Advising on business protection insurance can seem daunting, but leaning on business development managers (BDM) is the key to demystifying these benefits.
This is according to advisers participating in a panel session on the fourth day of Income Protection Action Week.
Income Protection Task Force (IPTF) chairman, Andrew Wibberley, (pictured far left), asked panellists whether business protection was more complicated than individual income protection as well as advice on speaking to clients about business protection.
More scary than it is
“It seems more scary than it is,” Louise Newnham, protection specialist at SPF Private Clients (pictured third from left), said. “Whereas before I didn’t do a lot of business protection, since joining SPF, I’ve done it a lot more.
“It can seem a bit daunting because it seems a bit different but it’s more or less the same thing – especially when you look at relevant life insurance, income protection.
“I think once you get talking about it you understand how it works. You understand the compliance process and everything behind it. Once you’ve done it a couple of times, it is not really quite complicated at all.”
Lean on your BDM
Chris Blyth, founder of Protect 365 (pictured furthest right), agreed and said the language around things like executive income protection does put people off.
“But fundamentally, it’s the same product and same foundations as income protection,” Blyth pointed out.
“It’s just written slightly differently, with the slightly different evidence there.
“Once you get your head around that, it makes a massive difference and you have that confidence.
“But what I always say is just lean on your BDMs because they will be able to talk you through the product. They are more than happy to sit with you for an hour and just explain it.
“And again, after an hour, if you don’t fully understand it, book another session and just keep doing that. And if you can become an expert in it, you can have that confidence to speak to business owners about it.”
Much like other policies
Nathaniel Lee, managing director Business Protected (pictured second from left), added once advisers get their heads around the benefit, business protection is much like any other policy.
“Obviously, you’ve got to look at whether it’s the key person or executive and you’ve got to think about tax position or whether you’re covering pension or what percentage of gross profit or what not,” Lee said.
“If you’re looking at group income protection, that can be really useful because if you’ve got a big enough team and they all need it, it can actually be much easier than all of the other income protection policies.”