ProtectionFeb 17 2016

Vita reveals expansion plans following L&G awards win

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Vita reveals expansion plans following L&G awards win

Cardiff-based protection specialist Vita has created a brand charter, boosted its social media profile and has reinvested profits into developing a sophisticated system to help its clients and advisers.

It has also created a new website, that will include educational tools and quizzes to help consumers, and, in addition, has broken into the social media world with its first Twitter and Facebook accounts.

The firm, which was founded six years ago by Paul Reed and Barry Pappin, now has 11 members of staff, comprising nine protection advisers, one team manager and a policy administration manager.

Speaking at the Legal & General Business Quality Awards, where the firm won a Special Recognition award and a commendation for Outstanding Customer Outcome, Mr Reed unveiled some of Vita’s plans for growth and development, including the creation of a “brand blueprint” that encapsulates the firm’s brand vision and values.

Mr Reed said: “Our vision is to be trusted as the fairest and most credible protection adviser with the specialist knowledge to give the best advice, and the people who genuinely care about getting the right solution for each customer.”

He also listed the four brand values as: fair, knowledgeable, personal and efficient.

The aim is to make sure that each customer gets the right package, tailored to their personal needs, and that the customer feels listened to and understood.

L&G Business Quality Award winners

Outstanding Performance Award - John Charcol

Best Reinstatement Performance Award - Top Quote

Best Customer Retention Performance Award - Live Life Protected (protected.co.uk)

Customer Excellence Award (Firm) - Thameside Associates

Customer Excellence Award (Network) - Mortgage Advice Bureau

Special Recognition Award – Vita

Outstanding Customer Outcome – LifeSearch

Vita is also in the process of developing a processing platform, a bespoke customer relationship management system that it claimed would help it deliver to clients in a more sophisticated and efficient way.

Mr Reed said: “Our new system will enable us to have regular touchpoints with our clients and enable them to review their policy details online, engage in live chat with advisers, and receive monthly updates from Vita about different products and services that may be of benefit to them.

“For our advisers, a central knowledge base of underwriting guidelines, a digital replication of our process, and document creator will help save time and further enable excellent customer service.”

The website, which is set to launch within a fortnight, can be found at www.vita.co.uk. Its social media accounts including Twitter and Facebook can be accessed via @vitainsure and www.facebook.com/vitainsure respectively.

Industry view

Mark Holweger, managing director, partnerships, at Legal & General, said: “The winners of this year’s Business Quality Awards demonstrated an exceptional standard of customer service and retention.

“Recognising best practice in this way will hopefully encourage the industry to continue to deliver excellent service in the future.”