‘Lunch and learn’ sessions have helped drive inward protection enquiries for Home Mortgage Solutions.
This is according to the adviser’s managing director Kate Stratton (pictured), who participated in the first day of the Income Protection Task Force’s Income Protection Awareness Week earlier today.
Addressing an online audience, Stratton explained she hit upon the idea of going into companies and spending lunch breaks with staff to talk about mortgages and insurance.
“You get taught algebra, which you’re probably not going to use, whereas the majority of people will aspire to buy a house,” Stratton continued.
“And the majority of people have a job, have income, a family they need to look after.
“But you’re not taught about how to buy a house or what the process is, or what to do to build up your credit score or how to protect your family if you become poorly.
“You’re not taught any of that, so I felt like it was our job as advisers to go in and teach people a little bit more about this kind of thing so they know what to expect when they get there.”
Inward enquiries
In terms of feedback, the sessions appear to have paid off.
“Because we talked about shared ownership and the first home schemes, we had a lot of apprentices from a recruitment company contact us off the back of that and said, ‘we’d like to discuss our options individually so we can see what we can do’.
“We also had a couple of companies where their staff benefits haven’t been wonderful – they’re just getting statutory sick – so a few of them have contacted us about income protection specifically,” Stratton continued.
Another example Stratton put forward was an individual whose mortgage was due for renewal and they had always just stayed with the same lender even amid spiralling interest rates, and did not know if they were getting the right deal or not.
“We had someone who had never remortgaged before and didn’t know what the term meant, so they wanted to book an appointment with us to go through it in a bit more detail,” Stratton said.
“The good thing is once you get the client in front of you and you have an appointment with them, you can review so much more with them than just their mortgage, you can look at the protection.
“That specific client had done her mortgage with her bank and they hadn’t mentioned life, critical or income protection – so when we talked about it in a bit more detail, that progressed and turned into more than just a mortgage.”
Start with your own clients
But advising her peers who may be considering following her example, Stratton suggested they start with their own clients who already know and love them.
“Just talk to all your clients. Most of them will have a job. Most of them work for a company and most of those will have more than one person working for them.
“We just contacted a lot of customers who genuinely loved us, explained what we were wanting to do and – because we had looked after them so well and they were really happy with us – they recommended that we speak to this person or that person within the company. That just made sure that I got the right contact to talk to.
“So if you are starting to want to create more of a connection with other businesses, I’d probably suggest starting with your customers because they love you.
“Also, I’m sure you’ve got some clients who are company directors. You can speak to them and say, this is what we’re looking to do with your staff, would this be okay? That’s probably where I’d start.”
Stratton pointed out that LinkedIn also presents opportunities for lead generation for lunch and learns.
“You’ve probably got a lot of people that you’re connected to on LinkedIn that you’ve probably never spoken to.
“You could just drop them a message, explain what you’re looking to do, maybe have a proposal on a pdf so you can email them directly. Maybe give them a call, that sort of thing is what I’d recommend.”