With these signs of renewal and success in navigating big challenges, and after having invested in their businesses, advisers are now reaping the rewards with robust practice health.
For insurers, this period of relative stabilisation presents a prime opportunity to enhance their support systems for advisers and continues to help build upon the growing momentum of quality financial advice.
There is good reason for this call to the insurance sector. According to Adviser Ratings’ 2024 Australian Financial Advice Landscape Report, advisers are seeking to work more closely with insurers. On the flip side, insurers are seeking to improve their proposition to advisers and their insured clients.
In particular, the report highlights three key qualities that advisers are looking for in a risk insurer: personalisation, service quality and ease of doing business. By focusing on these areas, insurers can build stronger relationships with advisers, enabling improved outcomes for their clients.
- Personalisation and understanding of clients’ needs
As expected, one of the most critical qualities advisers look for in an insurer is a deep understanding of their clients’ needs and products designed to meet those needs. Insurers that focus on and prioritise the outcomes of clients through a culture of empathy, transparency and efficiency are more likely to succeed in this regard.
Insurers can leverage data analytics to gain insights into client behaviours, needs and preferences, allowing them to develop more customised products and services. This not only enhances the client experience but also fosters collaboration between adviser and insurer. Advisers understandably prefer insurers who can demonstrate a genuine understanding of their clients’ unique circumstances and needs, and offer solutions specifically designed to meet those needs.
- Quality of service
High-quality service is another top priority for advisers when choosing an insurer. This includes the support provided by the adviser-facing business development managers (BDMs), the quality of online services, and the comprehensiveness of the insurer’s product offerings.
BDM support is crucial, a professional bridge between advisers and insurers. Advisers rely on BDMs for their product, industry and competitor knowledge, as well as “on-call” product and technical assistance. This support function is reflected in the Adviser Ratings report, where BDM support was one of the factors against which advisers measure the quality of insurers.
High-quality online service is also vital, as digital access provides advisers with the tools and resources needed to manage clients’ policies efficiently. This includes user-friendly platforms, quick access to policy information, and seamless transaction processes.
- Ease and service standards
The ease of working with an insurer and the standards of service they uphold are vital considerations for advisers. Naturally, efficient supporting technology and platform functionality play a significant role in this area. According to the Adviser Ratings report, user experience and interface are key drivers for advisers when it comes to platforms.
In addition to platform functionality, advisers surveyed also highlighted ease of underwriting, including pre-assessment, as a key factor shaping their decision making when placing business with an insurer. Notably, insurers that scored highly on adviser satisfaction in the survey had stronger and more streamlined underwriting criteria, since this would naturally reduce the time and effort needed to get clients insured and lead to higher satisfaction rates.
Promptness of claims handling and payment is also essential. Advisers value working with insurers who handle claims efficiently and transparently, ensuring that there are no hidden agendas or unnecessary delays.
Finally, it is crucial to acknowledge the significant role advisers play in delivering quality insurance outcomes. Despite the challenges of the ever-changing landscape of advice, advisers have continued to show enormous grit, dedication and commitment to client outcomes, particularly during critical claim moments.
The relationship between advisers and insurers is crucial to the longevity and effectiveness of the entire risk insurance industry. As the advice industry stabilises, orients towards sustainable growth practice and continues to evolve, insurers have a unique opportunity to elevate their standards and further enhance the quality of their systems, support, and cultural impact for advisers.
By aligning with the needs of advisers and focusing on the key areas of personalisation, service quality and ease of doing business, insurers can forge stronger partnerships with advisers and contribute to better client outcomes, paving the way for a more robust and resilient insurance landscape.
Michael Pillemer is CEO at PPS Mutual.
Sadly, the Executives who should really read that report are taking absolutely no notice. In an environment of ever reducing genuine new business revenue, we have shareholder driven insurers attacking and gouging the premiums of long-standing policyholders. And then wondering why those clients are walking out the door creating a vicious circle when the need for even more revenue. And they seek the answer to that problem is to be able to provide “qualified advice” to OUR clients who call the insurer about the gouging
And in the meantime those same CEOs and just not interested in reintroducing LIF to boost new business
Those same CEOs have decided, in the light of a 50% loss in new business, that they need to save money and guess what happens first? Less Operators in new business, the waiting times for tele-interview increases exponentially, and underwriters that you can never find hold of for a one-on-one preassessment.And then should you email a preassessment it usually takes 2 to 3 days, and they wonder why they’re not getting in new business.
The object lessons are there for everyone to see. Neos, which is not an insurer per se, has excellent performance standards for new business and underwriting.It can be done.
In this environment, it’s not unreasonable to find a BDMs concentrating all their efforts on those advisers give them a lot of business and sadly not taking the hard-edged message back to their employers about exactly what advisers need.
The remainder of our friends the life insurers are spinning around in in an ever decreasing downward spiral, one disaster follows another. For example, with a couple of prominent exceptions, no insurers that I know of provide product training Involving the constantly changing IP contracts. Most will not provide a “before and after” comparison of features in their contracts with each new PDS and the adviser has to do it himself, constantly reminding themselves about ASICs rules that advisers must “make additional reasonable inquiries.”
And the latest insult: with one exception most insurers no longer have hardcopy PDSs to provide your client.
Reduce commissions: Done
Reduce product features: Done
Increase everything else: Premiums (including level), Responsibility Period, Underwriting Hurdles, Claim Thresholds, Etc.,