The option will allow advisers to outsource customers to Paymentshield while retaining “full oversight of the sale”.
Paymentshield said that the referral service would ensure quality general insurance advice was still accessible to clients and advisers could offer customers a call-back from Paymentshield in a specific time slot.
The referral service is integrated into the digital Adviser Hub Dashboard, so will give advisers transparency on every lead and customer interaction.
This means whether the adviser offers the advice themselves or refers it to Paymentshield they can track all their general insurance business.
The interface shows all actions against each lead, such as current status, contact history, next steps, and at-a-glance data graphics showing overall referral conversion rates.
The referral service allows Paymentshield to offer a fully-regulated solution to firms that are not regulated by the FCA to sell general insurance products.
The service was trialled with firms The Openwork Partnership and Home Loan Partnership and had an average quote to sale conversation rate of 65 per cent where Paymentshield called the customer and discussed their needs.
Consumer Duty builds necessity for GI
Paul Shearman, proposition director at The Openwork Partnership, said: “With the Consumer Duty now in effect, it is vital that all advisers continue delivering comprehensive solutions and not walking past clients’ needs for GI and pure protection.
“The introduction of Paymentshield’s new referral model is therefore very timely and provides a great solution for those advisers who prefer to engage a GI specialist to support their clients, but don’t have the resource within their own business. It is early days, but the initial trial results are really encouraging.”
Emma Green, distribution director at Paymentshield, said: “We believe that the best way to buy insurance is by getting advice, but given the challenges in the current market, with advisers having to work harder than ever, we recognise that they might miss opportunities to offer general insurance advice.
“So, we’ve developed an innovative solution to support them – in turn ensuring their customers are still getting the best possible outcome, and that advisers can still develop a valuable income stream from general insurance. In essence, when it comes to general insurance, we want to ensure that advisers can sell it or refer it, but don’t ignore it.”
She added: “We’ve worked hard to develop the tech that underpins this new offering, making the process completely transparent for advisers so they can instantly see how the lead has progressed.
“Our new digital dashboard presents all the data in a really clear format, and we’ve had really positive feedback from partners who have already used it. We’re looking to further expand our referral options in the coming months, so watch this space.”
