What is the Protection industry wishing for in 2024? (Part 2)
Following on from yesterday’s insight, today we have produced the seconbd part of our “what is the protection indsustry wishing for in 2024” insight. Today we hear from Matt Chapman, Angela Davidson, Michelle Lawson and Aviva with their wishes ranging from better collaboration, letting go of the budget conversation and more focus on value.
“2023 has been another one of those years, hasn’t it? It’s been very busy. There’s been lots going on, there’s been lots of uncertainty, and we have made quite a lot of deliveries at Aviva and we’ve done them on the back of adviser feedback. So there’s a facility within our system to get adviser feedback and we act on that. And I think the results that we’ve seen show that more things like this, like today, advisors and insurers collaborating together, will make a difference. “
“We’ve sent 1 million email alerts to advisers, keep them up to date with the progress of their cases, early warning of lapses, that kind of thing… The reason I’m saying that is because all of those things were on the back of advisor feedback. Are we there yet? No. It’s a continuous journey of improvement. Providers want to give good customer service. And yeah, we need to listen to what the adviser feedback is to be able to do that.”
“Cost of living pressures we think will persist beyond 2023. And we know that there’s been house price fluctuations. So there’s been housing market uncertainty. And again, we think that’s going to continue to impact the market in 2024.”
“We really, really want to drive our protection stuff forward. What we have found is that there’s a real lack of educational, generic, branded or non-branded or the opportunity to co-brand insurer marketing. Because, you know, as a small business, we don’t have a massive marketing budget, we don’t have the facility to do all of that. And so I was kind of looking around and getting in touch with insurers to sort of say, look, what have you got that can kind of direct market, just short, snappy videos. And there was a really good one that I can’t remember where it was now, but it was one where there was a guy, he had an accident, he’d fallen off his bike. It was just a real easy thing. He was out riding his bikes with the kids in the forest, fell off his bike. Obviously he needed income protection. He had income protection, which paid out. Completely changed for the family. It was a short 1.5 minute video and punchy, but perfect”
“And we’ve had people saying about collaboration today, and that’s one thing that I’ve really found lacking.”
“My wish comes from sort of the last 10-15 years of noticing this becoming more prevalent. And what my wish is, is that we’d let go of advising to a budget for protection. And I know that might be controversial, but asking somebody to think of a number and give you a number to put your protection into, I just really feel like it’s restrictive. And it means that if an adviser does that, that they might not be able to hit the right things that those clients need. Now, I totally understand how it helps some people to get their protection written, but as I say, I think it’s very restrictive. And it also kind of assumes that people aren’t going to want to take on different protection that might cost a little bit more. Now, I know we’re in a cost of living crisis. So yes, I get that there’s a squeeze on finances, but I also see that we kind of assume that people can’t afford stuff instead of putting in front of them what they need and then having a grown up conversation and saying, right, okay, these are your needs.”
“I think I have a real problem with trying to get a client to sort of even establish some kind of high level budget when they have no idea what protection costs. They haven’t even considered underwriting. They don’t know the value yet. It’s almost like saying to someone, well, how much would you like to spend? Well, absolutely nothing, because at that stage you haven’t created the value in what you’re talking about. So the first thing to do is to sit down with the client. You establish the need. You create the value. Price is only an issue when the value isn’t there. Value always supersedes and trumps cost.”
