"We can make our minor amendments sound groundbreaking, as if we’ve invented a new antibiotic or found the cure to the common cold."
The protection market has its flaws, but by and large, a lack of enthusiasm isn’t one of them.
However, this enthusiasm can sometimes boil over, particularly when we write about our products or services and any tweaks we do to improve them.
Finalising proposition changes often isn’t a simple process. It can take a lot of effort and involve a legion of people just to make the smallest alterations due to the nature of what we do.
Because of that effort, it can feel like a huge victory when they finally get over the line.
What is the result? When we go to market to share these changes, the language we use can be feverish to say the least.
“We can make our minor amendments sound groundbreaking, as if we’ve invented a new antibiotic or found the cure to the common cold.”
Much of the time, customers will be indifferent about our hard work and won’t really care about the tweak we’ve been working on for weeks, months, or even years.
So, with this being the case, every time someone in the industry talks about their ‘innovation’, I take it with a pinch of salt.
It must be the most overused word in protection, but how many times is it justified?
Of course, there have been notable exceptions. I’m told by my much more experienced (older) colleague, Paul Yates, that the launch of multi-benefit in the 1990s was a major leap forward and worthy of the term.
Similarly, the development of Critical Illness Cover (CIC) was truly groundbreaking. But these game-changing initiatives are few and far between.
“While there have been developments, they haven’t changed the world or people’s lives significantly and are incremental improvements at best.”
We aren’t the only sector to overuse the word. I see innovation used to describe a whole host of different products, but very few can stake a claim to the word. They aren’t the Walkman, iPhone, or TikTok.
Humans have a natural desire to explore the world around them. This inquisitiveness has spurred on inventions that have shaped our world, such as the wheel or the compass.
The protection market is unlikely to make such monumental differences, but what we do is important and we should push ourselves to be more ambitious and to think big.
We shouldn’t settle for how the protection market looks today.
Are our products what people want to buy? Do they meet the current needs of consumers? How does the process to buy and ‘consume’ protection compare with other sectors?
“We are still failing to protect millions across the UK.”
I’d like us to be more honest about the developments we’re making and grasp the true spirit of innovation within the market. This requires honesty, commitment, and bravery.
I want to see us take on these challenges and deliver real, unequivocal innovation. But this doesn’t mean we stop tweaking what we have already – there is always room for improvement.
