Iain Hatfield

When you spend your free time viewing the world from a thousand feet up, you gain a fresh perspective on life. Iain Hatfield, a helicopter pilot and instructor, used this when he founded award-winning high-tech professional lines intermediary Blyth Valley

How did you land in insurance?
My family were hoteliers and they taught me the importance of giving customers a better service than they expected. Later, while working as a flying instructor, I talked about insurance with some of my pupils, many of whom were small business owners. It seemed obvious that there was a genuine demand for a new kind of broking service. We try to make everything as simple as possible – for example, we set up the first UK website where you can get a quote, buy and download policy documents online.

What are the high points?
We log a significant number of positive comments from clients every week, and it’s rewarding to provide a service that is so well appreciated. We’ve automated the dull bits of insurance in order to focus on customer service, and our use of technology also makes issues such as FSA compliance and record-keeping a whole lot easier.

What brings you crashing down to earth?
I get annoyed when I see the industry looking inwards and hear brokers and insurers complaining about rates or client retention. We need to find out the products and services customers want and work to deliver them. No one has a right to customer loyalty.

Outside work, what inspires you?
I’ve loved everything to do with flying since I was a little boy. When I was at university at Cambridge I was lucky enough to fly with the University Air Squadron. Shortly after graduating, I fell in love with helicopters and worked for my instructor’s licence. Although I don’t teach as much as I once did, I fly most weekends and get as much of a thrill out of helicopters as I ever did. Flying enables you to see the world from a totally different perspective, and that’s really valuable, whatever you do in life.

What keeps you awake at night?
Red wine, unfortunately!

What do you wish you’d known at the start of your career?
I wish I’d known about the insurance industry earlier. It’s a truly fascinating business in terms of what customers buy, when they buy and what drives them to purchase a particular product. We learn new things about our clients every day. I would definitely love to have started Blyth Valley in the 1980s or early 1990s – imagine where we’d be then!

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The CV

1998 to present: Founder and CEO of Blyth Valley, Ipswich
1988 to 1998: Helicopter instructor
1978 to 1988: Hotel and restaurant manager in the family business

 

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