Newbie news: New kids on the block

Jamie Smith, directorand founder of Norfolk-based Quote Four reveals the time it took to get the firm up and running and details how he and his colleagues could not have achieved it without a passion for broking. Quote Four was authorised on 4 February 2015

▶ Who is involved in the business?

Me, John Murray-Smith – a company director – and a silent partner. The funding has come from us three as we didn’t want to get involved in any loans. In the office it is me and Helen Lennie who has been in the industry just over 11 years.

▶ What attracted you to being your own boss?

It was about how I get to deal with my customers and how I get to run the business.

Rather than some local brokers to us who are pure commercial lines and offer personal lines as a favour, I’m looking to spin that on its head. I want Quote Four to be personal lines that can offer commercial lines to its existing customers.

Local brokers seem like a dying breed especially in personal lines.

▶ What brought you into insurance?

Every year Adrian Flux do this huge recruitment and I went along as I wanted to look at insurance sales. From there I went on to Sureterm Direct where I learnt more about niche insurance and products and got a bit of underwriting experience as well. It was a whole new world compared to a call centre based job. Before Quote Four I worked for Swinton for four and a half years on personal lines. In total I’ve been in insurance for just over 10 years.

▶ What was the local reaction to you setting up a new broker?

In East Anglia they love having a local broker and someone to talk to face-to-face. They want to know who they are talking to and who is looking after their insurance.

▶ Do you have a national reach?

We are a bricks and clicks broker. We have a local presence and are quoting nationally. We are doing a lot more house than anything else at the moment but it is more niche.

▶ What are your targets for the business?

For the first 12 months we are looking to break even and are already doing that and then grow 10-15% a year. Our main aim is to look after the customer but we also want to protect the insurers. It is not about just throwing anything on to get that bit of commission. We want sustainable business.

▶ How do you market yourself?

We have leaflets distributed locally and we are in the regional paper which covers a wide area of Norfolk. We are on Google and social media such as a Facebook and Twitter. I’m 29 so I’m quite aware that a web strategy is needed.

▶ What was the process with getting Financial Conduct Authority authorisation like?

To complete the application took about nine months and that was three to four hours, two or three days a week while I was still working full time. I’d never been through the FCA process itself so that was quite daunting.

We were told by the FCA that it was going to take six to seven months to go through but when we sent off our folders with how meticulous we were and the relationship we built with our case handler we got ours through in four months.

▶ What about support from insurers?

It has been a bit of a whirlwind. Some of the insurers we use won’t look at brokers until they have been trading for three years. We have still obtained them because of how passionate we are.

With one large insurer it took three and half months and several meetings to get the agency signed off but they finally agreed. We have got some of the biggest names in personal lines who have come in on this.

▶ How did you end up becoming a member of Broker Network?

It was a Google search. I pitched the idea I had to them and arranged a meeting. It was quite flattering that they took time to come to Norfolk to meet with me and John. They have been absolutely fantastic for us and our needs. It is a great support mechanism. We are independent, they don’t get involved in our business, but it is like having a head office.

▶ What advice would you give to anyone considering going out on their own?

I would say anyone who is getting into this has to be passionate and determined. There have been several occasions where we’ve thought ‘this is over our heads and too much’. But the thing that has got us through this, and I can’t preach this enough, is passion. The insurers and customers can see how passionate we are. What I am trying to do is bring old school broking back for the next generation.