Carl’s Email: Carl.Heard@lv.com

Hello and welcome to this week’s protection update.

What you’re immediately thinking, is that “these aren’t the dulcet tones of Vincent O’Connor that I am used to hearing each week”…and that’s because Vincent is currently enjoying a well-earned holiday. But the importance of protection doesn’t take holidays, so in his absence I have the pleasure of being your host this week.

My name is Carl Heard, and my role is National Account Manager with LV. And the question I have for you all this week is “Are Value Added Services adding value to YOUR business?”

Listen to a presentation by any insurer in the last 12 months, and I can guarantee the presenter will have emphasised the advantages of Value Added Services.

Personally I have been that presenter on multiple occasions. Why? Because I do truly believe they add value.

Dr Services is the name given to the Value Added Services available from LV=. And we know that your clients value the fact that Dr Services is included within their protection plans. How do we know that? From their increased usage of our value added services. Whether that is accessing a Private GP; obtaining personalised physiotherapy plans; or mental health support, we know those clients have experienced value from their protection plans, especially during the pandemic. They are deriving value from their protection plan direct debit. Immediate value – not waiting until a life changing event occurs and they need to make a claim…which is when we all know that is when the real value of their protection plan kicks in.

And this experience of value isn’t unique to LV=. In a recent survey by Pacific Life Re, customers across all age groups said that virtual GP services were the most appealing, with mental health and physiotherapy the other most important support services to them.

In the same survey, clients were asked not only about the intrinsic value of these services but what they saw as a monetary value. What would they be prepared to pay for these types of services on top of their protection premium each month?

Physiotherapy ranked the highest with clients saying they would pay £6.07 per month for that support; £5.75 a month for mental health support; and £5.19 a month for access to a virtual GP service. Just on those three elements of support, that’s a value of £17.01 per month that your clients are putting on these added services that come with their protection policies.

So we know that clients value these services, but does that add value to YOU and YOUR business?

Again referring back to the Pacific Life research, 43% of existing customers said that Value Added Services were important in remaining a customer. That’s a real illustration of clients seeing value, and now we are starting to see how this benefits you and your business.

Take a moment to think how that DOES benefit your business. Think about the current frustrations you face when a client stops seeing value in that protection policy you arranged…sees that protection premium as just another direct debit coming out of their bank account, reducing their disposable income.

Then let’s add to that the current increases in living costs we are all experiencing…how will that affect the value clients see in their protection plan premium? Especially if thankfully they, and their family, have remained healthy since putting that plan in place.

How does a cancelled protection policy affect YOUR income and YOUR ability to cover the increases in YOUR OWN living costs?

Clients utilising those value added services such as accessing a 24/7 private GP at a time that they need it…not ringing their surgery on a Monday morning hoping to get an appointment…means your client is seeing immediate, ongoing value in their protection plan direct debit.

How many potentially lapsed policies would be saved because clients didn’t want to lose access to these support services they are already using? Even it prompts them to call you to reduce their premiums, that is still a client retained, reducing the potential negative impact on you and your business.

Ok let’s have a quick reality check here.

Depending on your business model you are perhaps already working hard to keep up with mortgage lending criteria and different deals available to your clients; you are doing right by your clients by ensuring they get the right protection cover in place, which means knowing what protection product features are most suitable for that client in front of you; and now I am saying you should also learn all about the different value added services that come with those protection policies? In those immortal words of Star Trek’s Scotty, are you thinking you ‘cannae take any more captain’?!

But here’s the quandary. We know that clients using their value added services adds value to your client, and also your business. Folding value added services into your advice process is the right thing to do…for your clients, and for you. So how do you do it?

Taking feedback from advisers who already embrace value added services as part of their advice process, there are many ways that you can bring these to life with your clients without feeling like you’ve had to sit the latest CII exam.

Many of the insurance companies, such as LV, produce simple client facing booklets on the added services. So it could be as simple as handing that out to every new protection client.

My personal favourite, is making sure that when the client goes on risk and you start the protection cover, you highlight to them the added services that came with that protection policy. When you are telling your client the great news that, after heeding your professional advice, that they and their family are now financially protected should the worst happen…

Ok another quick reality check. Very few clients come banging on your door stating their need for protection. They appreciate the need for protection because they have had the advantage of meeting you, a financial adviser doing the right thing by them.

So what are they hearing when you tell them their policy is starting? That the new direct debit for that protection policy they didn’t know they needed, that covers them for the potential doom and gloom life throws at us, will start coming out of their bank account, reducing their disposable income? It’s perhaps not the most uplifting of conversations.

Before you close that stage of your relationship with the client, take the time to grab yourself a cuppa, maybe even treat yourself to a biscuit, and go on the insurance company’s website that you arranged the protection with and read up on what value added services came with that policy. Maybe even get the client facing booklet ready to email your client.

Then make that call to tell your client they are now on risk. But not just that they are on risk…from that moment on they have can derive immediate value from that protection policy…from that direct debit…through the added services that come as part of their cover. The ability to have a video or audio appointment with a private GP at any time; the ability to talk to someone about their physiotherapy needs and have a bespoke plan designed to get them back on the road to recovery; or the comfort of knowing that they have mental health support there should they ever need it. All immediate value that can be derived from that protection direct debit, without the need to make a claim.

And what a great time to be mentioning the word ‘referrals’ again.

How many clients will you retain because they experience that added value in their protection plans…and perhaps how many new clients will you see when your existing clients share their positive experiences of using those added value services in their everyday lives?

Please do grab that cuppa, grab that biscuit, and take a look at Dr Services on the LV website to see how these can add value to you and your clients.

Do chat to your LV account manager about these services and what other tools we have that can help you embed protection advice with your clients. Or feel free to drop me an email at carl.heard@lv.com

Thank you all for listening this week and allowing ME to be part of your weekly protection update. Hopefully Vincent if you are listening from your poolside sunbed, I have been a worthy substitute whilst you take that well earned beak.

Have a great weekend all! Thank you