Has the New Year convinced you that it’s time for a new start?  Is your insurance sales career on a plateau and is it time for you to back yourself to succeed in your own brokerage? Or do you need to find a survival strategy for your existing brokerage or find an appointed representative network home that is more in keeping with you and your values?

These are all key questions at this time of year, so the Gauntlet Appointed Representative Network has created some resolutions.  These are strategies that you could adopt, if you want to come to the right decision for you and your future.  If you are considering life as an insurance appointed representative, they all raise key points.

Market planning

• Join an appointed representative network that is already thinking ahead, focusing on the hard market, rather than simply reacting to the soft. Our planning is 13 months ahead and we have already put strategies in place that will enable our appointed representatives to have the support they need when the hard market comes around again.  Can other AR networks say the same?

An AR network to trust

• Choose an AR network that you can trust. Here at the Gauntlet AR Network, we are totally transparent about our commission earnings and we split the actual commission we earn from insurers, rather than keeping some aside before we tell ARs what is available.  Unlike other networks, we allow direct contact between insurers and our ARs, as we have nothing to hide.

Fostering growth

• Elect to join an AR network that cares about your appointed representative brokerage and its growth, rather than simply trying to sign you up to satisfy a quota for an overseas parent company. Gauntlet Group is a privately owned, UK business that fosters the growth and prosperity of its appointed representatives in many ways.  We share the journey all the way.

Assistance with sales and cross-selling

• Become an AR of a network that will assist you with your sales and cross-selling. With our in-house direct sales team to mentor you, and our data-driven cross-selling insight to fuel your sales efforts, we can catapult you towards optimal sales campaigns.

Good service levels

• Don’t join a network that will let your clients down through slow, poor service. If your enquiry is stuck in a ticketing system, you may not be able to react in the timescale that a customer expects and may become frustrated on a daily basis.  We do not have such a ticketing system at Gauntlet because we know it is not in the broker or client’s interest.

Supporting ambitious brokers

• Choose a network that is not afraid to work with ambitious brokers. We have always embraced technical and complex risks and also understand the needs of second-time-around brokers, who have different requirements from start-up brokers.  That’s why we have AR pathways for existing teams of individuals wanting to form an AR business together and for brokers who have already run their own brokerage, sold it, and are now ready to start up again.

An appointed representative network with an exit strategy

• Think ahead and join an AR network that has a built-in exit strategy. That’s what you get when you join Gauntlet, which can offer to buy your insurance book, when you are ready, in whole or in stages, to suit whatever plans for retirement you have.

An appointed representative network assisting directly authorised brokers

• And, if you are struggling as a directly authorised broker, resolve to do something about it. Take a good look at our Gauntlet De-authorisation Fast-track option and seriously consider switching your status to appointed representative, to leverage lots of benefit and find shelter in the storm that the soft market has brought for smaller broking businesses.

Summary

Due diligence is a key part of becoming your own broking boss and choosing the right appointed representative network is vital.  Ask questions, understand that the AR model has to be adequately funded in order to function compliantly and efficiently and query anything that seems too good to be true.  Your long-term future and finances are at stake and you need to make the right choice.

To talk to us about how we operate our appointed representative network and how we foster our appointed representatives prosperity, email NigelLaw@GauntletGroup.com

Photo by Brooke Cagle  on Unsplash