Once upon a time

The Good Old Days!

Once upon a time, in land not so far away, there was a friendly insurance broking firm called Henshalls, which is still going strong from the same office to this day.  They prided themselves on their customer service, and were complimented on it by most of their clients.   For instance, they replied to all letters within a few days, so that the client received their reply within a week of putting it in the letter box.   They sent off professionally typed quotation requests for business insurance to the insurance companies in Shrewsbury, Stoke, Stafford or Wolverhampton, and they chased them up efficiently if they had not arrived back within a week.

They employed three or four Youth Training Scheme juniors at any one time to sort the incoming post, find the relevant files, take them to the relevant people, go round the building collecting those that had been finished with and re-filing them in the rooms set aside for shelves and shelves of folders and boxes, running round the offices collecting anything to be sent out, putting it in envelopes, franking it, and carrying three or four bags down to the post office..

Everyone had good handwriting to be able to fill in all the forms, write covernotes and make file notes.   There was a team of six audio-typists with all the modern gear – transcribing machines, headsets, electric typewriters, the works, noisily typing up the work ready to put in the post or pin it on a file with a treasury tag.  There was a constant hum of commercial account executives speaking clearly and efficiently into their dictaphones, occasionally stopping to insert a new tape into their machine and pass the full one and all the relevant files and boxes to the audio-typist to type out their letters and reports.

The customer counter in reception was always very busy with people writing out their cheques, or handing over a bundle of notes and bag of coins to pay for their insurance, collecting their paperwork or coming in for quotes.   The counter staff would take some details then use their experience and knowledge to select a few of the many insurance company rating books for home and private car insurance from the filing cabinet.   They would run their fingers down the tables on the page and then across to the correct figure, then flick through the book to the endorsements and discounts pages to see whether they could squeeze the premium down a bit more for the client.

Imagine telling us then that in thirty or forty years time you could sit on a beach in Australia and, using a phone with no wires, without speaking to anyone, go onto Henshalls website (explain what that is!), get a quote for your shop, pay for it, and receive a copy of your documents, all in 10 minutes.   “Poppycock – It will never happen!”

If you need a quote for your small business or your commercial property, and you’d prefer to have a go online, go to our website and try it out.    We would always recommend having a chat with us before you buy, and the beauty of the system is we would immediately be able to see what you had put in (and it would be saved ready for you to come back to if you wished), but if you’re happy everything is correct, click and buy.   I know!!   The modern world eh – who said the pace of life hasn’t changed!