S1:EP4 - Celebrating a Decade of Impact: The 7 Families Project and Humanising Income Protection

In today's episode

We celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the 7 Families Project's legacy, a collaborative effort that has shifted perceptions and provided tangible support to families in need. With insights into the project's conception and its enduring influence from our guest today, Karin Lloyd.

In #AskIPTF this week, we highlight a couple of posts we enjoyed from two of our 7 advisers on LinkedIn. We have questions on tackling universal credit objections and unblocking the biggest thing stopping advisers from recommending IP - please use the phone number or links below to send in your questions.

Matt then provides us with his top tips on focusing on what's important to the client and using language that makes sense to them. 

📣 For More Education, Collaboration and Insight:

IPTF Website
IPTF on LinkedIn
IPTF on YouTube
IP Task Force on Instagram
IPTF on TikTok

Produced and edited by SEA Studios

Transcript

Intro & Coming up

Speaker 1 0:10

Hello and welcome to let's Talk IP by the Income Protection Task Force, the podcast that shines a light on the often overlooked but vital insurance income protection. I'm your host, matthew Chapman, aka the Protection Coach, and welcome to season one, episode four, of let's Talk IP. Right, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for tuning in to episode four of the podcast. Believe it or not, we're now halfway through series one already. Time certainly flies when you're having fun. Right Now, we know there's a core group of people listening who have subscribed to the podcast, and if that is you, thank you so much. You're an IP superstar. And if you're not already subscribed, my question to you is what are you playing at? Come on, guys, you're missing out, so click the subscribe button today.

Speaker 1 0:57

Now, the month of May is a very exciting month, as it's the 10-year anniversary of the Seven Families Project, and that's our theme for this week. Also, look out for the very special film about that coming out very soon indeed, and remember this episode counts towards your unstructured CPD, so note down what you've listened to today, with the name of the podcast and the episode number, to be able to claim that. So what's coming up on today's show? Well, in this week's interview we're talking to Karen Lloyd, one of the original members of the Seven Families Project, talking to us today about her memories from the project and her key takeaways. That's coming right up in a second. After that we'll be answering some of your burning questions in Ask IPTF, and this week we have questions on tackling universal credit objections and unblocking the biggest thing stopping advisors from recommending income protection. And of course, we finish up with my top tips of the week.

Interview with Karin Lloyd

Speaker 1 1:50

And I've got some absolute caucus for you. Exciting stuff. Right, interview time. Shall we just jump right in? Yeah, of course, why not? Let's go for it. So welcome to let's Talk IP. Karen, it's an absolute pleasure to have you here. As I understand it, you are in the Hall of Fame for the Income Protection Task Force, so if you wouldn't mind, could you just give all the listeners a little bit of an overview of your career in protection?

Speaker 2 2:30

So I attended a 19-year-old coming to London for the first time and got a job in an admin department of a long dead company called Providence Capital and then, within three months of that, I transferred over to the underwriting side and at that stage underwriting and claims was a bit of a sideline to underwriting but I got introduced to the whole claims process there as well and I then moved on to Swiss Re where I was again in underwriting and with claims as a bit of a sideline and I was there.

Speaker 2 2:54

I had a quite a long career with Swiss Re where first of all I was doing underwriting, a little bit of claims. Then they decided claims needed its own department and I set that up and became the UK claims manager. And then I moved into a global role with Swiss Re where I was having the enormous privilege of traveling around the world talking to claims teams, swiss Re and their clients all around the world. So that's that's a very brief potted history, if you like. I should say as well I didn't quite finish because I ended up freelancing after I left Swiss Re. So I did that for about 11 years, so I shouldn't forget that part of my career really.

Speaker 1 3:37

I was going to say that's probably a pivotal point, that one Amazing and I guess, from my perspective, when we talk about either underwriting or claims, to an extent probably two of the most pivotal aspects of the whole protection concept, because, naturally, when it comes to underwriting, it's making sure that we get these policies on risk and clients protected and, from a claims perspective, that's where the real value of the policy comes in, isn't it? It's kind of that, that critical moment where does it do what it says it's going to do? Is it going to actually deliver the outcome we want? So it's often an area that's massively overlooked and we always talk about. Obviously, you know, we in the advice community we're at the front end, the intermediaries at the front end. We're out there talking to the clients for the ones out there promoting it on the internet and, you know, through through media channels, and it's like kind of the claims departments, underwriting departments are almost like the people that sit in the shadows but yet do all this critical work in the background in terms of making sure these plans can actually deliver on what they're supposed to. So fascinating. It's great to hear that you've obviously come through through that journey.

Speaker 1 4:29

Everyone I have on the show. I asked them this question and it's OK. I'd really love to get your thoughts. There's usually a moment in someone's career where they kind of get that awakening, that light bulb moment where income protection is suddenly thrust to the fore for them. They realise that the value of that type of product. Was there a moment for you where you kind of really understood the why behind income protection?

Speaker 2 4:49

I don't know if there was a single moment, but I think whenever you start working on claims you end up seeing people's lives kind of spread out before you in the pages of the file you know. You can see the awful things that have suddenly changed somebody's life. Or else they've had a chronic illness that has gradually meant they can't work, or something awful has happened medically to stop them from being able to work. It usually comes a bit of a shock, and a financial shock as well. Any involvement you have in claims will give you that human aspect of what the job's all about really.

Speaker 1 5:28

I think that's wonderful. I mean, we talk a lot when I'm doing my summer coaching sessions around the relationship between income and outcome. So for me it's this kind of thing of. I worked in regular complaints prior to becoming an advisor and I had a lot of experience dealing with things like detriment and outcomes and things like that detriment and outcomes and things like that. And it's often, like you say, seeing the sharp end of it, so to speak, where you're seeing what actually happens in people's lives when the products either do what they're supposed to or don't do what they're supposed to or there's potentially gaps in people's recommendations.

Speaker 1 5:54

And for me that was one of the pivotal factors for me to understanding why income protection should be a priority.

Speaker 1 6:00

Because, given the broad nature of the plan and given how it's a lot more comprehensive than a lot of the other products on the market, for me it was very clear to see how that relationship between income and outcome produces much better results for people in that we're reducing the risk of detriment.

Speaker 1 6:15

So I can completely understand where you're coming from on that one. And on that basis, I mean thinking about what you just said, outcomes and you being highly experienced and seeing what happens when these products do what they do and what difference it can make to people's lives, good and bad, by having the products or not. It's interesting to note. Obviously, this month or May is the 10-year anniversary, isn't it, of the Seven Families Project that I understand that you were heavily involved in. So the Seven Families Project was probably a real pivotal benchmark moment for the industry where we got to see the outcomes of these types of recommendations or not, as the case may be, and you know, I really kind of wanted to just have you on today to talk about that, because you, I think you were a very key member of that project team.

Speaker 2 6:58

So tell us a little bit more about the seven families projects if you wouldn't mind well it it kind of came about because um of an email that I fired off to the income protection task force committee, um, and it it happened after I'd been reading the latest bit of industry research, which was the same research about the protection gap that people had been doing for years and spending a fortune doing, and it gave them the same answer every year and they carried on getting a few little press articles and carried on spending a fortune doing the same bits of research. And it kind of annoyed me, if I'm honest about it, and I fired off an email basically saying why, you know, we keep talking about claims being the shop window. Why don't we actually do that? Why don't we actually find some people and let them talk about their experiences? And then we sort of went on to have the idea of, well, what if we found some people who didn't have it but wish they did and treated them as if they had income protection, and that was the birth of the whole idea.

Speaker 2 8:07

We then went about finding partners to work with, which was Disability Rights UK, who were pivotal in finding a lot of the families that we worked with, and obviously we had to get the companies on board. Peter Lebeau was instrumental in that and get the funding to be able to fund seven families for a year. We didn't know it was going to be seven at the start of the whole thing. That's just how it worked out In my eyes. It had to be a whole industry initiative. It couldn't be just one company that was pivotal to it, working and cutting through with advisors, and again, at the beginning we didn't know it was going to attract so much attention from advisors. We were just thinking of anybody, you know, including the public, anybody who might want to see these films, and it was really just about getting real people to talk about their experiences to other real people who could potentially find themselves in the same sorts of situations.

Speaker 1 9:10

Conceptually.

Speaker 1 9:10

I just think it was groundbreaking because whenever I'm coaching advisors, part of what I talk about and I'm going to do it in today's session.

Speaker 1 9:17

I want to give my top tips is about the idea of bringing the concept of protection to life for people, because a lot of people suffer from things like optimism bias's not going to happen to me. These things aren't an issue for me. I'm going to be okay, I'm fit and healthy, I'm all right. Nothing's happened to me yet, and and I suppose part of this is then using those real world examples to bring it to life for people so they can see the value of the products you're recommending, because, in and of themselves, insurance products are kind of inconsequential. It's only when you feel that you're going to need something like that that it becomes a problem, and so for me, it was incredibly groundbreaking because it did that bridging of the gap between concept and outcome, and I think it was, um, an amazing initiative, and I imagine you know you're very proud to be, to be a part of that project in the first place. That's amazing. I mean, what are your key memories of the time then?

Speaker 2 10:05

Well finding the, the families and and hearing about all their different stories some real sort of tearjerkers in there, but also, as as you say, some optimism that you know we can help people make people's lives better with these products, not just with the money, but also with all the rehab efforts, and every family had a caseworker assigned to them who coordinated and facilitated all that. All that casework and finding equipment, helping with medical appointments, explaining things that that people hadn't, you know, fully understood from their gp or whatever. Um, and just being a, you know, a sort of hand-holding support a lot of the time as well, that that side of it um was brilliant. I think, worked really really well um, particularly for some of the families I mean my.

Speaker 1 11:00

one of my takeaways from what you're saying as well and you know having seen the videos is is the fact that we often underestimate the value of those support services. I mean, it's very quick to focus on, like you say, the income or the financial benefit and the need for that income to be replaced, but I think we forget that actually, most people probably don't want to be off work if they can avoid it. It's not that they just want to sit at home taking the money. I think most people would quite like the idea of getting back to work. They'd prefer to be fit and healthy, they'd prefer to be able-bodied again and get themselves back to work in order. They can feel that sense of worth and value again. And I think those support services for me are somewhere where we in the advice community in particular maybe overlook the importance of that from a consumer perspective or a policy perspective.

Speaker 2 11:43

I'm so glad you said that because I think there's a prevailing view that a lot of people don't want to work and they're going to be scrounging and all of that. That's not my experience at all From all of the claims I've dealt with. You know, you'll always have a tiny bit of fraud in any system, but they're easy to spot there. If your focus is on fraud, then you're you're dealing with the low-hanging fruit, but you're not really doing the job in my view. So, yeah, I mean we we worked with companies like red arc, who were fantastic they're nurse advisors and some of the companies themselves I think aviva, for example, and unum they they had their own in-house rehabilitation teams and they worked with us on it and were assigned to a family as well. They were, they were brilliant and um, and I think we're a really valued part of the whole process. I think that's wonderful.

Speaker 1 12:39

What a wonderful way of looking at it. You know you're absolutely right as well. I think you're absolutely right with with your summary there. I mean it's really interesting to me. You mentioned earlier about how, for you, you wanted to make sure that it was an industry-wide collaborative. It wasn't something that was just a couple of key providers, and I think that's so important.

Speaker 1 12:55

I mean, for me, sitting outside looking in, I'm kind of looking all the time at how we can galvanize the industry more, because I believe together we can do a lot more. We can have a lot more impact. We can raise a much greater level of awareness. And I had the kind of philosophy of like this rising tide raising all ships. We don't need to be competitive in every aspect. Of course, each provider has their own unique proposition. They have their own customer base. That's absolutely fine. But I think collectively, if we do more as an industry, such as initiatives like the Seven Families, one you're involved in I believe we can do so much more together to raise greater awareness, increase, take up of these products, produce better outcomes for people and everyone's going to get that additional slice of the pie regardless. So that was a real interesting takeaway from this conversation for me, but from your perspective then, karen, what do you think are the biggest lessons that you've probably took away from the whole experience doing the Seven Families project?

Speaker 2 13:44

I think it was crucial for me that it was a whole industry initiative because that promoted the trust in it. You wouldn't have had that level of trust if it was just one company, from anybody, right from the families themselves through to advisors or anybody who finds it on social media or what have you. So I think that definitely is a lesson, and I would agree that the industry needs to do more collaboratively to grow the whole market and to promote that trust. So that's one key lesson. I guess the other main thing is to always remember that it's people at the heart of this business and if you don't have them on board and if you don't understand what's important to them, then you've got nothing.

Speaker 2 14:31

Um, I look at, I look at um life insurance adverts that are on tv now and it's basically somebody going through a sales process and that's what's important to us. It's not what's important to a client, is it? So I, I think, I still think the industry has a long way to go to learn that lesson. You know that we've got to get much more insightful about what's important to the customer and not what's important to us, and stop telling people what's good for them, which is a phrase I've used throughout this whole process that our industry is fond of telling people what's good for them.

Speaker 1 15:13

You know you're so right, karen, and listening to you say that it really resonates with me. I was complaining just the other day how frustrated I am to see those adverts on TV that you're talking about, which is like you say, you know, an individual phoning up a company, going through a sales process and the whole, the whole positioning of the product is very much from as little as you know. It's kind of this idea that we commoditize and break it down to. It's just it's price. It's a price issue. It's not a price issue, it's an outcomes issue, because I remember when someone passes away and leaves a family without a husband or a father or a mother or a wife, you know the price is irrelevant. You know at that point six pounds a month, 60 pounds a month, becomes inconsequential. It's about what's going to happen now to this family.

Speaker 1 15:58

There are real people living through this stuff and this is the frustration that I've got that we as a communities, an industry, are so focused on commoditizing these products without humanizing them. The way it happens is we actually break that connection with the customer and then the advice community has to do so much work to bring it to life and make it real. And hearing you say these things from a, in particular, from a claims perspective is incredibly powerful to me, because, obviously, I'm having conversations with consumers at the front end, trying to engage them with the products in the first place, and you're having them, if you like, at the back end. We're having them in the back end when people are actually going through these life altering experiences and sometimes very dark situations. And, if you think about it from both ends, what we're saying from my end and from your end is it's all about the humans on the other side of the policies. It's all about the experiences they're going through.

Speaker 2 16:43

Right, and I would say as well that it's not just about the person who is the claimant, if you like. It's also about I think that was one of the big learnings for all of us as well is it's about the rest of the family, you know, the spouse, the children, all the other things that are going on in their lives that don't end up forming part of your claim file but are still going on for that person behind the scenes and still making a difference to whether and how quickly they can recover, how they can get back to work. So you know, you've got to have quite a holistic view of not just the person who's the insured, but all of the people around them in their family unit as well so true, so true.

Speaker 1 17:33

This is a conversation I have all the time with advisors. I'm coaching this idea that, okay, someone's now off work, for example. What does that mean to the household? So you know, you've now got another party who maybe was working full-time, having considered child care needs. Taking the children to school is going to reduce their ability to work. What is what's the wider ripple effects on everyone around them and I think this is what we forget is that when we're making these recommendations, it's not about like there's a client, they're real, that's what they need, it's around okay.

Speaker 1 18:01

What is the wider holistic issue here? As you're quite and that's the best word I could think of holistic and I think it's about taking that helicopter view of the situation and really thinking about, in a real world, when this happens, what is likely to happen and what can we do to put you in the best position we can so that you don't feel the detriment, you're not financially disadvantaged, you're going to be okay At the end of the day. We can't stop these things from happening. You know, I remember I heard Barry Pappin, a guy from Vita, once say to me when you talk about protection, you can't stop the things from happening. We're not protecting you from the things actually happening.

Speaker 1 18:30

What we're trying to do is put you in a better position than if you didn't have some cover. Ie, we're trying to make sure that you know you don't suffer the same financial disadvantages that you do have. What you need in that moment and I moment and I thought it was a beautiful way of putting it is that, you know, we often think that it's going to stop the things from happening. It's not. We all know people are going to go through these life-altering experiences. We've just got to make sure that we're there, giving them exactly what they need in those situations so they can carry on as close to normal as possible.

Speaker 1 18:55

I think, that's all anyone wants is just to carry on as close to normal as possible and hopefully get back on their feet and bounce back when they can, and that, for me, is the real power of what we do. And I think hearing you say that from a claims perspective is just it's music to my ears, because it's not. There's a them and us attitude in the industry, but often we don't see that side of things, certainly not in the intermediary space. We only see the front end, so we only see, like ranging the policies we're having the conversations, we're making the recommendations, assuming they're going to do what they need to do. So to hear that level of passion and enthusiasm for outcomes at the back end, within the claim space, is just it's powerful.

Speaker 2 19:28

It's wonderful for us because it obviously gives us a lot more conviction when we're making those recommendations as well I've always encouraged advisors to get involved in the the claims side of things, because that's the point when you're demonstrating the value of what you did 10 years earlier. You know so I've always. I've written articles and stuff about that before, together with Peter Chadbourne if you're still around, so we wrote an article about that very subject. So, yeah, I would encourage, encourage advisors to get involved if they can.

Speaker 1 20:04

You heard that guys, you heard it here on the podcast county saying get involved. And I completely agree, by the way, because not only does it demonstrate, obviously, that you know you've got the client's best interest at heart and you're providing that service, but also you know it's, it's, it's an eye-opening experience and you really do get to see the recommendations you make going to bat and go to work for you, and I think that's a really important thing for advisors to remember. But given that we're 10 years on now, given that you know seven families has been around for 10 years and we're now at a point where we're celebrating a decade of that project being on the market, obviously we at the IPTF we're really keen to get this kind of new generation of advisors accessing the content, understanding the premise behind the project. What would your hopes for the 10-year milestone be? And I suppose, if you've got a message for those advisors who maybe aren't familiar with seven families, what? What would you say to them today?

Speaker 2 20:49

um, I'd say, watch the videos, um, and and really and really watch them, because there's all sorts of tiny little insights in there, um, from all all the families I mean some, I think are particularly powerful but, um, if you can, you know, get your tissues handy and and sit and actually really listen to what people are saying is important to them, then I think that insight it will be useful to you as an advisor in your career. Um, and although it's 10 years on and I don't think any of us envisaged that anybody would be still using this content 10 years on, but it, I think it's all still relevant, um, and I would say to the industry don't just repeat it, do something different, be brave and, and you know, take, take principles from it and do something else. You know, because I have heard lots of talk about repeating it, but I don't think that would be appropriate, to be honest. But, yeah, do something new and groundbreaking.

Speaker 1 22:03

But you know what you shouldn't do stuff with disservice, because I appreciate you might not think that it would have the impact it has, but it has been very, very powerful for a lot of people. I know it's made a big difference to a lot of advisors and, obviously, families involved and other people, because it's been a real landmark project as far as I'm concerned in the industry and you know we still talk about it today because it was so impactful and so special. So you know, hats off to you and everyone else involved. It was um phenomenal and, you know, a fantastic project. I can't thank you enough for coming on today. So, karen, lloyd, hall of famer from the iptf, I really appreciate you coming on. Is there anything else you want to say before you leave?

Speaker 2 22:37

just thanks. Thanks to all the people um that that we were able to collaborate with, and to the families themselves and, and you know, companies like Finios gave us a claim system, a cut-down version of their claim system, so we could help manage it all. Companies like RedArc their nurses were brilliant. So, yeah, there were lots and lots of people who helped with the project. John Gilman was fantastic in helping us get on board with Disability Rights UK. That's it really. And to the rest of the team I'm not going to name check them all because I'll forget somebody yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 23:18

No, honestly, it's been an absolute pleasure to meet you, an absolute pleasure to have you on the podcast. Can't thank you enough for what you did back in the day, setting the seven families project up with the other guys and, um, you know, it still remains one of those landmark things that in the industry we I think we'll be talking about another 10 years time. So, karen lloyd, thank you so much for joining me today. Really appreciate it. Thanks for coming thank you.

Speaker 1 23:45

Thank you so much, karen. Right here at the IPTF, we're excited to show you the 10 year anniversary video of the seven families. It's going to be live on our social channels very soon, so please do look out for that. Now it's time for Ask IPTF. Do you have a burning question? You want to ask me why not become part of the show by sending a WhatsApp voice note to 07442 247 280. That's 07442 247 280. If you don't fancy leaving a voice note, you can always email us on letstalkippodcast at gmailcom, or just comment and post on LinkedIn X or our new Instagram account, ip Task Force UK, using the hashtag AskIPTF. So before we get into the questions, there's just a couple of posts that I wanted to highlight this week.

Speaker 1 24:30

On the Seven Families theme, nicola Huxley, who's one of our new seven advisors, forwarded Joe Miller in the IPTF's post about the power of plot twists. It's about this idea that protection is absolutely about people, about protecting those you love, including yourself, and then they talked about how it's about having those stories to engage with your customers, and those who haven't seen them should definitely take a look. I could not agree more with you, nicola. The whole purpose of doing what we do is bringing protection to life, and you could very much hear that when we talked to Karen early on. So have a look at that post, if you can. Really brilliant way to describe bringing the idea of protection to life for the customers, especially focusing on stories and plot twists.

Speaker 1 25:07

And Chris Blythe, another one of our seven advisors, made an excellent post about statutory sick pay with this shocking statistic. A recent government survey shows that a decision to return to work for 14% of employees and 29% of self-employed people is influenced by the impact of the sickness on their finances, rather than feeling well enough to get back to work. Now, this is really interesting because it just goes to show without income protection in place, many people are forced to get back to work sooner than they would like or sooner than their body would really allow them to, just because they have to go back to earning an income. So on top of that, let's just consider for the minute what you actually get when you think about employee benefits and statutory sick pay and, quite frankly, I know it's not even enough to cover my car finance.

Speaker 1 25:50

So, another fantastic post, chris. Guys, go and check them out and see what you think. Thanks so much, chris and Nicola for those excellent posts. And, as a reminder, if you want your posts highlighted on the show, all you need to do is use the hashtag AskIPTF in your posts and we'll check them out. Right, producers, we've got any voice notes in this week?

Speaker 3 26:11

Hi Matt, it's Tracey here from Mortgage Hub Expert. Just lately I've had a number of clients tell me that Universal Credits would cover them in the event of being unable to work. The pattern of clients saying this tend to be on the lower end of the income level. Have you got any advice that could help me with this, please?

Speaker 1 26:28

What a really good question. I love Tracy. She's always there in the background asking me these fantastic questions, absolutely. Now let's be really clear and let's be really honest with ourselves.

Speaker 1 26:37

Universal Credit is only there to provide cover for some serious shortfalls in certain scenarios. It's not designed to be something that people can rely on indefinitely as a replacement income source. Whether you're on the low income bracket or high income bracket, it really doesn't matter. What we need to be thinking about is independence and a lack of reliance on the state. When I talk to my customers, I also talk about this idea that many of these things are means tested, meaning you may not qualify, even if you want to, and so what we need to be thinking about is you being able to take back control of your financial situation and make sure that you've got provisions in place that benefit you and your family. I would not be reliant on universal credit or any of the benefits for that matter, and I would not want my clients to be either. So if you've got working clients who are generating income, my advice is to really emphasise the value for replacing that income, because at least they know they'll have that benefit from the insurance provider and they won't have to worry about trying to qualify for it from the government.

Speaker 1 27:32

Great question, tracy. Thanks so much. Who else is on the line? Hi, I'm at Mike Roberts from Penny Matters. What do you think stopping advisors advising on and?

Speaker 3 27:44

providing income protection for their clients. What's the big thing that's stopping them?

Speaker 2 27:49

There must be something. Give us a hand.

Speaker 1 27:52

What a great question, mike. Probably not one I can answer in a very short period of time, but I think it's a lot of things. But if I give you a bit of insight with regards to what I've learned doing my coaching, there's a number of reasons why advisors struggle to discuss or even recommending a protection. Let's start with advisor knowledge. So there's a lot of lack of knowledge out there. You know, going through the motions and learning how to recommend protection, and often do so off the back of things like mortgages, where other products might take precedence, such as critical illness or even life insurance.

Speaker 1 28:24

Given the easy connection and the path of least resistance to go down that road, I think it's a lack of confidence around the product as well. I think a lot of advisors probably need to learn how to discuss it and embed it into their advice recommendations. But also there's this misconception in advisors' minds as to the value of a lump sum versus regular income. So we see a lot of advisors out there talking about the benefits of a big lump sum payment, and I know that sounds very attractive and appealing to consumers. But I wrote an article, probably a week or two ago, on LinkedIn in which I talked about this very fact and actually, if you total up someone's income over their lifetime, it's substantially more than what you'd ever get in most critical illness contracts. In fact, one way of doing it is asking the client would you retire on the balance of this critical illness recommendation? The answer is invariably going to be no. So I think a lot of it is just misprioritization on behalf of advisors.

Matt's Top Tips of The Week

Speaker 1 29:10

I think what needs to happen is we, as an advice community, need to get better at talking around it. We need to show advisors how to embed it into their processes. We need to give them lots of tips and pointers. Well, I have some good news Very soon I will be bringing out a training course for advisors on exactly that process. So stay tuned and I'll give you more information when it's ready, and hopefully that will help you and other advisors understand how to bring up income protection within your conversations, how to protect income sources, how to make it an integral part of your embedded advice process. That's all coming up soon. But great question, mike. Thanks for asking.

Speaker 3 29:47

Matt's top tips of the week.

Speaker 1 29:51

Oh, I love that Exciting to be offering my tips. So, as I was explaining earlier, as a coach, I've had invaluable insight when I'm dealing with businesses around what they do as part of their processes, what works and what doesn't work. And I think what was most fascinating to me today speaking with Karen was when she talked about this idea of focusing on what's important to the client. So, within claims, and someone who was so involved in the Seven Families Project listening to Karen talk around how the key thing here is listening and understanding about what matters to the customer, what's important to them, and that's the philosophy that we need to be using when we're advising our clients. When you go into any meeting with your customer, remember it is not the product they're buying, but the solution it offers them. So one tip I can give you today, above all else, is to stop focusing on the product and what it does. Don't say things like it replaces a percentage of your income when you're unable to work. Think about how you can use relatable examples to bring it to life and focus on what's important to the customer. For example, it makes sure you've got income so that at the end of the month, you've always got enough money in the bank to pay your bills. Keep the lights on, feed your kids, stock the fridge, keep the heating on, keep a roof over your family's head. Now, straight away. We did the same thing. We said the same thing. We explained the concept of the product, but this time we brought it to life, using examples of things that really matter to the customer. Now, for most people, these are inherently basic things. It's things that actually they get up and worry about. Feeding my children is a number one priority, and so if someone offered me a solution to guarantee that I could always do that, I would find that valuable. But if you just talked about replacing your income of a certain percentage if you can't go to work not when you can't go to work suddenly it's losing its value because you're not focusing on what matters to me. You're trying to peddle a product and sell an insurance contract. So my top tip today, above all else, is to think about what Karen said, when we think about the responses and the feedback and the comments that were made in the Seven Families videos oh, and, by the way, if you haven't watched them, make sure you do, because Karen is absolutely right Within there, there are some golden things that you as an advisor can learn, that you can shape into your protection, advice conversations, where you can understand what happens in a real world example and what your client really cares about when things like this happen. And, as I say, if you can do that, if you can understand that and you can position the product in a way that delivers those things for them, you'll be far better placed. You'll have heard me talk about in the past around using the right kind of language okay, so I gave you a little example just then around how you can describe how the product works which again is not product but solution itself, focusing on how the benefit would actually be used. But you can go one step further and use these aspirational comments, these aspirational languages.

Speaker 1 32:38

If you're dealing with someone who's never gone through this process before, consider using phrases like financial resilience, income security. These are things that people crave, that they want. The very reason people go to work or put into their pension do these things is because they want the security of income. That prime example of saying to someone if I came to you tomorrow and said I guarantee your income for the rest of your working life, you didn't need to worry about it. But the only way I could do that is if you took a 5% pay cut. Would you do it Knowing that 99% of people probably say yes? Why? Because the income security is more valuable than the income itself. Okay, A 5% pay cut is a small price to pay for that income security. Yet in reality, we know income protection certainly a full-time contract will be significantly less more like 1% or 2% of someone's earnings.

IPTF News and Outro

Speaker 1 33:24

So sometimes we just need to think about how we bring these concepts to life for people, focusing on what's actually important to them, not the product we're trying to recommend, not the product we're trying to push. It's about what is going to produce the right outcome for this customer. What do they care most about and how can I position the product in a way that they can see the value in that? Those would be my top tips today. Well, that's it, guys, and I cannot believe we are already halfway through season one of the podcast.

Speaker 1 33:55

Thank you so much for listening. If you did enjoy today's episode, please do shout about it. Share the IPTF posts, send us a voice note on WhatsApp or share it around your company Everything you can do to spread the word of IP and the let's Talk IP podcast is going to help us so much. So thank you so much for listening. I really appreciate it and, as you've heard throughout the show, also stay tuned for the Seven Families 10-year anniversary film, which will be out very soon indeed. You can find all of the information around that on our social channels on Instagram via IP Task Force UK, at the IPTF, on X, IPTF, on LinkedIn and at our website, iptfcouk. At our website, iptfcouk. Let's Talk IP is produced and edited by Sea Studios. Executive producers are Joe Miller, Andrew Wibley and Vicky Churcher and, as always, I'm still Matt Chapman. Empower yourself, empower your clients and let's talk IP.