Protection Update 10th December 2021

Protection Update 10th December

Protection Review Roundup, More Karla recognition, Guardian upgrades and Welcome to Cirencester Podcast

Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s protection update.

Protection Review Roundup

This week saw what I think is the last protection conference in the shape of Protection Review.  There have been quite a few recently and if you take a look at the trade press, there are stories about quite a few of the highlights including an article from John Brazier in Cover Magazine who posted an article yesterday which asked “Does a sales culture have a place in protection?”

This was off the back of an interesting debate at the conference which really asked the question of a “sales culture” in the non-advised distribution channel.

Tom Baigrie who set up LifeSearch gave a passionate case for advised sales and he said that because of the language used in the non-advised sales process there is just no duty of care towards the consumer or any redress available should it go wrong through the Financial Ombudsman Service.

And whilst our industry will continue to evolve… serving a younger demographic who wont always see the benefit and value of proper financial advice; my question is what are we doing right now?

Do you have a response if you were challenged by a client who tells you they want to buy their protection online?

Let’s say cheaper?

How would you respond?  How do you explain benefits of proper financial advice and can you give an example of how this leads to much better customer outcomes?

Can you explain it in a way the client can easily understand and appreciate?

On our sales workshop that we run each month (give me a shout if you want to join in);  it’s called “Putting Protection on the Agenda” we ask a simple question…

“Why should I use you if I can go online and buy it cheaper?”

This is a simple objection handle.

How would you respond?

  • Is it your ability to tailor make a bespoke protection solution?
  • What about your knowledge of underwriting? It’s different across different providers and you can use your expertise to help find the best solution for your client?
  • What about Trusts? Can a client do this themselves?  Can you explain the benefits and your ability to take care of that crucial component in the whole protection setup?

There are so many reasons that you can easily demonstrate why talking to you is so much better than them trying to do it themselves.

More Karla recognition 😊

Now at the Protection Review Awards, I just wanted to give another mention to Karla Edwards.  You will have heard me talk about her before in terms of the various awards she’s been nominated this awards season.  She’s quite new to The Right Mortgage and Protection Network, but she’s a real star in the protection advice arena and she’s had lots of really well-deserved recognition.

Personally; I don’t really do much social media.  I never really jumped on the various platforms and if I’m honest, I don’t really understand them.

But Karla is an example of someone who’s doing things in a modern way using social media to promote the need for protection and it must be working because Karla; you’re doing great.

On Wednesday night Karla was nominated once again and whilst she didn’t win this time; what a season it’s been.  Amazing. Really well done!

If you want some inspiration about how you can get protection front and centre of your business in 2022; go and visit Karla’s website at www.theprotectionparent.co.uk and perhaps you can find out how to bubble wrap your home and perhaps find out what’s love cover?

Guardian upgrades… hot off the press!

Next, I just want to give you the heads up about Guardian who have just launched some really good improvements to their added value benefits.

We know that Guardian have something called ‘HALO’ built into their proposition.

This is a support service which gives customers access to lots and lots of services including face-to-face second medical opinion from a UK Consultant, support with returning to work, estate planning following a terminal illness diagnosis, help to draw up a power of attorney and lots more.  It’s really good.

Well, this week, Guardian have announced a neurological occupational therapy partner (I’m not sure how many of these are available via protection plans at the time of this recording?)

But this new service will give claimants and their families access to specialist advice and support to help them navigate the challenges of a neurological diagnosis. We’re talking here support for clients who are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, a stroke, or an injury to the brain, spine or central nervous system.

Yes, the payout from a Critical Illness policy is good but the client might have a long road to recovery ahead and access to specialist support like this will make quite a difference.

So, well done Guardian!

Guardian have released a new sales aid which explains a bit more and I’ve added a link to this week’s protection update.

Download Guardian’s new sales aid >>

Protection Insight Podcast

And finally, I think I’ve got 2 more protection insight podcasts to release before we get to Christmas.

This week, I sat down with Paul Shepherd from Cirencester Friendly and we recorded a ‘Welcome to Cirencester’ podcast.

Cirencester are a specialist IP provider and we talked about that as well as what a friendly society is all about and what makes them a little bit different.

So once again, the link is on this week’s protection update.

So that’s it from me for another week.

Watch the “Welcome to Cirencester” Protection Insight Podcast >>

Have a super weekend and I’ll see you soon!