Sesame Bankhall Group has launched a protection campaign in a bid to steer more of its advisers and their clients to protection products.
The network is asking its 11,000 advisers, which span Sesame Network, Bankhall, and PMS Mortgage Club, to sign up to a pledge which commits them to talking about protection with every client they advise.
In return, the network said it will offer advisers “a wide array” of support from its in-house experts and providers to facilitate the conversation.
The support includes “bespoke” content such as articles, podcasts and webinars which cover sales skills, objection handling, writing a client’s plan into trust, understanding the underwriting process, and introductions to product types.
The three-month campaign will eventually make the content “freely available” to all advisers across the market to use in order to raise awareness of protection and improve advisers’ conversations around it.
Last month, advisers were also told to “save” their clients’ current protection policies, with trade bodies wary many individuals may cancel their direct debits in the face of rising living costs and historic levels of inflation.
UK inflation hit a new high of 7 per cent in March, having now surged ahead of the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target each month since May last year.
Sesame’s protection head, Emma Thomson, said today (May 5): “Protection insurance provides valuable financial support in times of real need; it helps people to stay in their homes and pay the bills when coping with illness, injury or bereavement.
“It is vital we help more consumers to be protected against the unexpected. That’s why we are asking advisers to join us and together place protection at the centre of their customer conversations.
“In return, we promise to offer advisers a wealth of resources and training content, so those conversations become easier.”
Thomson said the network was aware that writing protection business “does not come naturally to everyone”, so it has promised to help advisers connect with partner firms for those who would prefer to refer their clients to a protection specialist.
The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries said the rate of mortgage brokers signposting clients to protection specialists rose by 11 percentage points last year.
Trade bodies have long advocated for brokers to become better at signposting their clients, in a bid to close the protection gap. That is, the gap between those who have a mortgage, and those who have taken out protection to insure their mortgage payments.
ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com
