102: How Small Brokerages Can Survive and Prosper with Alistair Body

How can small brokers navigate the various and insistent industry pressures that have emerged in recent years? Is it possible to sustain a client-first bottom line whilst also incorporating new digital data processing practices and becoming increasingly reliant on remote customer interactions? In this episode of the Insurance Broker Podcast, we’re very pleased to be speaking with Alistair Body, Business Development Director at Momentum Broker Solutions. In conversation with Boston Tullis’ Sarah Myerscough, he discusses the numerous pressures facing small and independent brokerages, including consolidation, the shift to digitalisation, and regulatory red tape. He emphasises the importance of retaining focus on the primary goal of effectively advising clients, and explains how firms like Momentum can help to support brokerages struggling to remain afloat amidst all these aforementioned challenges.   Quote of the Episode “The insurance industry has always been a people business. So, let's try and free up more time for [brokers] to do just that. The momentum proposition is about effectively creating an infrastructure in an environment where you've someone's got your back, whether it be your client’s money, their insurer relationships credit control, marketing, and so on. And just taking all that away from you. And just going back to the bare basics of letting you do what you do [best]: looking after your clients.” Given the rapidity of change in the industry in recent years, it’s become easy to lose sight of our primary aim as brokers: to advise and support our clients through genuine interactions. While this has been complicated due to the shift to remote conversations as a result of the pandemic, these interactions remain our raison d’être. Thus, the opportunity for small brokerages to consign some of the challenging behind-the-scenes processes that enable fruitful client relationships to supportive businesses like Momentum is certainly worth considering.   Key Takeaways Beyond the broader everyday challenges that have accompanied the past few years, this period has also brought considerable changes to how brokers conduct their business. This whirlwind of rapid change includes vast market consolidation, the increasingly urgent importance of carbon emissions reduction, and additional regulatory constraints. These, alongside the fundamental service challenges wrought by the shift to digitalisation and the emergence of new, highly efficient data processing software, have placed enormous pressure on small, independent brokerages. What is the solution to this, other than selling up and getting out of the industry altogether? Alistair suggests that, first and foremost, we must return to the basics, and remember what our primary function as brokers is: to look after clients. Yet, our increasing industry reliance on data arguably conflicts with the desire to be a people-centred business. Is it possible to work in accordance with the data, whilst also fulfilling the needs of clients on an individualised, personal level? For Alistair, there is always a need to drive towards greater efficiency, in insurance and every industry. However, not all clients fit in the boxes that data-processing software may create. We must therefore remain flexible and versatile, finding ways to write risks that may not necessarily be ideal. Another key issue is the ever-expanding red tape of compliance. Regulatory demands are often one-size-fits-all, and fail to account for the specific needs of small or niche brokerages. This is where firms like Momentum can lend a hand. Momentum specialises in supporting small and independent brokers to persevere through issues surrounding compliance, and the various other industry pressures that have emerged in the past few years, including the mounting necessity of carbon emissions reduction, profound economic turbulence, and changes in client behaviour. Momentum will be at stand G20 at this year’s BIBA conferen