Hey, don’t blame us!

By Jeremy Clayton

As some of you readers will know, the General Broking side of JWS has grown and gone from strength to strength, supporting the long established and well-respected Healthcare side of the business. Our success has been on the back of introducing new and innovative products, expecting quality service from insurers and providing a first-class service to all our customers. I like to think we have worked hard to achieve this, and our growth has been on the back of these USP’s.

Inevitably, with the growth of our business, it often results in the loss of clients for our competitors, whether they are brokers or insurance companies. I have been brought up in a competitive business arena and this is par for the course. One must react to these losses and, if you don´t, you cannot blame anyone else.

We manage insurances in a specific way

At JWS our ethics are unquestionable and that is why we have been so successful. We manage insurances in a specific way; instead of having an Industrial All Risks policy AND a separate All Risks policy, we have just one. We avoid duplication, we consolidate covers and do away with ones that are unnecessary, and we negotiate hard for our clients. We DO NOT ask for or demand ‘cut throat’ rates, we get competitive tenders from our Partners and secure business on the back of these quotations, Indeed, in Tanzania, there are very strict minimum rates and we fully comply with them. We also ensure that all premiums are collected and remitted to insurers in good time and they seem to like this, so perhaps that is why they support us!

Interestingly, we have recently been accused of ‘under-cutting’ the market and I suggest that ‘people in glass houses, should not throw stones`! The other day we were asked to quote on a medium sized Fleet comprising of mostly cars. So, as set by the Regulator, we quoted the standard rate of 3.50% hoping that we were in with a chance. It was somewhat of a surprise that the business went to another Insurer and Broker, both well known names, and the quote was 3.10% and that included PV&T, Excess Protector, Loss of Use and, we believe, Breakdown cover! Well done on the Insurer and Broker for securing the client, but how sustainable are those rates. Did we go off and ‘bleat’ to the Regulator…of course not, it is not our business and we try to keep ourselves to ourselves.

My first experience of this was when I first arrived. We took a large Hotel from a competitor at the EXACT same Fire rate that had been charged for many years and was actually a listed rate. We were able to achieve considerable savings for the client by consolidating the covers under one of our packaged policies. The client was happy, we were happy, but the Broker who lost the business, reported us for undercutting the Fire rate, that they had been using for the past 10 years!! Ironic, but true!

Please be assured that we do everything by the book. We have excellent policies, we give first class service and we look after our clients´ insurance needs.