Angela’s top tips for talking protection

We’re big fans of protection tips here at MI, and we hope you are too; protection is the best way for advisers to safeguard their customers and themselves against life’s less welcome surprises. Over the past year, we’ve seen challenges to our nation’s physical, mental and financial health, all of which are issues that protection can help with. And for advisers, on top of everything else, we’ve seen the most changeable mortgage market in a while!

So, in order to share our love for protection with you and help you share it with others, we asked our head of protection, Angela Davidson, for her top three tips on talking protection. Here are her words of wisdom:

1) Make it business as usual

We might think that talking about protection at the same time as a mortgage takes too much time, but mortgages and protection belong together! Through addressing them together, it ultimately saves time in the long run and pays dividends. When an adviser talks about them in the same breath from the very start, subtly drip-feeding protection into every part of the fact find, clients start to understand the value more and take up the protection they so need.

2) Turn the tables

Have your clients do the talking and ask them what they understand of protection. Some may well know all about it and how it works, maybe they’ve bought it in the past, or they may have very limited knowledge, such as first-time buyers. But this approach can bring up the clients’ experiences, or that of their friends and family, in a way that opens up the conversation on a totally different level. Regardless, clients love to talk, we all do. If there are knowledge gaps, it’s your opportunity to explain and you’ll be able to position it just right.

3) Drop the quote

Fact: there are a million and one hurdles to selling protection. So, why do we inadvertently tell clients to go to the comparison sites by telling them we are giving them a quote? Hearing the word ‘quote’, automatically triggers in us the need to seek out more quotes. It’s such a shame when advisers do an incredible amount of research and use their expert knowledge to bring recommendations to their clients, only for them to walk straight into the hands (or paws) of the meerkats… We can’t stop clients going online completely, but by eliminating the word quote from our conversations, at least we won’t be contributing to the problem.

We hope that you feel better equipped to talk protection and share the love. However, if this has sparked your curiosity and you’d like to hear more of Angela’s advice, why not attend one of her protection masterclasses? Call 07764 856 553 or email adavidson@experiencemi.co.uk to find out more and sign up. Or head over to Broker Zone to see our protection marketing materials.