Appointment Of Commercial Sales Director

Multi award-winning Ashbourne Insurance of East Hertfordshire has appointed Matthew Hunt to the newly created position of Commercial Sales Director. Matthew, who has worked at Ashbourne since 1994, is now responsible for the independent broker’s two commercial teams which have been consolidated into one, based out of the Hoddesdon branch.

One of Matthew’s roles will be to continue to attract new commercial business to help the firm achieve its target of 50 per cent business and 50 per cent private sales. He will continue to develop Ashbourne’s unique personal approach to the business community to enhance Ashbourne’s service to SME businesses and larger employers in the area.

Building relationships is key and one of the most productive areas for Ashbourne has been the use of business networking which has generated an impressive 16 per cent of all Ashbourne’s sales. In total nine members of staff (out of 23) are signed up to local business networking organisations including three chapters of BNI, WIBN, Athena, Breakfast for Business, Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce & industry and the 1st Thursday Group.

Matthew is the son of Richard Hunt, who founded Ashbourne Insurance 32 years ago, and he works alongside his sister Sarah Smits, the Finance Director and brother-in-law Peter Smits, the Managing Director. The company currently employs 26 people and has over 3,500 business and private clients.

Though operating in an increasingly challenging environment, particularly with competition from the internet, Ashbourne has always stuck to its founding principles of providing outstanding personal customer service to the local community.

“Things have changed a great deal since I first worked for Ashbourne as a 10-year-old school boy on Saturday mornings,” commented Matthew. “We have had to really adapt to compete with the increasing number of insurance providers but we have found that businesses appreciate more than ever the value of having an individual to help with arranging policies and, more importantly, dealing with claims.”

Ashbourne’s business clients benefit from on-site risk assessments and policies tailored to their specific requirements. “When getting a quote over the internet it’s easy to overlook points or not realise the relevance of the small print,” explained Matthew. “Sometimes these discrepancies only come to light when you try and make a claim and you find the policy is invalid. At Ashbourne we go through each point thoroughly and check if businesses need any additional cover. What surprises many people is that we can often beat supposed ‘cheap’ online quotes.”

Within the industry this approach has also paid off with Ashbourne able to negotiate advantageous rates for clients from insurance providers keen to cover companies which they know to be well-informed and thoroughly risk-assessed.

Ashbourne offers a wide range of business and personal insurance along with a claims advisory service. It is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.