Broker profile: 'Marsh presented my dream role'

At 32, Louise Clarke is one of Marsh Australia’s youngest leaders, heading the CCActivate team of eight business development managers after relocating from Perth to Melbourne. 

Tell us about your role 

I am a trained chef but was drawn to the corporate world and through a friend I picked up my first corporate role. For a while I specialised as a bid manager for an insurance company but for the past 13 years my roles have centred on sales. 

About five years ago Marsh presented me with an opportunity to step into my dream role and I have never looked back. Currently, I manage a team of eight business development managers who specialise in selling insurance to small-to-medium and mid-tier companies.  

It’s my role to mentor my team. I share my experiences and show them how to identify opportunities, build a pipeline and nurture relationships. 

I am emphatic about putting clients first because this brings better outcomes for everyone. It’s critical that we first understand clients’ values, needs and challenges, and be familiar with their sector or industry, in order to make it easy for them to find the right solutions for their businesses.   

Client education is a big part of our team’s role. We share insights and case studies from our experience and help clients with insurance health checks and then link them to other specialists or services across Marsh who could be experts in construction, ESG, manufacturing, the music industry, people risk or any number of niche industries.  

We think of ourselves as strategic relationship managers rather than sales consultants because we bring so much value to clients. We are their first point of contact, assessing their needs and putting them in touch with the right experts in our business, whether it is risk management advice and planning they need, or insurance. 

What’s your management style? 

I’ve learned a few secrets from my father who was a highly successful salesperson who achieved recognition and managed teams across the Asia-Pacific. My father’s lessons have been pivotal in my approach and knowing the importance of taking the time to understand clients and put their needs first. 

Early on he taught me how to profile personalities and it’s one of those skills that I now use all the time. It’s all about reading subtle cues and adapting your communication style – I change the way I talk to people constantly based on who they are as individuals. 

An example is being able to work out whether a client would appreciate a chat or if they’re the kind of person who just wants to get down to business.  

It’s important to me that I walk the talk, I aim to lead by example. Authenticity is also important to me. It’s the key to diversity, so I encourage individuals to bring their real selves to work and identify their own meaning from what they do and why they do it.  

In my team everyone has unique value to offer and I take pride in nurturing them and making sure I prioritise their needs. It’s easy to do at Marsh because you can feel this from the top down.  

How are clients faring?  

One of the largest challenges we’re seeing across all sectors and industries is staffing, with many companies revisiting their propositions and benefits offerings to attract and retain good employees.  

We are currently making quite a few referrals onto the people-risk functions of our business who have been able to work with clients to plan and execute people strategies, including attracting the right leaders and managing key person risk, creating positive workplace culture and finding better ways of working. 

Many clients are still navigating covid and trying to work out what the future will look like in terms of workplace structure and flexibility. 

What do you enjoy outside work? 

I moved to Melbourne from Perth not long ago so on the weekends I love to get away and explore Victoria. I love snowboarding, catching up with friends, nightlife and eating out of course – you can’t take the chef out of me that easily. There are just so many nice restaurants here in Melbourne and I love going out to try new things. 

I also have a nice vinyl collection. There’s nothing better than combining good music with food!