How to support customers as their risks evolve

A conversation with Simon Latter, self-employed Agent of NFU Mutual.

From cyber risks to management liability, the questions customers ask their insurance providers are changing.

Across NFU Mutual’s UK-wide Agency Network, local Agents and their teams are often the first point of contact for customers looking for support.

For Simon Latter, Agent of NFU Mutual – Shropshire Marches Agency, responding to those changing needs is one of the things that gives agency life its variety.

Alongside more traditional insurance needs, Simon is seeing customers come forward with new requests as their businesses and circumstances evolve.

His role, and that of his team, is to help them understand what support may be available, while maintaining the personal service many have relied on for years.

A local role shaped by customer relationships

“Day-to-day, we’ve got an insurance business to run,” Simon explains.

“We have a relationship with NFU Mutual, but we also have many relationships with customers.

“We help explain what NFU Mutual offers and how we can tailor that to their needs.”

In practice, Simon’s role combines customer conversations, team leadership and commercial decision-making.

One day he might be visiting a large estate customer, another day speaking with a financial adviser, supporting colleagues or making decisions about the future direction of the business.

Advice that starts with understanding the customer

Whether supporting farming families, rural businesses, estates or personal insurance customers, Agents and their teams take the time to understand each customer’s circumstances and the risks they face.

That understanding helps customers make informed choices, whether they are reviewing cover before a business expands, exploring specialist support, or thinking through new risks before they become a problem.

Newer conversations around areas such as cyber and management liability now sit alongside more familiar insurance needs.

As these requests arise, Agents can help customers explore what support may be available through NFU Mutual and its wider network of specialists.

For Simon, that same level of care applies regardless of the size of the customer or business.

Some customers may have been with NFU Mutual for decades, while others may be asking new questions as their circumstances change.

Either way, the focus is on attentive, consistent service.

“Smaller customers shouldn’t be underestimated,” he says. “The service is the same. It’s local, attentive service.”

That consistency is important in a relationship-led business.

“They came to NFU Mutual for a reason,” Simon says. “We don’t want to give them a reason to go.”

Running a business with established roots

Simon’s role is also shaped by the agency model itself.

As a self-employed Agent of NFU Mutual, he can lead and develop the business, while working with a brand that already has deep roots in the communities it serves.

For Simon, that means bringing his own experience, commercial understanding and leadership to an established agency, rather than starting a business from scratch.

“When you come into an agency, there’s no equity arrangement to buy into,” Simon explains.

“What you’re really bringing is your experience, commercial understanding and leadership.”

Leading the agency team

As well as supporting customers, Agents lead their agency teams, make commercial decisions and set the tone for how the business operates.

For Simon, that includes thinking carefully about the kind of employer and leader he wants to be.

For Simon, that independence means drawing on the experiences and leadership styles he has seen throughout his career. “You bring your experience from elsewhere,” he says.

“You’ll think, that worked well, I’ll do more of that. Or, I don’t want to be an employer like that, and you’ll adjust the way you employ people accordingly.”

A role built on variety

People become Agents of NFU Mutual from a wide range of backgrounds, including financial services, agriculture, commercial business and people leadership.

For Simon, the role brings those strands together: customer relationships, business responsibility and the freedom to shape how the agency develops.

“There’s no particular reason for fear,” he says.

“Once you’re in the role, you move through the first trading period and cash-flow cycle, and then you begin to see the business grow.”

For Simon, that balance between customers, people and business leadership is what keeps the role moving forward.

Looking ahead

For Simon, becoming an Agent has meant running a business in his own way, while building on the strength of an established brand and a loyal customer base.

It is a role that brings together independence, responsibility and support, with commercial opportunity grounded in long-term trust.

“Becoming an Agent has given me the chance to run a business in my own way, while building on the strength of an established brand and a loyal customer base,” Simon says.

“You have independence, but you’re not isolated. There’s responsibility, but there’s support too.

“For me, it’s been about taking what I’ve learned elsewhere and using it to build something in my own way.”

Ever thought about becoming a self-employed Agent of NFU Mutual?

People become Agents of NFU Mutual from a wide range of backgrounds, including financial services, agriculture, commercial business and people leadership.

For those who enjoy building long-term relationships, leading teams and making commercial decisions, becoming a self-employed Agent can be a natural next step.