There is a song by Massive Attack that goes: ‘I stand in front of you, I’ll take the force of the blow, protection’.
Whilst we cannot take the full force of the blow suffered by people when they are hit by tragedy, we do help soften the blow. We stand with our clients and their dependants, helping them to withstand almighty knocks and get back up when they are knocked down.
So why is the amount of protection being written not growing and why do we have a growing gap of £2,600bn?
I believe this is only to be expected in a digital age where consumers are bombarded with consumerist messages from every channel and when the total number of advisers are so low.
This makes every interaction we make with people so important. The time in front of a client whose attention span is limited by external stimuli is golden – it represents an opportunity to really help them take control of their families’ financial future.
It is therefore incumbent upon us to ensure we understand their protection needs. To really make sure they understand this is not protecting them from something that only happens to ‘other people’.
It is also important to ensure we clearly explain that costs of cover are not prohibitive – what should and could be covered and for what – that this insurance does pay out and helps people every hour of every day.
Can protection be a pain to complete? Yes, sometimes more than other types of insurance.
Is the industry working on improving the process and reducing your costs? Yes, and there is enough support and tools available out there now to help you write business more effectively and faster.
Is it worth taking a customer through this when they have just spent two hours on a Mortgage Market Review compliant mortgage process? Yes, they will thank you for it in the long run.
Do I have to go through full fact find process there and then? No, use tools to explain the importance of cover and cement the need to go through a separate protection review, helping them realise there are affordable solutions that meet their needs.
I know some of you reading this article will say we always do this. But it is clear from the numbers that we need to redouble efforts and look to see if we are always helping ‘take the force of the blow’.
Paul Yates is a product strategy director at iPipeline UK.
