Broker briefing: One Answer in full throttle

Name of broker: One Answer Insurance

Office locations and number of staff: About 30 staff across two offices in Sussex

GWP controlled: £5m

Major clients: Property owners, SME businesses, personal lines clients

Senior management: Managing director Paul Muir, customer services manager Emma Bowles, sales manager Russell Tanner, operations director Jamie Turner, accounts manager Rachel Sparkes, head of human resources and compliance Casey Bescoby, and business development director Trevor Cutts

One Answer was set up in 2000 by Paul Muir. Starting out as a personal lines broker, it branched out into commercial lines three years ago. Muir wants to steer the broker towards a 50:50 split between commercial and personal lines.

He says the broker has remained static over the past few years because he has spent a lot of time dealing with his other project, the One Answer Network. But, with a new senior management team in place, he has geared up the firm for growth.

Muir has big plans: he wants the broker to raise its GWP to £10m-15m within three years. He then wants to stay at that level to keep the business nimble.

“We’re still small enough to be a speedboat, not an oil tanker,” Muir explains. “I can say tomorrow: ‘Alright lads, we’re selling a lot of, say, pet insurance today’.”

Muir says One Answer will concentrate on growth by improving its cross-selling, up-selling and routes to market. “They’re the things we’ve changed massively over the past 12 to 18 months,” he says.

Muir is so confident the expansion plan will pay off that he is funding a new office for the business through his own pension fund and mortgage. “I take this very seriously," he says. "I’ve put my whole future into this.”

One Answer is open to making acquisitions. Muir says a good fit would be a provincial broker in East Sussex or Kent that took good care of its customers.

Among One Answer's key insurer partners are LV=, Markerstudy, Aviva, RSA, Ageas and Aviva.