It’s a funny month, August – with December, possibly the only month that is very different workwise these days from the others. Work seems to have lost much of its seasonality in recent years but in August, we take a leaf out of the Parisian’s book and clear off on long family breaks, jostling for space with millions of other families doing exactly the same thing. Even with Blackberries, the normal work patterns are broken down as project teams are missing vital cogs and getting face to face with brokers/colleagues falters in the face of blanked out diaries.

This August was particularly different for me personally. Little Rory was born on the 8th after keeping us waiting for nearly two weeks and then shortly after, a dear friend died at 38 years old after a long illness – delight and relief to grief and great sadness in just 5 days. Working life has been a bit hit and miss, with paternity leave and learning the ropes of getting everyone out the door on time in the morning – parental man-marking isn’t so effective when there’s two of you and three of them!

So September brings a frantic return to normality as everyone tries to catch up on all the things that couldn’t happen in August – although there is no new coat and pencil case, it’s the same feeling, fresh dewy mornings and the sense of battle re-joined. The last four months of the year is when the following year can be won and lost – this time last year we were just starting to implement our push into Corporate Risks and our Personal Lines refresh which have both been instrumental in our success and growth this year. You can’t rest on your laurels, so we have some new big tricks up our sleeve for next year that will be keeping us very busy through to December, so watch this space. Now December really is a funny month…

Phil Bayles (Director: Broker Key Partners)

It’s amazing how being away for a couple of weeks can change your perspective. We’ve just come back from a fantastic couple of weeks in Scotland and a few things have struck me since I’ve been back. First, it’s amazing how quickly children adapt to life without TV – the youngest learnt to ride a bike, and the eldest two have become scrabble addicts. Second, we’re having some building work done – and before we went away we were starting to get to the “is it worth it and will it ever finish stage”. Well, it isn’t finished, but the progress was great. We can now see exactly what it will be like when it is and all the old feelings of excitement and anticipation came back.

Which is exactly how I feel about work too – getting our personal lines offering right is a massive task and when you’re stuck right in it everyday it’s really easy to lose track of how far along the way you are. But looking at things with a fresh and rejuvenated eye, it has made me stop and think about just what we have achieved over the last twelve months since we started on this journey, and whilst I know there’s still a long way to go, I can really start to see it taking shape. And, just like our house, it’s not simply me being over-optimistic, but in the same way as our neighbours (who are being great about the disruption) have made some positive comments, we can see our success coming through in our numbers, in our surveys, and in what our brokers are saying.

So, while I still get frustrated from time to time, things don’t always go exactly as I’d like, and there will be some changes and more disruption to the plans, we’re well on the way and I’m excited again because I can see the time when the decorators start work, we’re going through the snagging list and Mrs Hudson is buying soft furnishings…(note to self, start to withdraw credit cards discretely!)

Sam Hudson (Head of Broker Personal Lines)

Have you noticed how the TV shows running at the moment are all repeats, the insurance trade press don’t seem to have quite as much heavy-weight copy as previous editions, the roads are that much emptier and the Sunday Times can now be lifted off the newsagents shelves without risk of a hernia?

Yes you’ve guessed it, we are now officially into the ‘Silly Season’. Schools out for Summer, Cornwall is full and we’re all heading to the sun for some well deserved downtime, its that slow part of the year…But hold on a minute…slow part of the year?…That’s not really true these days…Is it?  

There certainly seems to be no let up in terms of the pace of life in the insurance business and there’s certainly enough going on at the moment to keep all our summer days busy. Take last week’s announcement by NIG of their intention to exit from the personal lines broker market. Such changes require us to constantly be on our toes, ready and capable of responding to broker requests to help, especially as our business is wholly committed to the personal lines market. That’s why we’ve moved quickly and mobilised all our resources. Yes the holiday season is at its peak, yes we have a few of our people out of the business but we are here and open for business, whatever the time of year, whatever repeats are showing and no matter how empty the roads are! 

P.S. We recognise that we’re currently at the height of the holiday season, so you may be unable to get hold of some of your usual account management contacts. So to assist you, we have created a secure mailbox for you to send in your requests – evolve@aviva.co.uk.

Brian Spinks (Head of Corporate Marketing)

To find out more or make a donation, please visit www.aviva.co.uk/1day

Transcript

Janice – “Hi everyone. Just sitting here reflecting on what a difference a year makes, so this time last year we were gearing up to become Aviva. Now it seems we’ve been Aviva forever. I’m just fresh from the BIBA conference, where we had a fantastic time with the buzz around our stand, the feedback from brokers and the way they are feeling about Aviva at the moment is fantastic and again what a difference a year makes.”

“I also spent alot of time with brokers talking to me about what we could do more with 110 and how we can take 110 forward and there is a real huge interest from our broker community around doing something for charity. One broker even suggested that every 110 broker cycles around all the different offices of our brokers. The timing of that seems fantastic when we are just launching and working on our Street to School initiative and I did just see the videos that the corporate social responsibility team have been working on to promote the Street to School initiative and I have to say I can’t watch those videos without becoming tearful and to me that shows what a hugely fantastic thing this is to support and I don’t think there is anything we can be doing better with our brand to celebrate a year of being Aviva than supporting the Street to School initiative… I just love everything about it and if we can gear up the power we have got in our broker community that would be fantastic….fantastic support, so we’re working on ideas of how we harness all the broker support we have got and all the different charity work our brokers do to help support the Street to School initiative.”

“To celebrate a year of Aviva, and kick start our efforts for Street to School, for every piece of renewal business or new business you place with us in June through our brokers, we will be donating money to the Street to School charity, in support of the Railway Children*. I’m now going to handover to Heather Smith, whose going to tell you more about what we’re doing for this fabulous cause. Thankyou.”

Heather – “Thanks Janice. I’m Heather Smith, Head of Sponsorship and Corporate Responsibility, here in the UK and I’d like to talk to you about our Aviva Street to School initiative as Janice has been talking about. Well first of all it’s a global initiative impacting across our 26 countries worldwide and by collecting together as ‘One Aviva’, we believe we can make a difference to the 500,000 kids around the world who are homeless and at risk. But it’s not just a global issue, it exists here in our own backyard in the UK and it’s a hidden issue most times. About 100,000 children run away from home or care every year in the UK, in which about 1 in 6 will sleep rough and find themselves in horrible situations, so that’s why Aviva Street to School exists. We believe that by supporting them over the next 3 years, we can make a real difference.”

“So your help and your support can make a difference because you’re out there in the market, you network with lots of people and ultimately if you want to get involved in volunteering and fundraising, we’d be delighted and we can help you.”

“So here’s the film to set the scene and really show you what the cause is all about and the difference you can make by being a part of it. Thanks”

<Aviva/Railway Children promotional video plays>

‘I wanna be elected’ sang Alice Cooper

You may ‘wanna be elected’ but it can’t be easy when you hear conversations along the lines of ‘they’re all the same’, ‘not much difference between them’, ‘difficult to tell them apart these days’.  Leaves you wondering what it is that makes people choose?…. but they do.  Decisions made on a whole raft of things from the rational to gut feeling. But I wonder if customers … the people who buy insurance products and services… sometimes feel ‘they’re all the same’ when they think about insurers?  How would we perform in the equivalent of a ‘ ‘Prime Minister Debate’?  Would customers feel ‘they’re all the same’ because they feel we treat them ‘all the same’?  Does the owner of body repair business feel we understand what his business really needs or is he seen as ‘another garage’?

In politics we hear about the ‘presidential style’. It’s all about personalities.  Does that mean we’re judged on the basis of our people?…their professionalism, their ability to understand and respond to different customers. Would the customer judge us on the way that we really understand and recognise how they manage risk?…they are people not ‘risks’.   

Or is it less about the ‘cult of personality’ and more about detail, the substance and the promises we make and deliver?  Is it the case that the ‘product-is-just-the product’ or is there more to it?  What does segmentation really mean to the owner of a business?…is it just a different title on the cover of a standard product?  Does the detail and the understanding that is built into the promises show that we know what the customer needs?

So how should we be judged?  Unsurprisingly we’d hope to be judged on a coalition. A coalition of the right blend of the professionalism of our people coupled with substance of our products. Of course unlike in politics the customer has the benefit of advice…they don’t need to understand all these things.  They have the benefit of advice from their broker, whose knowledge is based on far more than 2 or 3 public debates.

With the wranglings at Westminster, the challenges in our market and with it already being May, perhaps another of Alice’s songs sounds far more appealing… ‘School’s out for Summer’.

Eric Franz – Head of Commercial Proposition

Wow, how good is this!  53 years old and I’ve actually been asked to write a piece for Janice’s Blog!

My name is Alan Drury and I work with the Broker Trading Teams across the North West of England, Nottingham and Northern Ireland.  I’ve operated in most markets in the UK but now ‘almost’ feel an honorary Northerner having lived in the North West since 1993.   I actually still like Eastenders though rather than “The Street” as my PA calls it..! It helps me keep in touch with my Essex roots.

Over the last couple of years my role has extended to pick up the teams in Northern Ireland and Nottingham and it has been great to meet a wider spectrum of our broker partners from different territories as well as some great underwriters doing a super job in very aggressive and competitive market conditions, (I’ve seen a few cycles come and go as well and this is a tough market to trade in, make no mistake!)

Our industry is blessed with a predominance of fantastic and interesting people and most broker entrepreneurs I meet are working really hard to stand still as the economy remains tough and I suspect will do for some time as those green shoots we keep hearing about emerge into increased trading confidence across all the sectors of UK business. 

Good Independent Brokers providing great local service supported by committed and skilled teams offering both risk advice and choice of products have little to fear as most of them have built a strong enough platform to weather any economic storm.  Over the last couple of months, I have just started hear a bit more optimism and confidence about future trading that augurs well for 2011 anyway.

You have to be resilient in our business especially as a soft southern Essex boy trying to carve out a living in a harsh Northern landscape.  My sophisticated knowledge of quality football has helped me through the tough times being able to watch my beloved Colchester United when they visit this hot bed of soccer at many a venue, like Rochdale, Bury, Tranmere and Stockport!   Another season’s hopes are however dashed as we hit the play-off places and then got the usual nosebleed dropping down to mid table mediocrity.  Gutted, but I’m feeling good about next season though…(heard that before, anybody…?)     

Alan Drury – Head of Trading (North-West & Northern Ireland)

I’ve forced myself to analyse why and I think it comes down to two things: the ‘head’ reason is that government actions can and do have a significant impact on you/your family’s life (just ask the Greeks!). The ‘heart’ one for me is the fascination I feel in witnessing this huge national sales pitch, extending across the whole of the UK, 24/7 – it’s like a time-constrained war with 650 mini-battles to be won and success or failure being so finely balanced – who would have thought that a Granny going out for bread in Rochdale would becoming a defining moment of the campaign?

So you can imagine, with all of my excitement why I find members of the ‘Apathy Party’ somewhat frustrating – we are all highly sophisticated consumers these days, we can all make preference choices on coffee, sofas and holidays, you would think we’d be able to make political choices too, even if it’s just the lesser of evils.

It also pays to make clear choices in the insurance world. The key part of a Broker’s job is to help their clients make the right choices around their insurance cover and provider – all insurers are not the same and clients won’t thank their brokers if they have a poor claims experience or the insurer they were recommended is facing it’s own financial difficulties – as with most things in life, price and value are two different things. With insurance, as in politics, you need to look below the glossy surface and examine the true character.

Insurers also have choices – brokers come in all sizes and quality levels and the two aren’t necessarily correlated. At Aviva, we have made very conscious choices of the brokers we wish to work closest with – they are all shapes and sizes but the common thread is professionalism in looking after their clients needs and the quality and trust in our relationship.  Treat us as a partner and we’ll do the same.

The key difference between the election and insurance choices is that brokers and insurers have to prove themselves day in day out – delivering on our promises and justifying the loyalty we are shown or our customers will walk.  You only get one chance every 5 years to make a choice on your government – a sobering thought and one that should make even the most ambivalent choose choice over apathy next Thursday.

Phil Bayles (Director: Broker Key Partners)

Paul:    Yes, I’ll do a guest blog, but only if I can do a special one.

Brigid: Paul, what do you mean, ‘a special one’, special like the Canadian Hockey Team? (Brigid Murphy)

Paul:    No, although they were impressive.

Brigid: So what have you in mind?  This isn’t an attempt to use the blog to promote Specialist Lines is it Paul?  The blogs are meant to inform, not promote.

Paul:    Yes, I realise that, although I would just like to mention that as I’ve travelled around the country recently, Perth, Birmingham, London, Southampton, Plymouth, Exeter and Bristol I’ve also met some of my teams in Professional Indemnity, Marine, Engineering and bumped into the Bonds, D&O, GPA and Latent Defects teams.  The breadth and depth of their knowledge and expertise is mind blowing.  They are a special bunch and at times unsung heroes.

Brigid: Paul, get to the point.

Paul:    OK, well I was in the pub last Monday and we were having a warm down session after my keep fit class.

Brigid: Paul, is this relevant?

Paul:    Yes.  Anyway we got talking about football and Jose Mourinho came up – you know, the ex-Chelsea Manager, now Inter Milan.  Well he regarded himself as ‘the special one’ and that got me thinking………..

You see, he was good, knew his job, was a skilled coach, and understood his business.  He had real self belief.  He might have overdone it occasionally, but he really got results.

I think the people we work with are a bit like that.  Special I mean – but more of the shrinking violet side of this, only we don’t perhaps tell everyone how good our people are.

So, as the blog is about informing, rather than promoting, I’d like to do a special blog about our staff, and just inform whoever reads this that our people are pretty special too.

Is that OK?

Brigid: Yes it is, our people are special.

Paul:    So, there it is then – my special blog.

Paul Charlton, Aviva’s Head of Trading for West, South Wales and Specialist Lines

“Would you guest on Janice’s blog? It’s an opportunity.”

Hmmm. I tend toward Ambrose Bierce’s view; Opportunity defined as ‘an occasion for grasping a disappointment’.

I’m an Underwriter……..well I’m heading Aviva’s new Corporate Risks team…….. but I’m an Underwriter (even the Insurance press said so)…typical of the breed…glass half empty (far too frequently of late!) Why would any one be interested? Can you blag a blog?

But then – on reflection, the interest in Aviva’s latest initiative has been incredible: internally and externally.

Again, typical Underwriter: paranoia to the fore – unsure of a public launch; didn’t want the noise; nervous of perceptions: conscious of legacy. Lets prove ourselves, get ourselves established. Want to listen to our partners and clients, not make announcements. It wasn’t as if there was a lack of opinion in the market (always impressed with certain individual’s belief in their own divinity, untroubled that their pronouncements have all the accuracy of a long range weather forecast).

And actually it’s been fantastic:

- the support, counsel, reception from brokers…brilliant: a real spirit of generosity.

- the commitment from all the team across Aviva to get the business up and running.

- building the team, a core of Aviva’s best with a blend of the best in the market.

- interest from around the business – our internal tele-conference briefing on the launch was one of the best attended with hundreds phoning in.

- winning our place on one of our key partners panels for corporate business at the same time as we were establishing the unit.

- attendance at two of our brokers conferences and the warmth of response.

- success of the two launch events superbly put together by our Marketing and Events team.

- achieving our January plan and from a personal perspective one of the most exciting developments in my 30 year career.

Still lots to do and best that I leave as I started with a thought from my life coach Mr Bierce:

‘Future – that period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness assured.’

Paul Sullivan (Head of Corporate Risk Solutions)

(nb. both quotes by Ambrose Bierce from the Devil’s Dictionary 1911)

B: So George, we get to do the blog this week! How does that feel?

G: Damn, I thought I could have escaped without having to do any blogging. How does it work?

B: Well, you just say what’s going on in your life and hope that people reading it will find it interesting.

G: What about what’s going on in their own lives – wouldn’t that be more interesting?

B: That’s not how it works! So come on, what’s happening, what have you been up to and what are you going to do next year?

G: Ah, I get it. Well, I’m busy shredding and deleting stuff that I’ve accumulated over the last decade at Aviva. When I look back at all the plans and objectives and all the strategies what strikes me is that our industry in many ways is vastly different to when I joined 32 years ago – and in many ways it is still the same!

B: So what’s different?

G: I thought this was a joint blog? What have you been getting up to?

B: We’ll get back to that …

G: OK. What is different is distribution – to a point. The big difference is the emergence of aggregators and consolidators and the use of the internet for Personal Lines business. Isn’t this all a bit boring?

B: That’s up to you …

G: What has remained the same is the handshake.

B: Are you saying you are a Freemason?

G: You’ve been reading too much Dan Brown. What I mean is that no amount of technology – telephone, internet, blogging, tweeting etc can replace a meeting between people to build a solid business relationship, do business together and have a good time along the way. A handshake is both a literal manifestation of that as well as being a pretty good metaphor for how I like to do business.

B: And what are you going to do next year when you retire from Aviva?

G: I’m glad you said “retire from Aviva” – you could also have said I’m too young to retire …

B: Ok – you’re too young to retire … what are you going to do?

G: I’m not telling you on the grounds that it is too boring …

B: That’s not fair …

G: I know. Now what about you, what’s happening in your life Bridge? I can call you Bridge, can’t I?

B: It’s Brigid, George. I’m busy, travelling all over the country. You should know – you’ve been in the same places having “leaving do”s …

G: Yes, true. Adverse affect on the old waist measurement but well worth it. What else have you been up to?

B: I’ve been mucking out …

G: Have you been raking through my cupboards already? I’m not away yet …

B: No, I’ve been mucking out the horses – in Ireland. I’m from Ireland you know …

G: You’re Canadian.

B: I’m Irish.

G: Irish Canadian?

B: Ok, Irish Canadian.

G: Is that a good thing?

B: No. It’s a great thing!

G: Happy New Year Brigid and good luck in your new role. Have fun!

B: You too Georgie. Enjoy your “retirement”. Maybe we could have lunch next month?

G: You’re on …

Brigid Murphy (Regional Brokers Director)

George Berrie (Retiring Director of Trading)