THE BIG INTERVIEW
The team visited each of its premises to understand how the company operated. According to amb, the review identified and corrected several gaps in cover while reducing premiums by approximately five percent.
Other reviews raise more serious questions about the relationship between business growth and protection.
In a separate construction case study, amb reports finding contract works cover limited to £ 4 million for any single contract, despite the company undertaking projects worth £ 6 million. Specialist activities had not been declared, while other limits and exclusions did not reflect the work being carried out.
The broker says it negotiated corrected terms and helped the company improve processes, including checks relating to subcontractors. The concern was what a substantial loss might have meant under the previous arrangements.
For a growing business, that is a question easily lost among the more immediate demands of winning work and delivering it. A company can change considerably between conversations with its advisers. Mark argues that understanding those details is essential, particularly for firms whose work does not fit neatly into a standard description. amb works across sectors including construction, engineering, retail and professional services, with clients needing advice that reflects what they actually do.
He also wants to challenge the idea that insurance is simply another cost of doing business. In his view, properly understood protection gives owners the confidence to take opportunities and build their companies.
That emphasis on understanding extends to amb’ s own team, too. Professional qualifications have been part of its development, alongside achieving Chartered status. Peter also describes using personality profiling to help place people in roles suited to their strengths,
rather than assuming everyone should follow the same route.
Its community activity gives staff another way to contribute in a different way, often through challenges they have chosen themselves.
Since partnering with The Peter Pan Centre in 2022, the team has taken part in fundraising and volunteered at events supporting the charity’ s work with children with special educational needs and disabilities.
A fundraising effort that reached £ 25,000 included participation in the charity’ s golf day, Sales and Partnerships Director Mark Jones completing a 10K run at Alton Towers, client manager Dawn shaving her head and colleague Lesley swimming 10,000 metres across a month.
The business also won a match-funded £ 10,000 grant from the Aviva Community Fund. Its support for the centre helped earn it Newcastle-under-Lyme’ s first Business Community Hero Award earlier this year, before the subsequent Chamber and University awards.
The relationships extend beyond individual fundraising events. Andrew Barrow has taken a board role with The Peter Pan Centre, while Mark has taken a board role with Newcastle Town Football Club. The firm’ s wider community involvement includes support for the club’ s women’ s team and other local causes.
For Mark, recognising that work alongside professional service was especially meaningful. Speaking after the Chamber awards, he said:“ The togetherness of the team is the jewel in the crown for me. It’ s hard to express how special it is to see team members step up to help clients grow their business, and for them to do extraordinary things for the local community.”
Peter traces the significance of the awards back to the harder years, when a much smaller team was busy but struggling to see progress. The recognition they are seeing now reflects both the work clients receive every day and the contribution staff make outside it.
Asked how the firm and its clients navigate economic pressure, Peter comes back to the individual conversation: what can be done for the person in front of you? He talks about keeping the business secure and maintaining cash reserves for difficult periods, while concentrating on the service the team can control.
“ I think you’ ve got to boil it down to basics,” he says.
The challenge is to maintain that approach as amb grows. Having made so many changes, the leadership’ s current priority is to keep developing the things that work.
Technology remains part of that discussion. AI is on the weekly team agenda, with colleagues sharing where they have used it successfully and where it has fallen short. But the important message is that we must always maintain our human touch.
He sees opportunities for it as a tool, while remaining conscious of the value of informed conversations with clients. For a firm that began with customers coming through a high street door, personal advice remains central even as the means of delivering it evolve and patronage gives amb an even larger platform for that work. The Health Checks offer members a chance to examine their arrangements, while the wider network creates opportunities to connect businesses with expertise they may otherwise struggle to find.
It is also an opportunity for amb to build on a reputation that is deeply connected with the region. For all the acquisitions, systems changes and strategic planning involved in amb’ s development, for Andrew, and his fellow directors it is all about one simple thing:“ Do the right things by the right people.”
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