Succeeding in Australia's competitive insurance industry is tough - but some brokerages manage to do it better than others. From 2022 to 2023, Brisbane-headquartered Morgan Insurance Brokers enjoyed an impressive 450% revenue increase and a jump in gross written premium (GWP) of 300%. That success continues today, and director Lauren Spice (pictured) shared some of her strategies with Insurance Business.
“I try to be more real and less formal than some other brokers. I don't think consumers relate to being so formal, to be honest,” said Spice, who leads a general insurance brokerage handling both commercial and life insurance. With five senior brokers and 10 administrative staff, she has built a business that prides itself on authenticity and accessibility.
Her approach has recently been influenced by a mindset shift at the start of the year. “At the beginning of the year, I read lots of books about how to excel in business and how to save time,” she recalled. “It was over the Christmas period and I was feeling this drive to become a billionaire.”
One key takeaway came from Dan Martell’s Buy Back Your Time: the importance of acting like a big business in order to grow one. “For a director like me, focusing on the work where I get most value, which is client relationships, so being on the phone and talking to them,” she said. “Those little $10 admin tasks can be outsourced and that frees up your time to go and get new business.”
That philosophy has shaped the way she runs her firm. “I'm not stuck doing my own invoicing because formatting schedules, downloading invoices, it's super time consuming and those jobs can be done by a junior broker for way less,” she said.
By delegating lower-value tasks, Spice can dedicate hours each day to what she does best: talking to clients. “I'm on the phone for about three hours a day and by the end my throat is dry,” she said. “Out of seven and a half, that's a lot.” For her, calls are non-negotiable. “If someone sends me an email, I call them, and then I nut it out on the phone,” she explained, noting that conversations build rapport, strengthen retention and reduce miscommunication.
Another way Spice has professionalised her business is by investing in social media. “I started company profiles on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn,” she said. She even hired a social media manager to keep platforms active. “So if someone Googles us, they can see that we’re active and a real business.”
For her, the point isn’t lead generation but credibility. “I know when I look up other providers for anything, the first thing I do is I look up their reviews and see if they're on socials,” she said. In a crowded market, she sees visibility as essential.
LinkedIn has proven especially effective for outreach. “LinkedIn is great for saying, ‘Hey, this is me, this is how I can help,’ and then just posting, and messaging,” said Spice. She makes a point of messaging every new connection, often sparking conversations that lead to business.
Spice also credits her success to her willingness to take on all kinds of business, even the smaller policies many brokers shy away from. “I'm definitely a little bit of a veteran but even now I still take anything and everything,” she said.
Sometimes, those small opportunities turn into major wins. She recalled a Christmas Eve call from a client whose home insurance renewal had been neglected by their previous broker. “That home account was a prestige home, so it was actually two or three grand of income,” she said. But it didn’t stop there: “Then it led to the second biggest client I've ever had, because her husband had a roofing company, a massive roofing company.”
Beyond everyday business, Spice has earned a reputation for responsiveness on hard-to-place risks. She described a recent case in oil and gas where another broker failed to deliver a quote in time. “Two days later, it was done,” she said. “I approached 19 insurers that I figured the existing broker wouldn’t have gone to.”
Her approach relies on knowing the market and moving quickly. “Then they submit a quote within 24 or 48 hours, and then it's done,” she explained.
For Spice, running her own brokerage means constantly seeking input from others. “When you’re running your own ship you don’t really have anyone else to ask questions,” she said. To bridge that gap, she makes a point of talking to as many people as possible - brokers, business owners and employees alike – to keep learning and stay connected.
Morgan Insurance Brokers’ rapid trajectory has not gone unnoticed. The firm’s impressive performance was highlighted in Insurance Business’s special report, 16 Fast Brokerages and Fast Starters.
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