Member Article

Insurance recruitment agency on target to double in size this year

A specialist insurance recruitment agency has signed up its first international client and is on target to double in size in 2021 – despite the first lockdown completely wiping out its client base less than a year ago.

Boxtree Recruitment, which is headquartered in Essex, is on track to hit its annual turnover target by the start of the second quarter this year and has invested significantly in its digital presence to boost growth of the business.

The firm is now working with its first international client, a business based in Miami, USA, but in the main specialises in UK based insurance brokers, MGAs and insurers.

It has seen a 880 per cent increase in social media following over the last 12 months and adapted its practices to cater for the new market of digital recruitment and the need of the firm’s clients.

The business has doubled in size every year since it was set up in 2015 and at the start of 2020 invested profits back into the business to hire new staff, improve infrastructure and completed a move to a new office.

In March 2020 the firm went from having 100 jobs to source candidates for, to having zero jobs, with clients scaling back recruitment in a 24 hour response to the lockdown announcement.

Founder Toni Dines spent the first half of the year putting measures in place to allow Boxtree to support the digital needs of its clients and developing its social media presence.

Toni has been supported with guidance from leading accountancy firm Burgis & Bullock as Boxtree recovered from the impact of the pandemic.

The firm advised Toni on how to enhance the profitability of the business, increase client retention and ultimately give Boxtree the foundations to continue its growth.

The actions taken by Boxtree put the firm in a position to bounce back strongly from the pandemic and in the final quarter of 2020 the company achieved its entire 2019 annual turnover in one quarter.

Toni Dines said: “The first half of 2020 was really difficult for us but since then we have gone from strength to strength, with our profitability alone up 60 per cent compared to the previous 12 months.

“Working with Burgis & Bullock has supported the fast growth of our company. They have acted as consultants and provided great financial direction. We have done work with the firm on our average fees and client retention, which has allowed me to put together clear targets and grow the company.

“To have our first international client is very exciting and builds on the national client base we already have.

“We’ve invested in apprentices and experienced staff recently and are already looking at bringing two more people into the business. We are committed to one of these people being someone who lost their job due to the pandemic, which links into our desire to be a truly socially responsible business.

“We are hoping to able to add a further 15 staff members over the next few years and will be focusing our recruitment on people local to our Essex office.”

Sean Farnell, Partner at Burgis & Bullock, added: “We have worked closely with Toni over the last five years and it is excellent to see how Boxtree continues to go from strength-to-strength.

“The business is nominated for upwards of 25 awards this year and has fantastic potential for further growth. It has bounced back with great momentum from the pandemic, which is testament to the foundation Toni has put in place, and is in a fantastic position to establish itself as a sector leader in the future.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matt Joyce .