You’re your own person, but you’re never alone.

After focusing on new business as a NFU Mutual Locum Agent, covering for maternity leave, Katie Burbidge applied to become an Agent at the Colchester agency. We caught up with her to find out how her background helped her settle into the role, and how she’s working to develop the agency still further.

Hi Katie - can you give us a bit of background on how you came to be an NFU Mutual Agent?
I started at an agency of NFU Mutual in Dorset, and then when I moved to East Anglia to be with my partner, I worked for the Mutual as a Locum Agent for around 18 months. During Covid, I did a lot of homeworking, training competence and quality control, and supported some of the Quality Development Consultants. I enjoyed the Locum Agent role so much that when I saw the Agent vacancy in the Colchester agency, I applied for the opportunity and was delighted to get it!

My experience as a Locum Agent meant I was doing a bit of everything, which has definitely helped me in my Agent position. Often when my team has an issue, I’ve already been there and done that, so they appreciate that I understand what they’re doing. Prior to the Locum role I held a direct sales role in the New Business Developers team at NFU Mutual, which helped me build my confidence and develop my understanding of the more technical side of insurance. A lot of the team previously worked for brokers, so I picked up a lot about the processes, which has really helped me now.

Now you’re an Agent, how is your agency set up and which sectors do you deal with?
We have a 50/50 split of farming and non-farming clients. There are 15 in the team, headed up by three Agent partners. The team is split between our commercial team and a front office team, as well as someone who looks after our marketing and social media. We've got quite a clear structure, so we've all got certain responsibilities.

My main responsibility in the agency is new business, and I enjoy developing those clients. We've got clients from a lot of different sectors, including manufacturing, food processing, the hospitality sector and garden centres. Then there are farmers, including those that have diversified and become more property owners or landowners. I don’t have a farming background, but I don’t think you necessarily need that. You just need to spend the time with farming clients to understand their needs.

What do you think you offer them that other insurance businesses don’t?
I think our personal service is important to clients. We provide that face-to-face point of contact. With the larger clients, we take another team member to meetings, so clients have more than one point of contact in the agency. So, clients can always speak to someone they know, who’s been to their business, understands it, and knows what they need.

I think our service and the advice we offer are the biggest things. We work with clients to identify where there may be gaps in their cover. It’s just about bringing that kind of thing to their attention. It can be quite difficult sometimes, if they’ve been with the same broker for years, they may not necessarily understand the impact on their business if parts of their cover are incorrect. So, we see it as our role to break it down for clients, to help them understand. But you don't need to be an expert in everything. You've always got people who can help you, from a colleague or someone in NFU Mutual’s Head Office, for example an NFU Mutual Underwriter.

How far does that head office support from NFU Mutual go, to help you as a self-employed Agent?
I talk a lot with my regional sales manager on monthly calls, when we go through our new business pipeline. And they get involved in calls about the bigger cases with the underwriters and the NFU Mutual Wholesale Broking and Outplacement team, who tend to get involved in the more complex cases. I speak to my contact in that team at least once a week, so we have a really good relationship.

I also work closely with the Mutual’s Large Corporate Insurance team, who manage clients with accounts over £100,000. We’ve got several clients that fall into that category and I'm enjoying building the relationship with the Large Corporate Insurance team.

So, you're definitely not alone – there’s a support network around you and people are there to help you.

What are the best aspects of being a self-employed Agent of NFU Mutual?
You are your own person – even though you’re in a partnership and running an office together. No two days are the same. You can have days where you’re out seeing different existing clients about renewals, or you might be out all day with a new client, going through what they do and understanding their business. Some days you’re in the office doing compliance, making policy changes, picking up the phone or doing some cold calling. Other days you could be at an event. But there are days when you can mix it up and do one thing in the morning and something different in the afternoon. You're free to do that, and I think that's what makes it exciting and keeps you on your toes.

Ready for an insurance opportunity that offers plenty of variety and flexibility, like Katie? Find out more about becoming a self-employed Agent of NFU Mutual here.