Tag Archives: financial services

Debbie Bolton on underwriting, simpler protection and trust – MAF158m

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This week we dive back into the world of financial services and protection. My guest is Debbie Bolton.

We talk about underwriting, protection product development and whether products and processes are getting simpler for customers.

Welcome to episode 158 of the Marketing and Finance Podcast.

Debbie Bolton on underwriting, simpler protection and trust - MAF158

What you’ll hear about in this episode

  • A simple definition of underwriting anyone can understand
  • The role of an underwriting development team in an insurance company
  • How AIG Life is speeding up the application process for protection products
  • Why the industry is trying to simplify insurance products
  • How AIG Life works with financial advisers
  • Why trust is a three-way process

Who is Debbie Bolton?

Debbie works for AIG Life. She’s responsible for claims and underwriting strategy. She’s been in the insurance industry for 20 years. 17 in underwriting. The role was completely different when she started, for example, paper-based with stacks of case files.

Starting off in smaller companies, Debbie progressed in her career, moving to Ageas (as AIG was then) as manager for the underwriting development team. The company represented innovation, technology and automation. It was an exciting place. And she says it still does. Debbie says the work is fast-paced, and she loves her job.

Summary of our chat

Underwriting is the combination of science and maths to work out a price for a customer. It looks at an individual’s health, their hobbies, occupational risks and where they travel. Healthy office-workers will pay a lower price than unhealthy people in dangerous jobs.  But the aim is to charge as little as they can so everyone benefits.

Debbie’s team differs from typical underwriters. They set the philosophy of the company.  They’re involved in all AIG Life’s developments. From products to technology. They manage the rules engine, to incrementally and continuously improve the processes for assessing, simplifying and pricing risk.

AIG Life is aiming its “Instant” product at younger, healthier customers who want to take out protection at speed. The application process has no interruptions. So after completing a form, a person knows straight away whether or not they’ve got cover. AIG Life came up with a shorter list of questions people can complete quickly. It offers a favourable price.

Debbie says companies are simplifying products and the processes. She explains that AIG Life customers want instant results. They want their insurance policy as quickly as possible. The shorter quiz has specific questions for identifying risks that would increase premiums. It often cuts out the need for medical evidence.

The response to the “Instant” product has been overwhelmingly positive from financial advisers. AIG Life has a team of underwriters who speak to advisers every day. Their feedback gives the strategy team a better understanding of the issues they face and helps product development.

There needs to be trust between the customers, the advisers and the underwriters in insurance companies. Being available to the advisers builds trust with them, particularly those writing complex cases, so they know they’re getting the best rates. AIG Life want the public to have confidence in their automated service, and to trust the information they offer.

The one thing she’d like listeners to take away

Underwriters and claims assessors are the technicians of the whole case. They decide if a case can be underwritten or a claim paid. As a rule, underwriters start from yes; they want to get a case on the books or pay a claim, as quickly as possible. They don’t want to say no to people.

A marketing campaign or product Debbie loves

Debbie’s recently been impressed with parcel delivery. Wanting to send something to New Zealand at Christmas, she researched a quick and simple solution to get it there in time. She found a company online which gave her a competitive quote, collected her parcel and shipped it six hours after she started looking.

Links and contact details

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Louise Harnby on self-publishing, marketing strategies and why branding matters – MAF157

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My guest on the show this week is Louise Harnby.

If you’ve got a novel in you and you’re looking to get it published, Louise has some great advice to give. We also talk about how she’s built her personal brand and about how she markets her business.

Welcome to episode 157 of the Marketing and Finance Podcast.

Louise Harnby on self-publishing, marketing strategies and why branding matters - MAF157

What you’ll hear about in this episode

  • The importance of sharing your story in your own voice
  • Why self-published authors deserve professional editing services
  • How Louise got into content marketing
  • Why brand identity is essential
  • Why marketing advice should be given in plain language
  • What’s gone well and what hasn’t as she’s built her personal brand

Who is Louise Harnby?

Louise started out working in-house for an academic publishing house in the 90s. After she had a child, she decided to reassess her work-life balance and set up her own copyediting and proofreading business.

Today, she helps self-publishing authors to prepare their fiction books for market. A passionate advocate for storytelling, she found herself disagreeing with ‘literary snobs’ who say writers need a mainstream publisher, as she believes everyone should be able to share their words.

Summary of our chat

Writing is a great way of bringing clarity to your thoughts – to consolidate and structure them. When you create your own words, you know they’ve got your heart and voice in them. Writers sometimes worry that an editor will take that away. But Louise’s job let the voice of the author speak.

A writer may have a great idea for a book. But there a big enough market may not exist for the publisher to bother with it. However, the writer should still go through the same stages of production. That’s where people like Louise come in.  To smooth and correct the text so readers enjoy the story.

Louise loves marketing and found content marketing by accident. She didn’t read up on it. Her blog, created to answer frequently asked questions and save time, started showing up in search results. She realised that adding value and giving away advice for free was helping her to show up in search.

To attract independent authors, Louise realised she needed a strong brand identity. She found much advice telling her what she should have but not how to create it. And the advice was full of jargon. Defining her identity has led to more enquiries from her target market.

The language used to talk about marketing from an academic point of view can make people feel excluded. It’s valuable to learn from people who speak in plain language and speak to you in a way you understand. Otherwise, you’re made to feel different or not cool enough for marketing.

Louise learned a valuable lesson about segmenting mailing lists when she had subscribers getting the same messages twice. A problem she quickly fixed. She says that becoming more efficient with marketing saves time.  And it’s important you are authentic with your content and to give people the best advice.

The one thing she’d like listeners to take away

If you feel like you’re running around like a headless chicken when it comes to marketing, invest some of your budget on pro marketing and advice. This means you can make strategies and not worry about what to do.

A marketing campaign or product Louise loves

Louise thinks chatbots are the most exciting development. She’s used them in her own business. And explains that although they’re high-tech, you don’t have to be techy to use them. They’re easy to create and you can build an effective marketing campaign in no time.

Recommended books

Louise couldn’t pick just one book!

Write to be Published, by Nicola Morgan, is a comprehensive guide on how to write a book that’s readable and publishable, whether fiction or non-fiction.

She also recommends Sticky Marketing, by Grant Leboff, which looks at building trust and engagement.

Finally, Andrew and Pete’s The Hippo Campus, which talks about standing out and getting noticed in a crowded market.

Links and contact details

If you enjoyed – Louise Harnby on self-publishing, marketing strategies and why branding matters – please leave a comment or a review on iTunes.

And if you know anyone who would enjoy the show – please share it with them. You can use the buttons below to share on social media.

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Lyndsay Phillips on content marketing, business planning and beating your inbox – MAF156

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My guest on the show this week is Lindsay Phillips.

We talk about content marketing, business planning and some great productivity tips, including how to beat your inbox.

Welcome to episode 156 of the Marketing and Finance Podcast.

Lyndsay Phillips on content marketing, business planning and beating your inbox - MAF156

What you’ll hear about in this episode

  • Why outsourcing is good for business
  • What Lyndsay’s definition of content marketing is
  • Lyndsay’s process for onboarding new clients
  • Why businesses need to get the basics right
  • Good and bad business experiences
  • How to deal with your inbox

Who is Lyndsay Phillips?

Lyndsay’s a content marketing expert who helps businesses to grow. She decided to be her own boss when she had children, and set up Smooth Sailing, providing virtual assistant support.

As the business grew, she realised she loved the social media aspect more than the admin tasks. To scale, Lyndsay niched into content marketing and found not only was she more passionate about her work, but she gained more clients as well.

Her niche audience is solopreneurs or people with a small team, who want to grow quickly but are limited by time and knowledge and want expert support.

Summary of our chat

Lyndsay feels that business owners need to focus on what they do best and to take advantage of outsourcing. Don’t do it yourself, because your time is valuable. Get someone else to do the work, such as creating content, and edit it afterwards to make sure it’s on-brand.

She says people often think content marketing is about blogs and social media, but her definition is: “You have ideas, knowledge and expertise in your head, and content marketing is how you share that knowledge with your prospects and audience.” The medium and frequency vary from business to business.

Clients come to her when they know they’re overwhelmed and need help, but they don’t know what they can outsource or what their goals are. Lyndsay asks them who their audience is, where they hang out, their pain points and how the client can help solve their problems.

People don’t know where to start with growing their businesses, so they often don’t do anything. It’s ok not to know! Look at what your competitors are doing, or ask clients what they want. It’s important to test and tweak your plan until it’s right.

Lyndsay says she’s done well with her podcast, which has extended her reach and exposure. It’s brought more business and she’s also seen as an expert in her field. She learned from creating unsuccessful lead magnets, by adapting her content to give her audience what they really want.

Your inbox is not an archive, a filing system or your to-do list. Instead, think of it as a junction where you deal with the email within a few hours, or take the useful information and add it to your project management system.

That way, all the important information is in one place, with a due date for completion. And batch the time you spend in your inbox – don’t reply to emails as they come in, but deal with them at a set time.

Respond to all the emails relating to one client, and make sure other tasks for them are done at the same time. Giving yourself time for each client makes you more productive and focused.

The One Thing She’d Like Listeners to Take Away

Get a grip on your inbox and have systems and procedures in place – this is how Lyndsay has scaled her business. Have templates for regular tasks, so you can be consistent and things don’t slip through the cracks.

The Product Lyndsay Loves

Lyndsay describes herself as a ‘tools geek’ and is a fan of repuropose.io, an automated system which sends a Facebook Live video to linked pages and groups. It also adds the video to YouTube, strips the audio for use in podcasts, repurposing one piece of content in multiple ways.

Recommended Books


The 12 Week Year, by Brian Moran and Michael Lennington made Lyndsay think about what she does in a day, her goals and the steps to take to achieve them. The book encourages you to take action, to stay motivated and to acknowledge your achievements.

Lyndsay also recommends the book “The Battle for Your Email Inbox”, by Robby Slaughter.

Links and Contact Details

If you enjoyed – Lyndsay Phillips on content marketing, business planning and beating your inbox – please leave a comment or a review on iTunes.

And if you know anyone who would enjoy the show – please share it with them. You can use the buttons below to share on social media.

Don’t miss an episode of the MAF Podcast – subscribe now.

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