currently the Broker Development Manager at Kingsbridge Wholesale. Mike came to Kingsbridge from a sales executive role at NFU Mutual, rapidly adjusting to the shift from B2C to broker distribution. He gained his CII qualification earlier this year and is a key member of Kingsbridge Wholesale.
We spoke to Mike Harris about our mission at Broker Expo 2023, the trajectory of the Wholesale division, and our exciting new package policy underwritten by Admiral. Read on to learn more.
Our goals for Broker Expo 2023
Broker Expo 2023 was a fantastic success for our team, but we only managed to achieve success because we made sure to establish clear goals beforehand. Here are our four objectives for the Broker Expo:
- We wanted to improve awareness of Kingsbridge Wholesale within the small business insurance space. In order to help more brokers access our market-leading policies, we need to expand our marketing to the industry at large.
- We also want to make sure that those who already know about us know about the strength of our products. Specifically, we wanted to publicise our professional indemnity offerings for micro-SMEs, due to the increasing PI requirements for UK tradesmen.
- Another key goal was to improve the awareness of our new Admiral policy among brokers. Keep reading to learn more about this unique package policy, underwritten by A-rated insurer Admiral.
- Finally, we wanted to learn more about how the Admiral policy fits into the current market, and how it can support brokers. Our Admiral policy applies to a far larger market than our existing products, and we want to know what accessing a broader market might mean for our broker partners.
On top of these four, we wanted to make the most of the Expo as a networking opportunity. We manage to speak with a huge number of insurance brokers, creating useful contacts for the future as well as providing a greater insight into the market. As Mike Harris put it: “The Broker Expo has created a really great opportunity for us to network, and it’s helped us get a better understanding of where we specialise and what the insurance industry is doing as a whole.”
Working with Admiral
We’ve been listening to our broker partners for the last year to better understand their needs and what they want in a product. Broker Expo 2023 provided a perfect opportunity to demonstrate how we utilised all that feedback: the creation of our new Combined Liability Scheme, underwritten by Admiral.
The Combined Liability Scheme is an industry-leading product, providing excellent cover to small businesses with a turnover of up to £1 million and up to 10 employees. It includes nil excess on tools insurance, as well as 24-hour coverage for tools both in vehicles and at home. Additionally, the scheme offers payout just 24 hours after your claim is accepted.
It’s this final feature that Mike Harris really believes is crucial for tradesmen and similar micro-SMEs: “The ability to get back up and running quickly is the cornerstone of these businesses — if they’re not working, they’re not making money. Offering these businesses the chance to get back on track by paying claims quicker, that’s really unique in the industry.”
Another one of the unique aspects of this policy, and something we know is important to brokers, is that it combines multiple kinds of coverage into a single package. The Combined Liabilities Scheme offers Professional Indemnity, Contract Works, Hired in Plant and Owned Plant cover, allowing our partners to offer their clients everything they’re looking for without having to shop around.
These package policies are a crucial part of how we do business at Kingsbridge Wholesale. Keep reading to learn more about our company and the partnerships we form with our brokers.
The Kingsbridge Wholesale story
Following COVID-19, Brexit, and IR35 reform, there was a general downturn in the contractor market — and therefore a downturn in the small business insurance market.
Things changed in early 2022 when Charlie Robinson, our current head of wholesale, noted that there were existing books of clients we could access via broker distribution. Since then Kingsbridge Wholesale has gone from strength to strength. We find that there is a clear gap in the market, and that the Wholesale division’s product satisfies those needs effectively.
But creating the right products is only one aspect of our strategy. We’ve identified four pillars in our company are driving our current success:
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- Quality product development: As we’ve mentioned, combining multiple kinds of cover into a single, simple product has been hugely popular among brokers as it makes the journey of finding the right policy for a client much simpler.
- Tech innovation: We strive to be an innovative, tech-led MGA, so we’re always looking for ways to incorporate new technology into our process. A key addition to this is the unique portal we use as part of our efficient quote-and-buy journey. Using this tool allows us to provide an accurate quote to brokers in just 7 minutes.
- Strong service culture: We try to differentiate ourselves in the marketplace simply by being available to our partners. We always like to work face-to-face whenever possible with brokers, and we have a team of dedicated broker relationship managers within the Wholesale division to help with any issues that may arise.
- A highly skilled and qualified team: Kingsbridge Wholesale is built off 15 years experience within micro-SME and contractor markets. Within the first 2 years of trading, Kingsbridge Wholesale have achieved great success with a modern, agile team that’s willing to innovate instead of sticking with traditional MGA methods.
In the long-term, we want to continue our current upwards trajectory. By combining the key factors above, we’re looking ahead to future successes, where we’ll continue to succeed in the market while still putting our partners first.
As Mike Harris puts it: “We’re focusing on continual product development so we can continue to grow alongside our broker partners. We’re looking to be a dependable, go-to partner that brokers can come to when they need a problem solved.”
Building better partnerships
Broker Expo 2023 was an incredible opportunity for us to learn more about the modern insurance landscape, as well as get the news of our new Combined Liabilities Scheme (and how it can help micro-SMEs) out to brokers.
However, the most important opportunity that Broker Expo 2023 provided was the chance to get more time face-to-face speaking with our partners in the UK broker market. Above all, we at Kingsbridge Wholesale want to encourage effective and mutually beneficial partnerships with the brokers we work with. So any opportunity to communicate with those brokers and hear their feedback is always welcome.
If you’re looking for an MGA to work with, consider Kingsbridge Wholesale. We can offer a wholesale solution unlike any other:
- Cover for over 1,000 job roles.
- A simple and effective quote and buy portal.
- Dedicated, round-the-clock support.
- Unrivalled premiums.
- Innovative online referral hub.
Whatever your clients need, you can ensure total coverage by working with Kingsbridge Wholesale. Get comprehensive policies and market-leading prices all in one place, complete with a highly-dependable after-sales service team. Click here to get a quote for our schemes or contact the team today.
