Scotland

When I became a self-employed Assistant Agent in 2007, my Senior Agent was great at helping me to develop my career. And when he retired in 2016, I took over the agency. The support I get from NFU Mutual has helped me to develop, particularly my leadership skills. They’ve encouraged me to access different training opportunities – including supporting me to attend Cranfield University.

This gave me the confidence to look at my agency staff and adapt their roles to meet our future needs. This also made me want to pass on that support by developing apprentices in the agency. It’s great to be able to give someone their first leg up on the career ladder.

I can’t quite believe it’s been 28 years since I began my career as an Agent of NFU Mutual. I’d been employed as an agricultural adviser and was excited by the prospect of running my own business, doing something I loved in a place I loved.

From day one I had the support of a Regional Manager of NFU Mutual who helped me understand how to ‘spin the plates’ of new business, customer service, product knowledge and people management. Looking back, what I’m most proud of is telling him how I wanted to double the size of the business. He was sceptical, to say the least. It’s now more than four times the size it was!

I started as a farmer and farm manager and still work on my uncle’s farm during lambing season. After working as a livestock and land inspector for the Scottish government, I heard about the NFU Mutual Agent role. I thought at first it wouldn’t be for me, because I had no sales or insurance experience.

But in an agency like ours, my agricultural knowledge and customer relationship skills are vital – and with the right training, I soon picked up the insurance knowledge. I enjoy working with different farming businesses. It’s about building strong customer relationships – getting under the skin of their businesses, treating them as you’d want to be treated and building their trust by giving them good, reliable advice.

I started my career as an Agent with NFU Mutual almost fifteen years ago as a partner in the Perth agency. I moved to the Lochalsh, Skye and Outer Hebrides agency over a decade ago, and just over six years ago, we merged with the Stornoway agency and started to service the whole of the Western Isles from these two agency locations. It’s been an incredible journey.

I’m massively passionate about agriculture and food and drink, so being an Agent is more a way of life than a job. Running my own business carries huge responsibility but it equally offers a great sense of achievement and empowerment. l couldn’t imagine doing anything else or being anywhere else.