Whenever I meet or present to advisers and brokers I am amazed by how many simply still do not approach GI because of a little mammal, opera singer or a very strange robot.
The usual comments are ‘how can I compete with online offerings?’ or ‘I just tell my client to go online’. Why anyone would want to send their client into the arms of rival continues to flabbergast me.
I would argue that that you really do not have anything to fear from online sites and that you can compete with the high profile, big advertising players by calling upon the skills that make you different, primarily your personal relationship with the client, personality, product knowledge and the support of your GI provider.
Joe Public may sometimes think they have become an ‘insurance expert’ and have the ability to make ‘informed’ choices online without actually speaking to a living being.
However, the reality is that they have not worked their way through the insurance industry for years building up the knowledge base, skills and contacts they need to find the right product with the right cover at the right price. This is where you can make a real difference as these two examples that came to us recently demonstrate.
Case 1
A client had asked us for a quotation based upon a rebuild value of £2m, our quotation of £6,500 was very attractive but they returned saying that they had found a quote online for around £6,200.
We followed up to check that they were actually achieving the same level of cover with the online quotation and found that the quote online was based on £1.8m rebuild and not £2m they needed. After they confirmed that £1.8m was indeed the rebuild value we were able to better the quote and won the business.
Case 2
We received a request for business insurance and provided a quote for £1,000. The adviser then called us to say his client had obtained quote from an unnamed aggregator site for £490 and could we do better.
Our experienced team having looked at the risk in detail knew something was not quite right and upon viewing the aggregator quote saw that wrong business type, wrong cover and wrong product had been selected. The client was informed of the problems that could cause at claim stage with likely refusal for incorrect cover and decided he should use the services of the adviser and accepted our premium of £1,000.
These examples demonstrate that clients sometimes lack the skills, knowledge and experience they need in order to make the right choice and have simply been swayed by a cute or annoying advertisement.
You work hard to get your clients, don’t leave it to chance that they end up in the hands of very pro-active, hard selling organisations who will have no problem in selling everything to them but may not actually provide the cover they need.
Online will remain attractive for your clients if advisers continue to fear the competition or worse push them down that avenue. Surely as an adviser you want every client to achieve the best possible level of protection via the right product delivering the right cover at a price they can afford.
Don’t fear the meerkat, be proactive and work with your clients and GI provider to ensure you always deliver the best deal and in return your clients will keep coming back to you time and time again.
