Few financial advisers are the same. What works for some doesn’t work for others and if you ask ten advisers the same question you’ll often get at least half a dozen different replies.
Over the last 18 months we have been around the UK training financial advisers and para-planners about the UK protection market – everything from products, pricing and underwriting through to sales and overcoming objections.
We teamed up with the Personal Finance Society to provide independent sessions aimed at improving knowledge and understanding of the protection industry at all levels.
One of the most interesting parts of these sessions has been hearing about what other financial advisers do and passing that knowledge on for discussion in future sessions.
In particular, it is interesting to get a sense of how advisers go about broaching the subject of protection needs given the oft-cited reticence on the part of clients to engage with the subject. Moreover, some of the real-world tips advisers have given on how they recommend products and how to ensure policies are written in the client’s best interest are illuminating.
Some ideas might appeal, some you will have heard before, and others will be quickly dismissed. But what follows are some of the best ideas we’ve heard from advisers - and a few others too.
1. Employee handbook
Let’s start with one of the best ones. Some advisers always try to get a copy of any new client’s employee handbook that is produced by their employer. Assuming the client is employed most firms put this information online, so it should be relatively easy to obtain.
Policies in trust typically have much better persistency than those not under trust and every trust form is a potential new clientWhat the adviser then does is to provide a one-page summary of the benefits provided by the employer – pension, life cover, sick pay etc – all on one easy to read page. What this also does is highlight any gaps the client may have in terms of their financial protection, so as well as telling them what it does it also spells out what is missing.
What is more, this becomes an excellent referral tool because the client may well tell their colleagues about this nice and simple one page summary sheet, which others might want to see for themselves as well. Occasionally, it might just lead to conversation with the employer too.
2. Advertising
Over the last year or so a number of insurers have spent large sums advertising the need for protection on television. Aviva’s campaign with Paul Whitehouse springs to mind, as does the Unum ‘back-up plan’ adverts featuring a real life magician.
