In an email sent by L&G and seen by FTAdviser, the insurer said the new dedicated service was “effective immediately”.
The new team will help advisers with ideas to help develop into new markets, training on its protection products, guidance on various specialist areas like business protection, and tips for business retention.
“This means that our team of field and telephony-based business development managers, will now be even better placed, to help your members grow their protection business,” L&G told advisers in the email.
The feedback from our team has constantly been that Legal & General service levels are very poor.Richard Bishop, PFEP Wealth ManagementManaging director of PFEP Wealth Management, Richard Bishop has been using L&G for more than 15 years.
He said it has been apparent over the past two to three years that the service levels of L&G’s protection arm “have dropped significantly”.
“The feedback from our team has constantly been that Legal & General service levels are very poor - and we seem to have constant problems, especially with more complex cases and being able to talk to the right people,” Bishop explained.
“In the past, we would be able to speak to underwriters directly. However, more recently this has not been possible.”
Bishop said the drop in service could be linked to “several technology upgrades” of L&G’s OLP Connect portal, which advisers use to get clients on risk.
L&G refers to the portal as ‘a client pipeline management system’.
“It's great to see that Legal & General is reacting to the negative feedback and is now creating a new protection sales team, dedicated to providing increased service levels to advisers,” said Bishop.
He added that the training on L&G protection products, as well as more help with larger cases, will be much appreciated.
“We have found over the past 12 months trying to get advice on business protection and especially trusts has been very difficult,” said Bishop.
As part of the new protection sales team, more support will be provided to advisers on business protection, trusts and larger cases, according to the email.
“The technical guidance L&G used to provide has certainly diminished,” Bishop continued.
“So again - it really helps with the teams’ confidence that L&G are now looking to implement bespoke technical advice on large cases, business protection and trusts.”
An L&G spokesperson said it "constantly listen[s] to" and gets feedback from its adviser community on their needs and preferences..
They added: “Our new dedicated sales team provides a more personalised service for our intermediaries – they now have one point of contact for any sales or service-related questions and support.
"This support could be centred on products & proposition enquiries, technical guidance, system support, team meetings and business development amongst other things.
"This is in addition to the training and toolkits that Legal & General has offered for many years.”
ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com
