Business protection opportunities
If you’re new to business protection you’d be forgiven for wondering where to start.
But with 5.6 million businesses in the UK at the start of 20211, the best place to start your portfolio of business protection clients could be with existing clients.
Yes, it's very likely that you have some of these business owners in your existing client bank, where they may have personal protection in place. You could talk to them about protecting their business too.
Business Protection gives you a fantastic opportunity to develop client relationships, expand your business and increase earnings.
Source
1 National Statistics – Business population estimates for the UK and the regions 2021 (October 2021).
Video transcript
“Did you know, there are nearly 6 million small-to-medium-sized businesses in the UK?”
“Over a third of them feel that a key person’s absence for more than six months due to a serious illness would have a severe impact on their business. That’s key people like Linda here. No Linda, no business”.
“Now, many SMEs are likely to pay for professional indemnity insurance, or protection for physical assets like office equipment. But, just 22% of small businesses have any protection – like key person, shareholder or loan protection – for arguably their most important asset: their people.”
“So, when it comes to losing a business partner, shareholder or key person who is vital to the business, why are so many SMEs ignoring the risks? Hello?”
“Well, one reason could be that over half of senior decision makers in SMEs say that no one has discussed or recommended that they take out business protection, so they are pretty much… in the dark. And if they have, it’s most likely that they’ve discussed it with their accountant.”
“But… those SME’s that do speak with an expert… say this is one of the main reasons why they take out a business protection product.”
“So, for me as an adviser, all this adds up to an unmissable opportunity to develop client relationships, expand my business and increase my earnings.”
“Now, more than ever, it’s so important that small business owners are protected - should the unthinkable happen. And with easy access to a dedicated team of corporate protection specialists, Royal London helps me to grow my business, by making it easier for me to protect hers.”
“At Royal London, we make introducing the benefits of business protection to your clients simple. Our toolkit includes online calculators, decision trees, presentation tools and sales aids. For more information and support with talking about business protection to your clients, visit our adviser website today.”
Segmenting your client bank
You probably already have clients with business protection needs. Perhaps you’ve advised a company director on their mortgage or a business person on their critical illness cover.
To start identifying potential leads in your database, look out for:
- Key job titles, such as partners, directors or managing directors
- Self-employed clients, especially sole traders who are also the key person – such as hairdressers, plumbers, electricians, and other skilled people.
Your sales consultant can help you segment your client bank and identify clients who would benefit from business protection. If you don’t have a sales consultant, contact us on 0345 609 4500 and we’ll help you.
Growing your cash flow
Business protection can be a great way to create more revenue for your business, as these plans tend to have larger case sizes. In 2021, our average annual premium for a personal menu plan was £462.10, while the average for a business menu plan was £1,468.32. Plus, with business protection there’s more opportunities for repeat business due to say structure changes or expansion plans.
Unlocking a chain of opportunities
Once you’ve identified potential leads among your clients, it’s important to consider other people in their businesses who would also benefit from business protection. For example, if a client is interested in ownership protection for their business, this is also a good opportunity to provide the same protection for any other directors – widening your client bank.
And a new business protection client could later benefit from your advice in their personal lives too.
Building professional connections
New business protection cases can also come from referrals from other professionals, such as solicitors, accountants and even general insurance brokers.
Solicitors are involved in business succession. So they could introduce you to their clients when they draw up shareholder agreements and partnership agreements to make sure these are properly funded.
Accountants see their clients more regularly than solicitors and they’ll be aware of the gross profits and fixed costs of a client’s business. They can refer them to you to discuss the risks associated with losing key people.
These professionals have a duty of care to their clients – so they should welcome your advice and expertise. If their clients are happy that everything has been done to protect their business, this will reflect well on them too.
Social media can be a useful tool to generate new leads. For example, you could use LinkedIn to search for professional job titles such as ‘accountant’ or ‘solicitor’ in your local area.
Marketing business protection to your clients
You can use our Marketing Studio (opens in a new window) to create personalised sales aids that can help your clients understand the importance of business protection.
And our approach letters can help you start the protection conversation.
Need help getting started?
To help get you started, we've created a business protection calculator that helps you to capture valuable information about your client's business with some hints and tips on what covers could be most suitable for them.