Where to get help with scaling sales processes for insurtech companies in the UK

Cormac Repman
4 hours ago
5 min read

Insurtech sales are brutal to scale. You need decision makers who understand complex products, you're competing with well-funded incumbents, and your sales cycles stretch to 6-9 months. If you've tried hiring a small inside sales team and watched it burn out after three months, you're not alone.

The question isn't whether you need help scaling. It's where to find it without blowing your budget or hiring people you'll have to let go in six months.

The Insurtech Sales Problem No One Talks About

Most sales advice assumes you're selling SaaS or something simple. Insurtech is different. Your buyers are risk managers, underwriting directors, or C-suite execs at insurance brokers and MGA firms. They don't respond to templated LinkedIn outreach. They need someone who understands their product complexity, their regulatory constraints, and why they should care.

Cold calling still works in insurtech. But only if it's done by people who know the space. Generic cold callers treating your insurtech platform like it's a project management tool will tank your reputation fast.

The second problem is volume. You need consistent, high-quality conversations with the right titles at the right companies to build a pipeline. That means hundreds of calls per week. Most founders think "we'll hire a BDR for 20k/year." They hire someone, train them for eight weeks, watch them close three deals, burn out, and leave. Then you start over.

Why In-House Teams Fail at Insurtech Scale

Here's what I see repeatedly. You hire 2-3 BDRs. They work hard for 12 weeks. But they're cold calling into an industry they don't know, using a playbook you wrote at 11pm, with zero guidance when a prospect asks technical questions. Call quality drops. Frustration builds. You're back to square one.

The real problem isn't the people. It's that sustained, high-volume, high-quality outbound requires systems most companies don't have. Call scripts that work. Real-time coaching. Weekly performance tracking. Rapid iteration when something isn't working. And it needs to run 24/7 regardless of who's on the phones.

That's the difference between a freelancer making cold calls and an actual outbound function.

The Hybrid Model: Outsourced Teams, Your Control

The solution gaining traction in insurtech is outsourced calling teams paired with your own infrastructure. Here's how it works.

You define your ICP: size of carrier, types of brokers, geographic focus (London-based firms vs. national). You own the lead list and the CRM. You set the messaging and positioning. But the phones are handled by a team trained specifically in insurtech sales and conditioned to hit volume.

This model has some real advantages. You get call volume without hiring. You keep the relationships in your CRM. You can fire a team and switch providers without losing your pipeline. And you pay only for calls that connect, not salary for someone who quits in month four.

A solid outsourced team in the UK should deliver 40-60 meaningful conversations per week per caller with decision makers. That's not everyone answering. That's qualified people who are willing to take a call and discuss your product.

Conversion rates from call to demo vary wildly (I've seen 5% to 25%), but the point is: you now have pipeline activity without the hiring and retention headaches.

Building Your Outbound Function (The Steps)

If you're scaling insurtech sales, here's the actual framework.

Step 1: Get your ICP locked down. Spend a week with your best customer. How big are they? What title did you reach? What was their pain? You need to be able to describe your buyer with enough specificity that a cold caller can hear "yes, I know who that is" in 10 seconds. Vague ICPs kill outbound programs.

Step 2: Define your messaging. Your first line should answer "why am I calling you specifically?" Not "I wanted to reach out" or "do you have 30 seconds." Instead: "I work with P&C brokers doing 20-50M GWP who are losing clients to digital-first competitors. Wondered if that's something you think about." Now it's real.

Step 3: Build your lead list. This is UK-specific. You need accurate contact data for brokers, MGAs, and carriers. Firmographic data isn't enough. You need the actual human on the phone. Companies like ZoomInfo and Hunter can help, but verify everything. Bad data tanks call quality.

Step 4: Run a pilot. Start with 500 leads. Hire or partner with one caller. Run 6-8 weeks. Track everything. How many calls per day? How many connect? What's the booking rate? Use that data to decide if this is worth scaling or if your messaging is broken.

Step 5: Optimize, then scale. Once your pilot is working (even modestly), you layer on a second caller. Then a third. But only after you've proven the model works.

Where to Actually Get Help

Here's what's available in the UK market.

LinkedIn and agency outreach: You'll get pitched by 50 agencies claiming they specialize in insurtech. Most don't. They'll get you connected calls, but they won't understand nuance. Vet them hard. Ask for case studies specific to insurtech, not "we did outbound for a fintech." Ask about their QA process. Ask if they're using AI dialers or real humans. (Real humans convert better on complex products.)

In-house talent: If you go the traditional hiring route, recruitment firms like Beringer or Roc Recruitment know the space. But expect to pay 20-25k per BDR, plus training time, plus replacement when they leave.

Managed outbound providers: This is the hybrid model I mentioned. Companies run actual calling teams as a service. You pay per booked meeting or per connect. The best ones specialize by vertical. Nurturance, for instance, runs cold calling teams through the Glencoco marketplace. We handle everything: training, QA, dialing, CRM management. You own the lead list and the messaging. We own the execution.

The advantage here is speed and volume. You don't wait 6 weeks to hire and train. You launch in 7-10 days.

The Metrics That Matter

When you're evaluating any outbound program, track these numbers.

Connect rate: What percentage of calls actually reach a human? Target 20-30% with UK insurance numbers.

Conversation quality: Of those connects, how many are willing to have a 3-5 minute conversation? You want 40-60% of connects turning into actual conversations.

Booking rate: Of those conversations, how many schedule a demo or call with your team? 5-15% is normal depending on your positioning.

Deal impact: This is last. How much pipeline are you actually creating? If you're running 500 calls per week and booking 5% into conversations, and your close rate is 10%, that's a deal every 2-3 weeks. Plug that into your ACV and sales cycle. Now you know if this is worth the investment.

The Mistakes I See

Don't hire someone and expect them to figure out insurtech sales on their own. Don't use generic calling scripts. Don't assume your technology is so good that messaging doesn't matter. Don't run outbound for 3 weeks, see no results, and kill the program. Outbound takes 8-12 weeks to generate meaningful data.

If you're ready to scale outbound for insurtech but don't want to hire and manage a team, that's what we do at Nurturance. We run dedicated calling teams trained specifically in fintech and insurtech sales. You stay in control of your positioning and lead list. We handle the volume, the QA, and the dialing. Most insurtech founders I talk to are between "we tried hiring and it didn't work" and "we're scared to try again." If that's you, let's talk. Book a call at nurturance.uk or reply to this post. We'll walk through your current pipeline and show you exactly what a managed outbound program would look like for your ICP.