This time, we sat down with Märtin Kosk, our Head of Sales as he shares his story about his time at Insly. Across seven years, Märtin has held different sales-related positions and says that it never gets boring. He explains that B2B sales is not about selling, but helping the customer to buy. It’s especially important in the MGA space, considering that a full cycle MGA system might cover 90% of daily activities, which is why MGAs just can’t afford this decision to go wrong. Take a few minutes to get to know Märtin a bit closer, as we ask him about his time at Insly.
How long have you been working at Insly? What fascinated you, why did you want to join the team?
I have been at Insly since 2014. When I joined the team, I was really young and green and didn’t know absolutely anything about insurance. Me joining the team was really more of a coincidence. At the time, I was working as a sales guy at a small web marketing agency, doing websites and SEO for small companies. I felt like there wasn’t much more to learn for me, so I started looking around.
Insly caught my eye as a cool fintech startup with global ambitions and offices in Tallinn and London. I didn’t have much clue about the fintech industry, but the tech company environment and working with international customers seemed appealing. I was immediately sold after the interview with our CEO Risto Rossar – he told the Insly story so damn well.
What has your journey been like at Insly?
In one word: transformative. When I joined, Insly was still part of the IIZI insurance broker group which had a couple hundred employees. It felt like joining a really big company, even though the Insly team was maybe around 15-20 people.
I have had the pleasure of working in a sales and support hybrid type of role for very small customers, as Sales Development Representative for larger companies, handling those accounts independently as Account Executive, and eventually as Head of Sales. It hasn’t always been a straight path, there have been plenty of ups and downs. Though every time it has started to get a bit boring, there has been some change and things have suddenly got exponentially more interesting.
You work at Insly as the Head of Sales. As simple as possible: what do you do and how does that help customers?
I like to think of it this way: when a company engages with Insly, I want to make it as easy as possible for them to figure out whether Insly is a good solution for them. If that is the case, then make it as easy as possible to start working with us. It’s often said that modern B2B sales is not about selling, but helping the customer to buy. I think many companies still don’t appreciate how difficult it can be for their customers to buy from them.
The number of solutions available for solving any business problem has grown massively. This makes choosing something that works for your company, makes your staff and partners happy, fits in your budget, and keeps you ahead or at least on par with the competition an extremely difficult task that no one wants to handle alone. It’s especially hard in the MGA space, considering that a full cycle MGA system might cover 90% of your company’s day-to-day activities from quoting to accounts and claims. It’s not a decision you can afford to go wrong or would want to reconsider every six months.
Describe Insly in three words.
I will do it in two! Our tagline is “insurance easily”, but I would rephrase and go with “insurance reasonably”:
- “reasonably” has another connotation in Estonian which is doing things the right way. I think it seems fitting, because many of Insly partners work with quite complex insurance lines. To get that right from systems and operations’ perspective, you have to balance between simplicity and depth;
- I think we have really reasonable people working at Insly which is also what we often hear from our clients – that we are “a nice and reasonable bunch to work with”
What makes Insly different from other insurtechs?
I think we stand out from other insurtechs that work in operations for our deep expertise in intermediated distribution channels such as brokers, agents, wholesale, etc. It comes from the fact that a lot of our core team has a strong insurance broker background.
Can you point out some of the most interesting projects you have been involved in?
Actually, that’s quite difficult, because there is something unique about each of our clients – how they review risk, price it, work with their distribution partners, etc. I guess that is what gives them their edge and has allowed them to be successful in the first place.
What helps you let off steam?
I’m a music nerd who enjoys listening to and making music. The latter is especially good for going into that zone where the steam goes into the turbines and comes out as something positive.
What’s the funniest story that has happened to you at Insly?
I’m quite bad at retelling stories, but I’ll give it a go. This happened in good old pre-COVID days when business travel was still a thing. Me and our Sales Manager Robin Luc Oppenheim had just come out of a good meeting with a potential client in London City. We were shaking hands and saying goodbyes by the elevators. It was a very positive meeting, everyone was super excited, so it kind of felt right to do a Fonzie impression and that’s what I did. The prospect smirked a bit, but my colleague laughed our entire elevator ride down. In hindsight, it might have been funny, but definitely embarrassing.
Stay tuned for more stories introducing team Insly!
