NIBA / Professionalism
Importance of Storytelling Beyond negotiation, Bates is also advocates for a skill many brokers undervalue: storytelling. “Storytelling is such an underrated skill in our industry,” he says. “At NYU, I saw first- hand how professionals distilled complex data into compelling, relatable narratives. For brokers, that means framing risk advice not as a list of exposures and policy clauses, but as a story with a beginning, middle, and end.”
“The beginning is the client’s current position. The middle is the potential risks and scenarios. The end is the solution and its impact. When clients can picture the ‘why’ and ‘what if’ in real-world terms, they make more confident, informed decisions. It’s about turning technical language into a clear, human conversation.” By transforming dense insurance advice into a narrative arc, he invites clients to become protagonists in their own risk management story. The result is engagement, clarity, and trust. Seeing Australia Through Global Eyes Immersed among global peers, Matt had the rare vantage point of comparing Australia’s broking industry against other sectors and geographies.
“Being the only Aussie, and the only broker, meant the conversations went well beyond business and insurance,” he recalls. “I got to see how other industries approach negotiation, spot the similarities, and also identify opportunities to borrow and adapt their tactics to broking.” What struck him most was the scale of the global market. “It was humbling to see how relatively small our market is on a global scale, but equally reassuring to realise that in many respects, Australia’s broking market is highly mature. That combination of humility and confidence is a great mindset to bring back home.”
22 / INSURANCE ADVISER AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2025
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