Aston Charles’ Management Training Course Declared A Roaring Success

Last month, we conducted our first foray in to delivering Management Training through our partnership with Knipe Development Ltd.   Joined by a number of insurance professionals from several brokers across the UK, three of Aston Charles’ Consultants spent two enjoyable days in a highly interactive management masterclass.

The training course, entitled ‘Management Essentials’ was run by Knipe Development’s MD, Paul Knipe who has previously delivered training courses to Blue-Chip firms such as BSkyB and Jaguar Land Rover.  Prior to setting up his own firm, Paul worked for some of the UK’s most prestigious banking and insurance businesses, so was able to tailor his approach to suit the delegates’ background.

Henderson Insurance Broker’s Group Head of Claims, Susan Holmes comments, ‘’What a pleasant and informative way to spend two days. By far the most useful training course I have attended and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking to develop/ improve their management and leadership skills.”

Graham Barr, also of Henderson Insurance Brokers Ltd, clearly agrees, “The course was immensely enjoyable, it has provided me with the tools and knowledge base to improve within my role and to help develop those with whom I work.  I would highly recommend the course to anyone with management responsibilities who is looking to develop within their current role”.

Anders McLocklan, Head of Office for The Insurance Partnership (Midlands) comments, “This was a varied, interesting and thoroughly enjoyable training course.  Over the two days, I learned lots of new and insightful management techniques that will no doubt prove useful when developing my team.  I would wholeheartedly encourage anyone considering investing in training courses to get in touch with the Team at Aston Charles.”

Aston Charles’ MD, James Heald, concludes, “As regular readers of our blog will know, we have long since stated our commitment to differentiating ourselves from competing recruitment agencies by developing a series of value-added propositions.  These include employing our own in-house Business Consultant to assist clients with their M&A campaigns and now, running a range of bespoke training courses Financial Services and General Insurance industries.”

After receiving such positive feedback, Aston Charles is planning to run a new schedule of training courses.  Courses likely to be included are a repeat of ‘Management Essentials’ for those who missed out last time, and a bespoke version of the ever-popular ‘Successful Sales Training’ course, which will be geared towards those individuals working in the Financial Services and General Insurance sectors.

Generous discounts are available to those registering an early interest or making multiple bookings. To find out more, please contact James Heald on 0845 8388 664.

Aston Charles continues its impressive run of ‘firsts’ with its inaugural appearance in today’s edition of  Insurance Times, widely recognised as the industry’s leading weekly news publication.  This features Aston Charles’ Business Consultant, Nigel Law, who shares his experiences of broker acquisitions in the ‘Expert View’ section.  In Nigel’s feature, he gives an historic review of the Mergers and Acquisitions across the UK Insurance industry, as well as highlighting his breadth of experience of personally conducting M & A campaigns. 

Simon La Thangue at Insurance Times comments, ‘Having such a well known Insurance professional as Nigel sharing his thoughts on M & A activity in the UK broking market certainly adds a lot of weight to the debate.  I thank him for his insight and wish Aston Charles every success in this partnership.’

For those who have not yet received their copy of Insurance Times, we have copied the article below…

Mergers and Acquisitions – An Independent View

In the mid 1990′s, UK Insurers recognised the need to compete on a global scale to ensure they were not gobbled up by the major European and World players. This precipitated a flurry of Merger & Acquisition activity to build independent UK Insurers that had the scale to compete internationally. Old names like Commercial Union, Sun Alliance, General Accident and Eagle Star disappeared to be replaced by larger post-merger organisations like Royal and Sun Alliance, CGU (temporarily) and larger versions of Zurich (including Eagle Star) and Norwich Union (including CU and GA).

In parallel, the M & A activity accelerated in the broking market with the emergence of Super Provincials diving headlong into major programmes of consolidation. Putting aside any assessment of the adequacy of returns on capital achieved by the various M & A’s, what has become increasingly apparent (and this is reflected in a broader societal shift against mega corporate bodies) is that there remains a real desire for the retention of strong and truly independent Insurance Brokers. Regrettably, those independent Brokers will increasingly struggle when in competition with the major consolidators whose resources, and returns from Insurers, will give them a serious competitive edge. However, the truly independent Broker still has a place in our society, as long as it can demonstrate a niche, or a significant USP, allied to its long-standing and well earned reputation in its local market place.

Inevitably, some smaller independent Brokers will themselves need to consider moving to the next level through a rapid growth of their existing business, by the acquisition of Brokers who may be looking to sell because they are approaching retirement, or by acquiring teams of people who have perhaps become a little disaffected with life in the larger corporate organisations. For these acquisitive Brokers, there is often a dearth of knowledge on how to implement an Acquisition Strategy, or where to find suitable selling Brokers. Most often, they will try to do their own thing, bereft of the right advice, making the kind of mistakes that will undermine the financial worth of their acquisition, or damage the faith of both their staff and their clients. Those who do seek advice often get it from a bank, a VC, or from someone with their own vested interest. As such, the advice they receive may not be truly independent and may well not fit with their company ethos.

For the Broker who is facing the difficult decision on whether the time is right to sell, there are a number of perplexing quandaries to resolve. Firstly, is now the right time? Secondly, what price can I realistically expect to get for my business? Thirdly, who do I sell to and how will they treat my loyal staff and clients who I have become so close to over the last 30 years?

Aston Charles is delighted to advise that it can now offer completely independent (of corporate and political influence) advice on the Acquisition Process including Prospecting, Deal Making, Due Diligence, Staff Retention and Integration.

Nigel Law has joined as a Business Consultant and he will be drawing on his own experience of over 40 years in the industry, during which time he has held such esteemed positions as MD of Broker Network Insurance Brokers and most recently, Operations Director of J M Glendinning Insurance Brokers. Nigel has been involved in the acquisition of a number of businesses. His advice comes with the admission that, whilst there have been a lot of successes, there have also been some acquisitions, or negotiations, that have been less successful. Drawing on all of his experiences, he believes he is well placed to give mature, balanced and truly independent value adding advice.

Nigel has been retained by a number of Brokers, including well respected family run firms that already have established acquisition programmes in place, regional independents that are looking to make their first purchase, through to Super Provincials with significant finance in place for ‘mega-acquisitions’.

Whether you are looking to buy or sell, regardless of your company’s size, business make-up, or geographical location, with Nigel’s wide range of contacts in the UK broking community, he is confident that he can assist.

For a free of charge, no obligation review of your situation, Nigel can be contacted in confidence on 07774 690436 or by email at nigellaw@astoncharles.co.uk

Invitation to a Management Training Course

At Aston Charles, we appreciate that arranging training courses for small numbers of people can be difficult, and costs can sometimes escalate to thousands of pounds.

Therefore, as a special offer to our valued clients, we are inviting you to a 2 day Management Training course on the 12th and 13th April 2012.

This will be held at Aston Charles’ Head Office at No 2 Wellington Place, Leeds, LS1 4AP.

The course will be run by Knipe Development Ltd, who have provided training to companies including Jaguar Land Rover, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and BSkyB, to name just a few. As such, we expect this to be a fantastic event, and one which we hope will add significant value to your businesses.

This comprehensive 2 day course will cover key leadership subjects including:

• Vital interpersonal skills for becoming a successful, respected manager.
• Tried and tested techniques to get the best out of your team.
• An awareness of your own communication style.
• Motivational techniques.
• Communication skills, that work upwards and downwards through your organization.
• The confidence to give useful feedback and tackle conduct issues.
• The ability to manage your time and delegate with confidence.
• Assertive techniques to deal with conflict and say ‘no’ when required.
• Tools to help you handle stress and conflicting demands on your time.

Please note that we only have 4 places left and are able to offer these to our clients at the incredibly low price of £199 incl. VAT, per delegate. As I am sure you will agree, this represents fantastic value for a course of this content and quality.

The closing date for bookings is 23rd March 2012.  All bookings will be made on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.

We are extremely excited about this event, and very much hope that you will be able to join us.

To book your place, please contact Aston Charles on 0845 8388 664 or email James Heald at jamesheald@astoncharles.co.uk

Whilst writing, if you would be interested in any other specific types of training courses, then please let us know and we will endeavour to arrange one for you.

Kind regards

The Team at Aston Charles.

Aston Charles – Going International!

The Team at Aston Charles extend a hearty ‘Bravo’ to Saraya Fawcett for winning the 2011 annual sales competition, resulting in an all expenses paid trip to Paris.  There was plenty of healthy competition and a fair degree of friendly banter in the run up to New Year’s Eve, with all Consultants remaining in the running come mid-December.  However, it was Saraya, who heads up Aston Charles’ Insurance Claims Desk, who secured the bragging rights and the tickets to the City of Love.

Over Saraya and Boyfriend Leon’s long weekend, they took in all the sights of Paris, including such ‘must do’s’ as dining at the Eiffel Tower, enjoying a boat trip on the River Seine and visiting the Louvre Museum.

Saraya’s Manager, Allan Parker, said, ‘Saraya only joined us in May, and to make such an impact in her first year is a fantastic achievement. It is a real testament to her hard work, dedication and commitment to her job.’

Back in Leeds, Saraya comments, ‘Leon and I had a fantastic time in Paris, and we’d like to thank Allan and all the guys at Aston Charles who have made me feel so welcome upon joining the team and supported me in reaching my goals.’

Alongside an industry leading salary and commission structure, Aston Charles runs a range of monthly and annual sales incentives to reward Consultants for delivering excellent client and candidate service.  We are interested in speaking to experienced recruiters from a range of professional services disciplines including Financial Services, Accountancy and Finance, Legal, HR, IT and Oil & Gas. If you share our open, honest and consultative  approach to professional services recruitment and would like to discuss your career options, please call Managing Director, James Heald, in confidence, on 0845 8388 664.

In our regular discussions with Brokers, we hear that many of you would like to embark on an expansion drive through Broker Acquisitions, but you have been impaired by a lack of time to facilitate the process, a lack of knowledge of the essential ingredients of a successful acquisition strategy or a concern that, having got your fingers burnt in the past, you do not want to make the same mistakes again.

There is no doubt that many larger broking organisations initially faced similar quandaries, but their success is proof that with a well thought out and planned process, Broker Acquisitions can be relatively painless and can add real value to your business.

Often the biggest barrier for you is the loss of your precious time in sourcing and negotiating the right deals for your company, in doing all the necessary preparatory work, and then in ensuring that once you have signed on the dotted line, the process of integration is as painless as possible, particularly in relation to your new people and the merging of cultures – and all of that whilst trying to run your ‘Business As Usual’.

With all of this in mind, we are delighted to advise you that Nigel Law will be joining us from 1^st March and one of his major roles will be to provide consultative support to Brokers who are considering Acquisitions.

Nigel is well known to many of you through his roles as Regional Manager of Norwich Union (North East) and NIG (North West) as well as through his senior broking positions as Managing Director of BNIB (Broker Network Insurance Brokers) and Operations Director of JM Glendinning.

In his role as MD at BNIB, Nigel was involved in the acquisition of a number of businesses and, learning from both successes and those less beneficial ventures, he has an enormous amount of knowledge to share in areas such as-

• Sourcing potential Selling Brokers
• Initial discussions
• Negotiating the right deal
• Due Diligence
• Covenants and Contracts
• Integration (with an emphasis on the key cultural areas)

If you are considering expanding through acquisition and you would like to make use of someone who has lived through the process, Nigel would be happy to meet you to determine whether his services could be of use to you as part of your Acquisition Strategy.

Thinking of Selling Your Business?

For every potential buyer there must be a willing seller and you may be thinking that now is the right time to capitalise on all of the hard work that you have put into building your business.

You may also be concerned about protecting the interests of your loyal employees after you have sold.

If you feel that the time may be right to sell, but you are not sure how to start the ball rolling or you simply want someone to guide you through the process, Nigel would be happy to talk to you.

For a confidential, exploratory discussion, please call Aston Charles on 0845 8388 664 or call Nigel directly on 07774 690436.

Sharing a Voice to Protect our Communities

Saturday 24^th March 2012

9:30am -4pm, Richard Rose Academy, Carlisle.

Come and join us for another interactive conference on the issues affecting communities that flood.

We will progress discussions on Insurance and the Water Act, helping YOU to understand the implications for your village, town or district.

This year you will have to opportunity to choose 3 out of our 4 break out sessions and we will again have a panel discussion including local MP’s.

Land Management for Flood Protection. Alastair Starling and John Malley, The National Trust

The National Trust’s thirst for catchment scale environmental ambition through water.

All National Trust properties are experiencing the impacts of a changing climate.  A fifth of the NT land holding is in the Lake District – a quarter of the National Park.  To ensure the sustainability of our operations we must adopt and adapt to new and sustainable approaches to flood-risk management.

 Lead Local Flood Authorities their role and how they fit into the new flood risk management landscape Iwan Lawton Cumbria County Council

Iwan is an Environment Agency secondee to Cumbria County Council. He will provide an overview and review of the new requirements of the Water Act and how that might translate to actions on the ground. Particularly looking at the likely interactions with the existing flood risk management authorities, and how that relates to affected communities.

Community Funding for Successful Flood Groups.  Cockermouth FAG and Morpeth FAG

We again bring together some of the more established flood action groups to share their experiences around raising funds, including the new Payment for Outcomes system, raising profile and getting resident groups together to build an active and successful flood group for your community.

Community Agreement/Template for Action for Flooded Communities. Damien Morris, Impact Housing and Kirstine Riding, CVS Cumbria

A working group to look at the links between communities and the organisations that support them  following a flood event.  We hope the break out sessions will help develop this document to an established draft. Copies of the initial draft will be available to delegates before the event.

For more information or to book your place: 

http://northernfloodconf2012.eventbrite.com

Or contact: Emily Thompson, Emily@livingcontinuity.co.uk  Mobile 0797 1877 424

Northern Flood Conference, C/O Keswick Flood Recovery Group, 50 Main Street, Keswick, Cumbria, CA12 5JS

This event is free to members of Flood Actions Groups, and only £20 per delegate for all other parties.

 Many thanks to our sponsors including Keswick Flood Action Group, the Environment Agency and Derwent and Solway Housing Agency.

Insurance Leaders’ Predictions for 2012

We asked a number of our clients, contacts and friends in the insurance industry to make some predictions for 2012.  Below (in the order that we received them) is the first tranche of responses.  We’re hoping to release another blog in the coming days with more predictions, so if you would like to contribute to this, or future blogs, please contact info@astoncharles.co.uk

Julian Hale, Director – Hale Kavanagh Insurance Brokers Ltd – www.hkib.co.uk

I will avoid the obvious and say that NIG will have new owners within the next 12mths. I think there has been a top level decision to fatten GWP whilst keeping gross profit lean. This will therefore become an excellent opportunity for any new suitor in future, but not in the next 12mths.

There are too many major UK insurers with growth agenda to expect a hard market in Insurance over the next 12mths. I think the market has to ‘thin-out’ before we see a true, hard market [umph!]

The UK residential property market will continue to be challenging for anyone wishing to regain previous lost value (I’m calling the bottom of the residential property market in qtr 2 2014).

2012 will see another full 12mths of BoE interest rates been at 0.5%

The troubles in the Euro Zone will continue well into the summer 2012 when I think the politicians will concede to the fact that the currency cannot continue with the existing mix of members and 2012 will see the first steps of a break up of the Euro Zone, with the stronger economies (Germany, Scandanavian members etc) splitting from the weaker (Southern European) members and 2 separate currencies emerging.

The Americans will still be laughing at Ricky Gervais in 2012 even though he stopped being funny after ‘The Office’.

Merry Christmas & a happy new year!

Jim Rainford, Business Development Executive – CBG Group www.cbg-group.co.uk

I think for me the key thing for 2012 is keeping your fleet up and running. It is a major necessity for many businesses. In some cases, depending on the industry your company is involved in, your vehicles may be your livelihood, and without them business would grind to a halt. With the economy still riding on a rollercoaster, if there was ever an important time to get things right financially, it’s now!

Nigel Law, Operations Director – JM Glendinning Insurance Brokers – www.jmgib.co.uk

Glendinnings have had a wonderful 2011 with double digit growth which is underpinned by high client loyalty. We look forward to more success in 2012 which sees us celebrate 40 years since John and Joan Glendinning set the business up from their home in Otley.

Martin Bellamy, Chairman – Walmsleys Commercial – www.wcib.co.uk

2012 – Onwards and Upwards!

Amidst all the doom and gloom that lies ahead in 2012 we can all be sure that life as a Commercial Insurance Broker won’t get any easier; our clients will be under pressure to make savings; their turnovers and sales will be down; and they’ll be contacted by at least half a dozen other brokers making wild promises of massive savings to be made this year. So what are we planning to do at WCIB? Simple, really; we’ll keep on being ahead of the competition; giving first class customer service and maintaining our client relationships at all levels.

As brokers, we believe we have a lot to offer: we’ve got Chartered Status, we fervently believe in our independence whilst at the same time benefiting for our membership of Brokerbility and we empower our professional staff to look after our clients as they want to be looked after. Add in our excellent relationship with our insurer partners and the development of our automotive niche and we see 2012 as a great opportunity to push on with project Walmsleys Commercial!

Now all we need to do is persuade insurers to stop navel gazing , to see the current economic climate as an opportunity not just a threat and to be a bit more honest in their settlement of claims and we’ve cracked it…

I won’t be holding my breath though. We seem to be seeing a trend at the moment for claims handlers to look for ways of reducing claims payments in a way which certainly doesn’t fit with the FSA’s TCF culture. I’m not sure how we overcome this at a time when competition is so fierce and capacity abounds in the commercial market, holding pricing down whilst claims inflation increases all the time. I am sure, though, that it is unfair for genuine claims not to be paid in full and it does our sector no good to be seen as representing an industry which is happy to take premiums but unwilling to settle claims.

For me, it just shows the value of a good broker – how businesses who insure direct with an insurer achieve a fair settlement is anybody’s guess!

Caspar Barrington, Relationship Manager (Education) – Chartered Insurance Institute www.discoverrisk.co.uk

The CII in 2012 celebrates the centenary of its Royal Charter. While we will be looking back over the last 100 years and looking forward to the next 100, we will continue to support our members during these challenging economic times.

We will also continue to make our profession an attractive one for young people, through delivering our Discover Risk and Discover Fortunes events in schools, colleges and universities. If you’re interested in giving something back, or looking at your future employees, get in touch and email discover@cii.co.uk

 
Bob Stephenson, Business Development Manager – Hine Insurance Brokers – www.hine.co.uk

Despite the credit crunch, the problems with the Euro, the Japanese/New Zealand/Natural Disasters, UK General Insurance has not moved back to a hard market situation (at least in the Commercial Insurance sector).

It is not likely too in the next few years either as there would appear to be a lot of capacity available and if the weather is good this Winter then this will only assist the continuation of the softness.  The insurance industry is still well capitalised and in most cases showing reasonable profits.

However insurers Margins are beginning to feel the pinch because of the commissions that have been paid to the likes of the Networks and inflationary pressures and claim settlements are not helping.

Only insurers can cause a market change but Aviva’s attempts a few years ago did not work because other insurers did not assist for the benefit of all.

On the Personal side of the coin dual pricing does not help Brokers.   Existing customers are not helping this environment and are forced to assist the soft market scenario by constantly trying to get cheaper and cheaper quotations.  Insurers should look closely at this issue and provide an answer that protects their book of business as well as the brokers.

The broker sector appreciates regulation to ward off the ‘bad boys’ but lets hope the new regulators, know exactly what is required, but here at Hine it is expected we will get a regulatory visit in the early part of 2012.

Unfortunately we will not be seeing a return to the hard market days in the foreseeable future, but at Hine we have established systems and procedures to withstand what we are to be subsequently faced with.

However, as a reward for their hard work, the team decamped en masse to Go Ape in Nottingham, one of Britain’s leading outdoor adventure companies. To the uninitiated, Go Ape is best described as a ‘Tree Top Adventure’, encompassing numerous zip wires, Tarzan swings and rope bridges, and unfortunately for the team on this occasion, some pretty unseasonal weather!

A key highlight for all but one of the team was Aston Charles’ very own Maid Marian, Saraya Fawcett, who when zip lining between trees, collided with the docking station and shot half way back up the wire. This resulted in Saraya being stranded 30 feet above the ground between trees in the pouring rain, much to her colleagues’ amusement (sorry Saraya!)

Director and self proclaimed ‘Friar Tuck for the day’, Richard Jones comments, “All the party found Go Ape to be a highly enjoyable team building exercise and a great way to get to know each other’s strengths away from the confines of the office’.

Go Ape has a number of activity centres across the country and for more information, please visit www.goape.co.uk

We are delighted to announce that, with effect from July 2011, Richard Jones has become  a Director of Aston Charles Ltd. Since joining the company two and half years ago, Richard has done an outstanding job of recruiting into the general insurance broking market throughout Yorkshire and the North West. Aston Charles’ Managing Director, James Heald comments, “Richard is one of the most passionate recruiters I have ever met and has gone above and beyond the call of duty to help grow our business and produce some excellent results during particularly challenging trading conditions. I am truly delighted for Richard and there is no one more deserving of this promotion than him.” Richard will continue with his fee earning duties, with additional operational responsibility for our new, specialist Financial Services team. Congratulations Richard!