"We have found that companies are no longer putting in the effort to support advisers with soft skills when they first qualify."
- Ahmed Bawa, CEO at Rosemount Financial Solutions (IFA)
Rosemount Financial Solutions (IFA) recently held a protection masterclass, delivered by Michael Welton, Business Strategy Manager at Rosemount Financial Solutions, and Iain Pollock, Protection Consultant at Zurich UK.
The session explored ‘sales hints and tips for protection’, discussing the importance of personalised follow-ups, offering client’s multiple products whether as part of a multi-policy or multi-benefit package, and using pre-prepared templates to explain the benefits of protection.
“There has always been huge appetite from our advisers to learn more about protection, [but] from speaking with advisers, there appears to be an education gap.”
At the time, Ahmed Bawa, CEO at Rosemount Financial Solutions (IFA), highlighted that “There has always been huge appetite from our advisers to learn more about protection, [but] from speaking with advisers, there appears to be an education gap from a more practical sense when it comes to the preparation required to successfully deliver a client experience in a more structured, scenario-driven format.”
Speaking to Protection Reporter, Ahmed explained that this series of masterclasses was established in response to Consumer Duty which sets a “higher standard of consumer protection for financial services.” He felt it was vital that advisers inform clients about protection products but nowadays “people achieve CeMAP and become mortgage and protection advisers without soft skills” which is impacting the number of conversations.
“We have found that companies are no longer putting in the effort to support advisers with soft skills when they first qualify.”
This was reflected in this year’s Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) Viewpoint, which found that the percentage of consumers that can recall their mortgage broker discussing protection has increased by almost 20% since 2020 but only 34% of advisers take the time to understand a consumer’s circumstances. Meanwhile, 70% of advisers failed to help their client to understand the gaps in their current financial arrangements and less than 30% of consumers feeling confidence in their adviser’s ability to give impartial advice.
Consequently, Rosemount Financial Solutions (IFA) has considered different media forms to help advisers communicate the importance of protection, such as seminars on body language since this pertains to video calls. “If I am on a video call with a client and want the client to start talking, I will put my hand up to my face to make it clear that I am finished speaking, this helps with the flow of the conversation and helps prevent interruptions,” Ahmed explained.
“Personalised follow-ups are key; it’s paramount that the client has a good understanding of the product and that we can answer any questions or concerns they may have.”
Discussing the key findings from the most recent masterclass, Ahmed emphasised the importance of presenting at least three protection products to clients, including Life Assurance, Critical Illness (CI), and Income Protection (IP). “This builds a portfolio of protection based around circumstance, [allowing] the adviser to cover more eventualities and ensure that the client is maximising the level of protection within their budget” he said.
Finally, Ahmed highlighted the importance of using customer-facing tools to help clients understand the importance of protection. He noted that there are “online tools such as risk reality calculators that show the likelihood of different claims such as sickness, critical illness, or death.”
