caravan

Now it’s been quite a week for one reason and another. Whenever I write the blog I’m always looking for the gem of an idea, something interesting to write about.

Not so last week, as Aviva hits the headlines. Behind every headline there is a story, the story this time isn’t mine it’s John’s. The only thing I can add to the many, many press interviews John has given is from my heart. And that’s just pure and simply how much I’ll miss him. Relationships like ours are a rare thing in business, and like all wonderful things it had to end sometime. We’re still together for another 6 months and I intend to make the most of it. As for the speculation about me, don’t write me off just yet, I intend to be around for a long time to come.

The quote of the week for me has to be Andy Homer’s impression of Eric Cantona, not having either a dog or a caravan. Maybe I’m missing something, but whatever it means it made me chuckle.

On a more serious note, my biggest worry when change happens is that we get internally focussed, maybe take our eye off the ball and lose focus on what’s really important especially when speculation is rife.

I am so determined that this won’t happen and being with nearly 200 brokers over the last few days was a great opportunity to make sure that all of our focus is on what matters to them.

After I answered all the questions that I genuinely don’t know the answers to, like “Who is the new John?” And after I’d basked (just for a bit I promise, I’m not much of a basker) in the “please let it be you” please’, it was back to business and there was plenty to keep me busy on real business stuff.

The topics were endless….

….the rebrand, the TV advertising, and all the trade, national and regional press we’re doing to support it. Including the new online broker look up facility where business customers can go to find a broker. This site has 5 reasons to use a broker on the home webpage and offers a lead generation tool for brokers.

…. how far we still have to go in our aspiration to be number one for brokers on personal lines, helped by the fact that we start going live with our new broker pricing on software houses next week.

….. Fast trade and our new rates for self employed and the need to constantly focus on competitive pricing.

…..our new flexible trading offers from September, which should help brokers and their clients in what are still tough times (if you’re a broker and your account manager hasn’t told you about them yet give them a call).

……Bonus and how fundamentally important it is to brokers that we continue to make the most of on site underwriting and the competitive edge it gives us.

And as ever, there was all the things we need to keep improving and fixing. I love to hear what we’re doing well with, but the massive value is hearing what we can do better.

Underpinning all this is the strength of our relationships with brokers, and those relationships kept me pretty busy over the last week. This is what I love most about my job and where I get my energy from. It really feels like this was reciprocated hugely from the brokers.

If Andy is right and ‘the dog barks and the caravan moves on’, then a certain song title springs to mind…….. was there not a song by the Housemartins called ‘Caravan of Love’?

Janice xxxx