When it comes to the future, nobody wants to dwell on what will happen if things get worse. People like to stick their heads in the sand and believe it will not happen to them, but advisers should ask their clients how can they know what the future holds?
Most people will know someone who has had to take time off work due to ill health or have been made redundant.
Martin Noone, distribution director for retail protection of Legal & General, recommends advisers spend time with clients completing a detailed budget planner.
“The budget planner is a visual aid which allows the client to see what they spend their money on and enables the adviser to ask questions around what the client would do if they were to fall ill or have an accident and be unable to work.
“It also helps to identify what a client likes to spend their money on, i.e. luxury goods, and what they might have to give up should they not have cover in place.”
Mark Anders, director of sales and marketing for individual protection at Friends Life, adds: “An adviser must follow the regulatory process regarding the needs and solutions that customers may require advice on.
“If a potential customer is unwilling to understand, consider and buy into the different scenarios that an adviser presents, it is difficult to see how any objections could be legitimately overcome.
“Discussions with all customers, whether this leads to a purchasing decision or not, should be documented.”
Tom Baigrie, chief executive of LifeSearch, says if an adviser felt uncomfortable tackling a client’s objections to taking out a protection policy then they could consider recommending they speak to an adviser who mainly does this type of business.
“Referring clients to specialist advisers is growing in popularity post-Retail Distribution Review as professionalism gathers momentum.”
But Mr Baigrie states advisers should always be happy to talk about the need for protection, even if they do not feel best placed to recommend a product.
“There is nothing wrong with quoting factual information, of which there is an abundance in protection, in particular paid claim statistics from insurers.
“Where the regulator has had an issue in the past refers to advisers making generic statements, such as one in three people will get cancer, which applies to people of any age, when policies may only cover up to a certain age, for example.”
