Strategic Insurance Services Awarded Jim McIlveen Award of Excellence
On Tuesday the 25th of February 2025, Strategic Insurance Services was awarded the Jim Mcilveen Award of Excellence, exhibiting exceeding qualities over areas in business growth, training and development, community and client support and services, compliance, debtors, and overall communication with the Ausure network.
The Jim Mcilveen Award of Excellence is named after and honours insurance veteran Jim Mcilveen, the man who inspired Ausure Founder Wayne Brown to “Have a Go”. He is credited as being a major guiding influence on the early formation of Ausure as being a business built on family values of loyalty, integrity and care.
Scott McCarthy, CEO at Ausure has had a long standing relationship with the Strategic Insurance Services team for many years, and was pleased to see that they were this years recipients of this prestigious award; Scott shared:
“Strategic Insurance is a long standing broker in the Tasmanian market. It was led for many years by Chris and Jane O’Neill and is now in the very capable hands of Jo and David. The award is recognition of a long period of sustained excellence and demonstrated buy in to Ausure’s values. Congratulations to the whole Strategic team across the state and I look forward to watching them continue to flourish over the coming years.”
Jo King & David Reid accepted the award on behalf of the Strategic Insurance Services, and Jo, Operations Manager at Strategic Insurance Services, was happy to share some of her experiences and knowledge that her and her team have accumulated over the past few years.
“Firstly, thank you for the recognition and appreciation of our Tassie team and business in the form of winning this prestigious award. Our team have taken on all the processes and business structure changes to make this happen. This is their award and so very well deserved for them, go Team Tassie! But wait… There is still more to be done.
“We partner with Ausure Head Office because they enhance our team and business, their assistance and hard work are a large part of the reason we have found success when achieving our goals. We thank all of those in Head Office that help us do what we do, way too many to name but we appreciate each and every one of you and consider you all part of our team.”
When asked what their biggest challenges over the past few years, Jo continued, “One of the biggest challenges we faced was during the merger of Strategic Insurance Services and Ausure Insurance Brokers Tasmania three years ago. We completely restructured the business, starting with the basics and working our way up. We reviewed processes from both companies and either adopted the stronger ones or created a hybrid solution. Throughout this process, we made sure to involve the team in every step, as we firmly believe that the best ideas often come from those on the ground. Tackling these challenges was a collective effort, and by keeping a clear, unified vision and ensuring everyone was aligned, we were able to successfully navigate each hurdle and achieve our goals over time.”
Building from these newly adopted processes, Strategic Insurance Services ensured that their high level of client care did not waver, sharing, “We’ve developed tools and processes that support our commitment to personalised service for every client. By integrating compliance and streamlined procedures, we’ve made it easier for brokers to focus on delivering great outcomes for clients, rather than getting bogged down with paperwork or spending too much time behind a computer. This allows our team to maintain high service standards while driving business success.”
“We pride ourselves on having a team of experienced and service-oriented individuals and teams who work well together. Our clients consistently tell us that the service they receive from any team member at Strategic Insurance is not only of the highest quality but also easy to understand. Our clients feel comfortable reaching out to anyone on the team, not just their assigned broker. This is a result of our approach of promoting the entire team to our clients, ensuring they know that they can rely on anyone, not just one individual, for support,” Jo said.
"A great example of our service excellence is the feedback we regularly receive from clients."
“I have dealt with Nigel at strategic for many years for all our insurance. Never fails to be on top of due dates, best rates and etc. Very nice to have a professional you can rely on.”
“I’ve been using Strategic Insurance Services for many years without ever having a problem. Great friendly people to deal with and always very helpful.” – Chris M, Recent Google Review.
When discussing the why behind maintaining this level of service and care to new and existing clients, Jo continued, “One of our primary sources of new business in Tasmania has been word of mouth. We’ve found that many new clients reach out to us either through our website or by calling directly. When we ask how they heard about us, a significant number mention that they researched us online and were impressed by our excellent ratings. This online presence has been a key driver in attracting new clients, even though much of our business still comes from personal recommendations.”
With word of mouth being so important for Strategics business, Jo explained some of the key initiatives they have implemented in order to stand out from their competitions, “One of the key initiatives our branch has implemented to stand out from competitors is adding team and individual photos to our email signatures. This small yet impactful change has allowed us to create a more personal connection with our clients by giving them a face to the name.
“The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, as clients appreciate the added level of trust and security that comes with knowing exactly who they are communicating with. In particular, our joint broker-team signatures, which feature both the broker and team member’s photos, have reinforced collaboration and transparency. This initiative has helped us build stronger relationships, enhance client confidence, and differentiate ourselves in a competitive market.
“The most impact was a very smooth succession plan for exiting brokers allowing the introduction of the new broker slowly for clients. We made joint team signatures and ensured the new broker sent items to clients using the joint signature, so those clients knew the senior broker was still available, but they could start to go to the new broker. We have also adopted Full Debtor Automation, Insurebot, Internal Reporting and Auto Templates to allow our team to focus on clients and service they are providing.”
Finally, was there any final thoughts or knowledge you would like to share to the industry regarding your accomplishments?
“Anyone not seeking and adapting to all that Ausure has to offer is missing a golden opportunity to grow and succeed to the next level within your business. Their innovation, expertise and support keep our business relevant and moving forward.”
“We will continue to do this award justice and keep improving in this fast pace and ever-changing industry!“
“Lastly and not at all least congrats to all the other businesses and individuals who were nominated and won Ausure awards, it’s a stellar group to be a part of and we are very proud and humbled to stand amongst you all! As a group we are stronger together.”