Blog by John Revill, Strategic Account Manager, UnderwriteMe

Earlier this year I was sent a link to free yoga workouts from a work colleague. I’m not quite sure what they were trying to tell me, but it did get me thinking. I’d just got back into running again earlier in the year after 12 months of niggling injuries and even though the yoga classes were free, so no risk financially, I never felt compelled to start and didn’t see how it would or could help.

However, second run in and another injury incurred. Enough was enough, so I dug out the link to the yoga classes and started on the road to mastering the Downward Facing Dog more out of desperation than excitement. A few weeks in of basic yoga workouts, I’m now back running, injury free and pain free, apart from the obvious out of breath feeling and nearly throwing up -but I am posting my quickest times in years!

I suppose my mindset was controlling a change in habit, I’d always done it that way so didn’t think I needed to change. Even with the persistence of the niggling injuries, I just carried on doing the same things, with a few weeks off here and there, as that’s what I’d always done. We’re all habitual creatures at heart I suppose, and it can be difficult to try alternatives as I’ve proven. Habits transcend into the world of work as well. When we look more specifically at Protection, if what we’ve done for the past X years has worked relatively well with only a few ‘injuries’, why change right?

There’s always the occasional frustrating underwriting decision, or a client declaring they were told by the doctor 2 years ago they had high blood pressure. Yes, it might take a bit more time and a few extra phone calls or a couple of extra applications, but you’ll always try and find the best solution for your client. You may well be confident that your Protection process works and call 3 or 4 insurers when a client informs you of a medical disclosure – but are you 100% sure you’ll always get the best decision for your client by not contacting every insurer?

With what the Protection Platform has to offer, it’s a different way of approaching the Protection application process – gone are the days of having to phone up insurers, or restarting an application with a different insurer when a client all of a sudden remembers they do actually smoke. The Protection Platform puts you the adviser in control as by working with the insurers who are live on the Protection Platform it means:

• As soon as you answer a question on the application, you’ll see real time decisions coming straight back from insurers on panel
• You can answer questions in any order – so if you do have a client that has a disclosure, you can just answer the specific question and see what the decisions are. No need to complete the whole application or pick up the phone to an underwriter
• You can even place multiple applications on risk immediately to different insurers by just answering one set of questions

It took time, but when I was willing to change my exercise habits and take on board the experiences of my colleague who’d benefitted positively from Yoga I broke that injury cycle.

It’s no different when we look to change the way we work – rather than looking for the negatives, we should be looking for the positives. To start using the Protection Platform will involve a change in habits and even if it is free to use, it can still be difficult to break the cycle. But there are so many benefits to using the platform, such as the speed of underwriting and the time efficiencies. This brings you and your clients peace of mind, knowing that you’ve been able to get the best outcome without unnecessary additional time.

The results are there to be seen for the advisers and firms that are using the Protection Platform. Some of the largest Protection writers in the UK now use the Protection Platform to complement their existing protection processes, with a total of approximately 20% of all Life/CI/IP business in the UK now being submitted this way.

“I have run a Protection business for over 6 years now and always spent hours pre-underwriting cases, this took a chunk out of my day but I always wanted to get the end result for the client so I could best advise them.

The first time using the Protection Platform I was amazed that within 10 minutes I had a confirmed rated premium by just entering the relevant disclosure details. This made our customer journey so simple and allowed me to then alter the quote and see the confirmed end result. I would say this cut my research down from well over an hour to just 10 minutes and the best bit is that I could easily see the end premium from the providers on one screen.

UnderwriteMe is a major part of our customer journey now.” – Chris Turner, Protection UK Ltd

Why not see the Protection Platform as your Protection yoga and look to change your habits today? Register for free to save time and improve efficiency; www.underwriteme.co.uk/protection-platform-for-advisors

If you want to see how it works, join a demo session which takes place every Thursday at 3.30pm. Sign-up here.