Seven great speakers. Over 800 attendees. Loads of business ideas.

I enjoyed curating and chairing the Protection Stream at the Financial Services Expo 2014 in London.

Focussing on the future of the protection market my speakers covered innovation, mobile technology, critical illness cover evolution, social media and content marketing.

And some good old-fashioned sales ideas.

Here are some bite sized ideas and insights from the speakers.

Johnny Timpson – Scottish Widows

1. Johnny, 2014’s Protection Personality of the Year at the Protection Review Awards asked whether work-site marketing might be the future of protection? Should we be creating deeper relationships with SME’s?

2. Given that first time buyers are becoming older as they struggle to get mortgages, talking about rent protection is just is just as important as mortgage protection.

3. Talking about how the protection industry is still price driven, Johnny reminded me of an old Scottish Provident marketing campaign from the 1990s.

“Advice not Price.”

Jonathan Hughes – RGA

4. Jonathan described his vision of the future. There’s be no growth in the protection market without growth in protection advice. We won’t see Apple or Google coming into protection. It’s too small. Too regulated and has low margins.

5. Discussing complex language and jargon, Jonathan came up with the quote of the day. It really makes you think about the words we use in protection.

“Doesn’t premium mean expensive? Isn’t policy something Governments do? Isn’t protection something I need if I’m sleeping around?”

6. When developing any future propositions we should build the mobile version first and then move to more traditional web solutions. How many protection providers are thinking like this?

Alan Lakey – CI Expert/Highclere FS

7. Alan argued that critical illness cover is too convoluted for consumers.  And that it’s too confusing for advisers because they are not doctors. Technical guides range from 60 to 120 pages. Does anyone read these?

8. Asking how we can keep high quality plans but make them much simpler, Alan suggested combining similar conditions into categories. So if one category included 15 current critical illnesses that would be simpler.

“Would this work or do “long lists” work better?”

9. Expect to see critical illness plans covering Lorenzo’s Oil Disease before long.

Hear Alan talk about CI Expert on the MPAF Podcast.

Phil Jeynes – Pru Protect

10. Phil asked, “If we built CI from scratch today, would we end up with what we have?” Or would we have developed the “partial payment” model used by Pru Protect?

11. Using analogies of house insurance Phil said no one who spills red wine on their carpet would expect a replacement house. Why should critical illness be about all or nothing?

12. Phil wondered whether anyone had ever researched what people spend their critical illness payouts on. After paying off mortgages I am sure it’s holidays next.

Hear Phil talk about Serious Illness Cover on the MPAF Podcast.

Derek Bradley – Panacea Adviser

13. Derek asserted that financial advisers couldn’t afford to avoid social media. Social Media has replaced the Yellow Pages.

14. Don’t be concerned about compliance, but do be careful what you say. Derek used an example where he’d complained about a hotel on Twitter. He mentioned sleeping pills in the context of noise. Soon the police arrived concerned about what he might use his sleeping pills for.

Hear Derek talking about Adviser Communities on the MPAF Podcast.

Simon Ryan – Social Adviser

14. Continuing the discussion about social media, Simon said there are three truths about social media.

“It’s for everyone. It gets results. And it’s easy.”

15. Social media is about PIE. People. Information and Entertainment. I like the tie in to Pete Matthew’s podcast interview where he asserts that modern marketing is all about education.

16. Simon showed how leads in social media come from a dialogue with clients and that sometimes leads are hidden in the conversation.

Hear Simon talk about Online Marketing for Advisers on the MPAF Podcast.

Alan Cole – Bright Grey

17. Alan is a past master at getting sales ideas across. Some are obvious but we often forget them. Such as the price of two single life plans only costing pennies more than a joint life plan. Two potential payouts. Nearly the same price.

18. Talking about objection handling, Alan explained how he responds to, “Protection is too expensive.”

“Compared to what?” he asks. A full Sky TV package at £80. A make over in a beauty salon?

Now it’s your turn:

Were you at Financial Services Expo 2014 in London? Did you pick up any more protection insurance ideas and insights? Please share them. Add a comment below or give us a link to your own blog.

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