Meet Geoff Turner, Broker Distribution Director

As Distribution Director, I’m ultimately responsible for shaping and delivering our distribution strategy, including how we engage with and support the broker market. This involves leading the account management team, as well as contributing to areas such as compliance and marketing.

In practice, my focus is on continually identifying ways to work more effectively with our brokers, strengthening relationships, improving collaboration, and ensuring we deliver better outcomes for our customers. This also means supporting both our business objectives and those of our broker partners, helping to align our strategies.

What I enjoy most is that brokers recognise we’re different, and because of that, they actively want to do more with us. Our purpose really drives that, and it’s rewarding to see it reflected in the strength of our relationships.

I particularly value the opportunity to solve real problems and develop solutions tailored to very specific needs, both for brokers and their clients. While larger, more composite markets can sometimes do this, they don’t always bring the same level of skill, care, and attention to detail that we do. Brokers genuinely recognise this and appreciate the difference we make.

Ultimately, it’s great to be in a position where we’re “selling” something that people both want and need, and where we can clearly demonstrate the value we add.

It was a great three days with lots of engagement with our partner brokers and we made some new friends too. It’s interesting how BIBA has changed over the years. It's moved on from being an exhibition where you pitch up and wait for people to come to see you, to a great opportunity to consciously connect with people you might not ordinarily get the chance to meet. A huge amount of time, effort and expense goes into BIBA but we want to be there and make it work for everyone – and it did.

The key takeaway for me this year was that because of the market we’re operating in, brokers wanted to talk more about proposition and were really starting to understand and embrace how moving the conversation away from just price drives better customer outcomes and helps them win and retain business. 

Last year, we restructured and made further investment in our account management team. While we’re relatively modest in size, this has enabled us to increase our visibility and build closer relationships with our brokers.

This was an area where brokers had told us we could improve, so it was important for us to listen and act on that feedback. The response since then, and the results we’ve seen, suggest that the changes have had a positive impact, helping us better support our broker partners and strengthen those relationships.

With a three-year-old and a one-year-old, hobbies outside of family life have definitely been put on pause! Very occasionally I get the chance to play golf, and I still like to think I’ll return to cricket one day, before I get too old.

Most of my downtime is spent at home, whether that’s tinkering in the garden, spending quality time with the family, or indulging in a takeaway and a bottle of wine - once the kids are finally in bed!

There are a few causes I support, but two organisations I particularly admire are the National Trust and the Canal & River Trust. I’m a National Trust member, and even if I don’t use it as much as I’d like, I’m very happy to support the work they do. The access they provide to historic places and green spaces is genuinely incredible.

The Canal & River Trust is similar in some ways, but with its own unique focus. I really appreciate the work they do maintaining waterways, preserving the heritage of our canals, and keeping the towpaths accessible. If organisations like these didn’t exist, I’m not sure who would take on that responsibility and we’d be missing out on something really special.