With an ever increasing presence of price driven protection products bought and sold through the internet, AEGON is highlighting the importance of adviser firms being able to demonstrate they can add extra value in the advice they provide customers.
AEGON believes advisers in the protection market have the skills required in order to add value in a way that can differentiate themselves from internet distributors.
Stephen Crosbie, head of proposition management, investments and protection at AEGON, said: "The first thing advisers must do is to identify ways in which they can provide added value. If traditional protection advisers want to succeed, it is now time to stop competing on price alone."
One way advisers can differentiate themselves is to leverage the flexibility of menu-based protection which cannot be accessed through the internet, or enhancing their offering to help their clients mitigate the risk of inheritance tax through the use of trust planning.
Another route that the internet distributors cannot compete with advisers is through the ever increasing importance of businesses adequately protecting themselves against the unexpected happening to a key person or shareholder in the company.
Crosbie continues, "There is a large swathe of the individual protection market that remains untapped and that protection advisers have a competitive edge over internet distributors. AEGON will continue to help educate advisers on how they can successfully target these areas and win more business."
