Kelly Phillips , Business Development Quality Manager , SimplyBiz

Business quality monitoring can sometimes be seen as the slightly negative side of being a protection adviser - a slightly tricky issue to raise or discuss . But it doesn ’ t have to be that way . In light of The Consumer Duty , advice quality is more pertinent than ever before , and I would like to help you understand what providers mean when they discuss quality and how to have positive conversations around this issue . To have better quality is to have better outcomes for customers and ultimately a more profitable business .

Good quality business starts with good advice and the key to delivering good advice is knowing your customer . This means understanding not only the customer journey but the customer themselves . Every customer has unique circumstances , so it is crucial to understand the reasons and drivers for their individual needs . This will allow you to tailor your advice to the customer . Rapport is key and having a detailed and engaging fact-find can be the starting block for building this relationship .

A hot topic within the insurance market right now is lead generation . Knowing your customer starts here , long before any fact-find . Understanding your lead generation source is crucial . A lot of work has gone into this arena and the main takeaways for me are : building a relationship with your lead provider , ensuring there is two-way communication and sharing of data . If you are finding you are having issues with persistency , lead source is the first place I would look . Look for patterns in the data – are the lapses coming from a certain batch of leads or a certain demographic , for example . Reviewing data allows you to monitor these trends and make changes as and when they are required . Having that relationship with your lead generation provider allows you to discuss any concerns you have and sharing data allows you to substantiate your concerns . Lead generation gets a bad reputation due to a few , but there are great lead sources out there who are putting the customer first .

provider ’ s offering is essential . That is not to say you must know everything , the providers are here to help and so are we ! Value-added benefits are where you can really gain customer buy-in – having these tangible benefits means the policy becomes more than a piece of paper . Requesting training on these benefits and products from providers can really help decide which policy is the best fit for the customer .

Next is the sales call . A crucial point here is to be mindful of non-disclosure , accidental or intentional . Non-disclosure can happen for many reasons , from a customer not

Every customer is unique and every provider product , whilst similar , is unique . Protection providers are constantly reviewing their products to ensure they offer fair outcomes for customers and remain competitive ; this means that products change regularly . To be able to deliver accurate advice to a customer , understanding each