There’s not much Kirsty Baerwald hasn’t seen in her decades working in the insurance industry. She’s done everything from domestic underwriting to international brokering over the years. But for the last seven years she’s been a Risk Account Manager for Capricorn Risk Services in Adelaide, South Australia, helping Members get their protection right.
Who better to ask about the difference between a traditional insurer and a Member organisation like Capricorn when it comes to customer experience?
“The key factor with Capricorn is we’re out there in the field every day, face to face with Members, visiting workshops, seeing what they have in their workshops, helping them work out a way to value their assets, protecting what they need to protect,” Kirsty said.
“I know my Members. They ring me up and just pick up the story from before, because I know where they are, I know the workshop, and they just trust I’m going to get the job done for them. When you call a traditional insurer, you’re calling a call centre, and you could get anyone—and that person won’t have a clue about your specific requirements.”
Capricorn Risk Services has 30 Risk Account Managers across Australia and six in New Zealand, offering support to almost 12,000 Members who have their protection with us. Our Risk Account Managers are passionate about ensuring Members get the kind of service they expect—especially when disaster strikes. In fact, Kirsty said being able to help Members in their hour of need is the part of her job she loves most.
“I find it very satisfying knowing I’ve helped people in the best way possible to ensure they’re protected,” she said.
Kirsty recalled an incident last year, when she noticed a Member had bought a holiday home but hadn’t included flood coverage in the protection – a point that she raised with them during their next conversation.
“A day or two later they called me up and added it to their policy,” she said. “A few months later the Murray River flooded and they had a full loss of about $700,000. They were very, very thankful.”
All our Risk Account Managers have stories about helping Members in times of crisis, including Michelle Zaloum, who works with New Zealand Members in the Wellington and Taranaki areas. She had Members in Hawkes Bay affected by Cyclone Gabrielle in February 2023.
“I had one Member who had complete protection with us—building, customers, vehicles, contents, business interruption—pretty much the whole gambit,” she said.
“He basically used every protection that he had with us, apart from the protection for the vehicle that he drove away in.”
The damage that Member experienced was mainly flood damage after the cyclone caused the nearby river to burst its banks.
“In 30 years in business this guy had never had an issue,” Michelle said. “He thought his biggest risk was fire. He never for a second thought all his buildings, including his home, would be impacted by a flood.”
It’s the way that your Risk Account Manager gets to know you and your business that can make a big difference.
If you want to experience the personal touch of protection provided by Capricorn Risk Services and our dedicated team of Risk Account Managers, get in touch with us today.
Contact your local Risk Account Manager for more information, or simply call 1800 007 022 (AU) | 0800 555 303 (NZ) or email info@capricornrisk.com for assistance.
In Australia: 1Products sold through Capricorn Risk Services Pty Ltd (ABN 91 111 632 789) are: (i) discretionary risk protection products issued by Capricorn Mutual Ltd; and (ii) general insurance products issued by a range of insurers and brokered through Capricorn Insurance Services Pty Ltd. Before deciding to acquire any product, you should consider the Product Disclosure Statement available from Capricorn Risk Services Pty Ltd to see if the product is appropriate for you. Capricorn Risk Services Pty Ltd is a Corporate Authorised Representative (No. 460893) of Capricorn Mutual Ltd (AFSL 230038) and Capricorn Insurance Services Pty Ltd (AFSL 435197). For its protection, Capricorn Mutual Ltd has published a Target Market Determination which is available at capricorn.coop/about/capricorn-mutual. Capricorn Insurance Services subscribes to National Insurance Brokers Association of Australia's (NIBA) Insurance Brokers Code of Practice, available at cap.coop/NIBA.
In New Zealand:1Products sold through Capricorn Risk Services Pty Ltd include discretionary risk protection and general insurance products. Discretionary risk protection is issued out of Australia by Capricorn Mutual Ltd. Before deciding to acquire discretionary risk protection, you should consider the Product Disclosure Statement to see if it is appropriate for you. This can be obtained from Capricorn Risk Services by phoning 0800 555 303, emailing info@capricornrisk.com or checking the website capricorn.coop/risk. General insurance products are issued by a range of insurers and are available through Capricorn Risk Services Pty Ltd as a member broker of PSC Connect NZ Limited. Capricorn Risk Services is a registered financial services provider (390466) and a corporate Authorised Representative (No. 460893) of Capricorn Mutual Ltd (AFSL 230038). Capricorn Mutual Ltd has published a Target Market Determination for its protection, which is available at capricorn.coop/about/capricorn-mutual.
