Based in Hertfordshire (or London, as Chris says anyone further north tends to call it), he has joined C&C with a brief to develop new relationships across the South, while also working with clients nationally.
Like many people in the industry, Chris admits becoming an insurance broker wasn’t exactly the childhood dream. “I don’t know many people who went to school saying, ‘I want to be an insurance broker’,” he says. His own route began at 21, shortly after passing his driving test. A call to a local high street broker unexpectedly turned into a job interview after the broker decided Chris had a bit about him on the phone.
He got the job and started firmly at the bottom: paper files piled up, trips to the Post Office and customers sitting opposite him while he worked through their insurance quotes.
“I think the high street broker is almost a rite of passage. You had customers parked at your desk, and you learned very quickly how to deal with people.”
From there, Chris worked his way through commercial broking before moving into account executive positions and now joining us at C&C as an Account Director.
A Broad Commercial Background
Motor trade has become one of Chris’s strongest areas of expertise, although he is reluctant to be pigeonholed. “I’d say motor trade is a specialism, but I’m a bit of a jack of all trades. I also work with clients across numerous sectors including construction, retail & leisure and general commercial risks too.”
Another area where Chris has developed considerable experience is cyber insurance, partly because he has seen first-hand just how expensive cyber incidents can become. He’s dealt with claims running into millions of pounds and cases where criminals have accessed company systems, waited and monitored communications, and when the opportunity arose, intercepted communications to divert payments. It’s left him with a fairly simple view of cyber risk: businesses either know they have been hacked or may simply not have discovered it yet.
Why C&C?
Chris admits C&C wasn’t particularly familiar to him before he was approached about the role, but conversations with Malc and Andy quickly struck a chord. “What stood out to me was the way C&C operates with clients. I’m very hands-on. I’ll answer the phone, even when I’m on holiday or at three o’clock in the morning when there’s an issue. I understood straight away that C&C is focused on client relationships and not just about numbers. And the 97.4% client retention rate really backs that up. That is incredible client loyalty.”
The strength of C&C’s multi-award-winning, in-house claims team was another important factor in his decision. As Chris says, “When a business is facing a catastrophe, that’s when the client wants to know how their broker and claims team are going to react.”
Chris’s immediate goal is introducing C&C to businesses in a part of the country where our name is slightly less established. That means networking, industry events, developing introducer relationships and, quite simply, getting out and meeting people. “I’ll essentially be on the road. That’s how I enjoy doing it.”
Motor trade and motorsport are likely to feature heavily, with Chris already exploring events and opportunities to build relationships across the sector. His ambition is ultimately to develop a substantial southern book of business, ideally to the point where C&C needs more people on the ground alongside him.
And despite all the talk about AI changing the way businesses operate, Chris remains convinced there is one part of commercial insurance technology can’t replace. “Insurance for me is relationship-based. You must nurture that relationship and I always consider myself part of a client’s business. A partner not a supplier.”
Life Away From Insurance
Away from work, much of Chris’s weekend is currently spent providing a taxi service to his two children. His seven-year-old son plays football and golf, while his ten-year-old daughter enjoys sewing and is considering football too, potentially creating a Saturday morning logistical headache!
Chris describes himself as one of those very vocal football parents, although his son has apparently asked him on several occasions for less feedback! Football loyalties are taken equally seriously at home. Chris is a committed Tottenham supporter and has successfully steered his son away from an early flirtation with Arsenal.
For now, Chris’s attention is firmly on building C&C’s profile across the South, getting out, meeting people and developing the kind of long-term relationships that have always been at the heart of the business.
And if his enthusiasm for growing C&C is anything to go by, we suspect plenty more people will be hearing the name before too long.
Welcome aboard, Chris!
Any clients interested in getting in touch with Chris can contact him on 07561 510 465 or at Chris.Cann@cc-insure.com
