Protection Distributors Group chairman Neil McCarthy has sought to scupper the narrative that “protection products are sold not bought”.
Speaking at the Protection Review conference, McCarthy told delegates the sector may like to hide behind the idea that its products are “sold not bought” but there is a great appetite among customers to buy life cover – particularly online.
McCarthy (pictured) added that customers were aware of protection insurance and were willing to buy it.
“There is a bit of a misunderstanding,” McCarthy said.
“We can hide behind the fact that these products need to be sold but a lot are bought. And if you think about how much of this business from life cover is being bought online, then we know that there is a demand out there.
“We have talked about creating greater product awareness from consumers – but we haven’t yet done that efficiently,” he added.
Customer acquisition
McCarthy also highlighted that customer acquisition in the protection sector was “a bit of a mess”.
He agreed there was better engagement now than in the past through client referrals and signposting.
However, some wealth managers and mortgage specialists were just not engaging with protection, and either were not writing protection or as with the case with some mortgage specialists were “switching on and off”.
Poor customer service
Turning to adviser feedback on insurer service levels, McCarthy revealed poor service levels were a turnoff, with some advisers prepared to vote with their feet and not support those who are delivering bad customer service.
When asking intermediaries about examples of poor customer service, McCarthy revealed advisers point to insurers taking up to 30 minutes on calls, taking a long time to review medical evidence from GPs and “pointless” online tracking systems.
“That’s not a great environment for our business,” he added.
“It’s also I would say quite symptomatic of some of the services being seen out in the marketplace over the last 12 months.”