Strategy + execution to help you grow
Marketing l Sales l Product l Process
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James has spent the last 10 years in employed and consultant roles fixing slow/no-growth problems for the leadership teams of more than 20 insurance and professional services businesses, helping them to identify and execute on the best opportunities to grow revenue and profit.​
​We help businesses identify growth blockers and opportunities, building and executing the plan that will lead to additional revenue and profit. ​This looks different for each business so we don't pretend there's a one-size-fits-all solution. Working across marketing, sales, product and process we identify and unlock the next stage of your business growth.
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See the types of challenges we overcome, the case studies of how we've unlocked growth, read about our approach and hear from senior leaders on their experience.
Familiar challenges?
We've solved them before.
Our website doesn't produce many new leads - we need to get the right people to it, and for them to enquire.
We want to enter new sectors but there are well respected, established players.
We want 10% growth each year but we're stuck at 3%.
We need to improve our new business process - too many prospects don't convert.
We’re great at what we do but we don’t know how to describe how it’s different or explain to prospects why they should choose us.
We want to introduce online quote and buy so customers can buy online.
We want to launch an important new product to our client base.​
We need more leads, of a higher quality.
We spend money on marketing and have no visibility - we don't know if it's effective.
Our marketing activity is disconnected from our business strategy.
Our brand looks dated - we want to modernise.
We want to widen our distribution to capture more of the market.
See the case studies of how we've unlocked growth, and hear from senior leaders on their experience of working with James.
Our approach: smart planning + quality execution
​You might already know what's blocking your business' growth, or what the opportunities are. Lots of the teams I've worked with have a handle on what needs to happen, but don't have the time or some of the technical expertise to move forward with building and executing a plan confidently.
It's not enough just to diagnose an issue or identify an opportunity. We work with management teams to set out what needs to happen to reach their growth goals, build the right strategy and plan, and then implement the plan to achieve to results they want to see.​​​​
​​​​With 15 years' experience across broking, underwriting, networks, scheme/product development, sales and marketing, James understands the technical and regulatory aspects of bringing about successful transformation and growth, as well as bringing a broader commercial leadership lens.
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Every opportunity and challenge is unique. We use a simple 3 stage process to make sure we get the thinking, planning and execution right. All theory and no action is useless - as is blindly pushing ahead without a plan. Our process allows us to do the right amount of thinking and planning to ensure the execution produces the results you want to see.
01
Diagnose the issue / identify the opportunity + define the change needed to achieve the growth you want to see
Problem / Opportunity
02
Build a strategy and plan - define the end goal and how we'll get there
Strategy + Plan
03
Execute the plan - do the work, make the changes, see the results
Execution + Outcome
Case studies
For the last 10 years in employed and consultant roles, James has fixed slow/no-growth problems for the leadership teams of more than 20 insurance and professional services businesses, helping them to identify and execute on the best opportunities to grow revenue and profit.
Digital lead generation
Problem / opportunity
A medium sized specialist broker was distributing their scheme via third parties at high cost. Their proposition was clear, and their product was market leading - but they couldn’t attract business direct, with their legacy website generating less than 10 leads a month.
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​Strategy + plan
We planned a new website, with the right landing pages, relevant supporting content and an excellent customer journey (product specific stepped forms to collect information).
Execution + outcome
The new site was operational in 10 weeks, with new content and other SEO work continuing be done each month. Leads and revenue started to climb several months in. One year on and each month the site was producing 800 leads, and £18k - £20k in new business revenue (circa £100k GWP).
MGA proposition
Problem / opportunity
A business which had acquired several MGAs wanted to consolidate their underwriting capabilities into one trading division and launch a single brand and proposition to market, as their offering had become complex and difficult to explain.
Strategy + plan
We worked with the leadership team to distil their offering into a proposition that was easy to understand and communicate. The launch plan included a new website, new messaging, strapline and visual identity, PR plan, and an evolution in how the business communicated with its broker base.
Execution + outcome
We successfully launched the new brand to market. Feedback from across the broker base was positive, they now understood the offering, product suite and where they access each product. The business achieved growth in the number of actively trading brokers, and across its core product areas.
Scheme build + growth
Problem / opportunity
A small broker spotted a £3m GWP opportunity in their target market for a niche scheme. They already held clients on an open market basis and understood the sector and cover requirements in detail. The incumbent provider was well established with a good reputation and an overpriced product.
Strategy + plan
We identified the need for a dedicated policy which addressed the specific cover requirements, and a proposition and marketing plan that would convince clients to switch insurer.
Execution + outcome
We worked with an existing insurer partner to amend an existing product, launching a new specialist product for the niche in question, exclusive to the broker. A clear proposition and a marketing plan covering website lead generation, email and direct mail resulting in the broker taking 20% market share in the first 24 months.
Quote & buy product
Problem / opportunity
A broking business with full DA on a specialist B2B product, with typically sub £1k premiums, was struggling to handle the leads they received fast enough, losing business to competitors and digital quote & buy solutions.
Strategy + plan
After an assessment of the market, opportunity size and customer buying behaviour we assessed that a quote & buy solution made sense.
Execution + outcome
We worked with their existing insurer to get the product and process signed off for digital distribution, alongside selecting a tech provider to build the quote & buy functionality. The product successfully launched, allowing the business to win a greater number of clients, and freeing up their broking team to focus on winning larger and more complex cases.
LM Broker marketing
Problem / opportunity
A Lloyds broker with an established heritage had undergone a leadership change. The business couldn’t articulate how to differentiate itself from its competitors and didn’t have a marketing plan to engage its target market.
Strategy + plan
After assessing the business’ strengths, we identified some key characteristics that set it apart from competitors – and which were important to their target brokers. We agreed an updated proposition and way of talking about the business and put together a plan to communicate this to current and prospective brokers.
Execution + outcome
We updated their website, and an ongoing LinkedIn campaign was rolled out to highlight the team’s expertise and experience, complimented by a monthly email to their broker base highlighted recent cases secured for brokers. Understanding of the proposition among existing and target brokers grew, with requests for quotes increasing by 20%.
Brand & lead generation
Problem / opportunity
A broking and underwriting business, in a very specialist sector, wanted to increase their market share. They were already recognised within the sector as one of a number of players but wanted to be seen as the leading insurance provider, and find additional ways to generate new business opportunities.
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Strategy + plan
The team had a wealth of knowledge and expertise that wasn’t being leveraged to demonstrate their expertise. We advised creating a series of guides, as well as properly utilising their website to generate new leads.
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Execution + outcome
We worked with the team to create a series of high quality, professional and engaging guides, covering risk management, coverage and case studies. We built new pages on their website, targeting key segments of their target market, using the content we’d created to get them ranked on Google. The combined effort led to an ongoing surge in enquiries in their target areas.