THE PERFECT TIME TO COUNTER THE ONLINE PROTECTION PROVIDERS

Following on from our previous posting - HOW DO WE COUNTER THE EFFECTS OF HIGHER HOME INSURANCE PREMIUMS FOR CUSTOMERS? - here is part II and why now may be the perfect time to counter the online protection providers.

Have you tried to get in touch with any online businesses during lockdown? Like most businesses, their customer facing teams have been affected and largely been put on the furlough scheme. Few may be getting back to some kind of normality but for many online firms, which prefer customers to interact totally online, it has shown up just how little resource they had invested in the human touch. Try finding a contact number sometimes let alone phoning and speaking to someone!

Currently, online insurance providers are not coping well with calls from prospective customers primarily because they cannot cope with the level of enquiries.

As advisers, we all know that choosing insurance is not the same as buying a commodity like potatoes. Potatoes don’t need an explanation except perhaps on the many ways to cook them! A potato just is. An insurance policy however requires understanding and that leads to questions that sometimes only a human being can answer.

So, for advisers, this is actually a good time to establish or re-establish personal contact with customers and make them aware that you are there to help them, answer their queries and guide them towards the right solution for their circumstances and demonstrate the true value of advice.

Action point 

• Establish how many of your customers are currently relying on online providers for their GI needs – have you spoken to your customers about this service? How many have bought their policy from you?
  
  
• Create a contact plan to call them to establish when their renewal dates are due (the month before they exchanged on their mortgage helps to narrow it down and make sure your call is around the right time).
  
  
• Consider it an opportunity to make appointments for review, not only of their insurance, but what better time to do a full review of all their financial and protection needs?

The important idea is to establish you and your firm as the primary source of information and the default choice if customers have a query for any of their financial needs.

People like to deal with people and as advisers, we can tend to forget what makes our service so different from that provided by an online source. 

It is absolutely not just about the premium.

Get in touch and let us help you help your clients.

03332 000 444
advisers@assurant.com