Debbie Blanco

The lesson Debbie draws most often from years of client work is that the quality of an insurance outcome usually depends on the quality of the information given at the beginning.

So she is deliberate about making sure an insurer understands what a client actually does. That can mean the real business activities rather than the ones on the registration, whether there is asbestos on site, driving history, work carried out away from the usual premises, business run from home, and the exact nature of higher-risk work such as earthmoving, underpinning or piling.

None of this is paperwork for its own sake. It is the difference between a policy that responds and a policy an insurer can question.

Debbie regularly finds clients holding two reasonable-sounding beliefs that a policy does not share.

The first is that machinery breakdown cover stands in for maintenance. It generally does not, and wear and tear is usually not turned into an insured event by having the cover.

The second is that a sum insured set some years ago is still the right number. Building and asset values need revisiting, or a client can be materially underinsured without anything visibly changing.

Debbie’s service style is built on being reachable and following through, including outside ordinary hours when a client genuinely needs help.

At Consolidated Insurance Brokers she works with three colleagues across her client portfolio. That team structure is what lets her keep the personal attention she values while carrying a broad and sometimes complex book.

She does not assume a client should already know insurance terminology. Her job is to ask the right questions, explain the differences that matter, and make the decision easier to make.