Richard Farr, director of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI), believed that the length of time it takes to complete a regulated mortgage sale meant that advisers were unable to then move onto a client’s protection needs as the client, by then, had lost interest.
Speaking as part of this week’s French Connection, Farr said: “There is a protection gap so there is potential to grow that path. I don’t think it’s necessarily the adviser’s fault. It’s probably not the fact they aren’t tooled up to sell it, but with a regulated mortgage sale, you hear a lot about customer fatigue. It takes an hour at least to get through an application and then to start thinking about what the protection needs are – and there may be more than one of those.
“After all, customers are busy people. We are all busy people, and customer fatigue can be an important factor in how far you take that advice.”
Farr believed the best way to increase protection sales was to split the client meeting into two or three sessions so clients were not overloaded with information.
Dev Malle, sales director at Personal Touch Financial Services, said: “I think there is an element of fatigue in the sales process as ultimately, people go to an adviser because they want to buy their dream home and protection can see them lose interest. However, advisers should make it clear to clients that protection is part of the mortgage application and if you are treating your customers fairly, you must make sure they have adequate cover.”
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