- No (73%)
- Not sure (22%)
- Yes (5%)
Our latest poll seeks your views about the capacity of emerging risk-focused advisers to deliver what consumers need.
In asking this question, we’re effectively conducting a poll on soft skills capability, especially for more recent entrants into the life insurance advice sector.
Our industry is rightly focused at present on adviser remuneration and other issues stemming from the ASIC Review of Retail Life Insurance Advice and the consequent Trowbridge recommendations, particularly those dealing with adviser remuneration. But the issues pertaining to our latest poll may hold more significant long-term consequences in terms of the ability to deliver appropriate life insurance advice that will serve the interests of the consumer.
We want to know whether you think ‘soft skills’ is becoming a lost art – whether what is generally perceived by the industry as a gap at the moment may be turning into a chasm. In doing so, we’re making the assumption that ‘soft skills’ or ‘relationship skills’ are critically important in the process that discovers the true needs of the client and in the ability of the emerging adviser to deliver the appropriate solutions required.
People aren’t hard-wired to talk about what will happen when they die
We recently put this same question to a passionate group of financial services contributors at our special edition ANZ AFA Genxt Round Table, and we received contrasting responses, especially from our adviser and licensee panellists. For example, Patrick McLaughlin, a Gen X adviser and MD of his Sydney-based risk specialist advice firm, Foundation Life Insurance & Mortgage Broking, responded to the question by qualifying where the new adviser would be learning their craft:
“If they’re being employed into a bank, then the answer is ‘probably not’. Patrick added, “To me, the soft skills are about having the conversation. People aren’t hard-wired to talk about what will happen when they die. And the adviser needs to make that conversation happen. Those skills have been lost and the industry is becoming ‘dis-intermediated.’”
The focus has been lost but I don’t think the inherent skill set has been lost
Contrasting this approach, FSP dealer group MD, Matthew Brown, suggested there exists an underlying capability within today’s advisers to employ the soft skills needed in order to truly serve the best interests of clients: “There are as many new generation advisers who are good at those conversations as there are ‘tech-heads’,” he said. Matt told his peers he believes the focus on those skills has been lost as the industry concentrates on product training and meeting compliance requirements. “The focus has been lost but I don’t think the inherent skill set has been lost.”
There are more points to make and more arguments to present present. But we’ll continue our conversation next week when we report the result of your votes…
One of the problems of presenting your persona as an investment adviser is to then switch roles and discuss someone’s medical issues like haemorrhoids, cancer, family medical history etc.. I learned long ago that you can’t be a top investment adviser as well as a top risk/insurance adviser; one has to have priority over the other. I have learned the soft disturb when it comes to the need for insurance and never oversell.
If the FS industry was doing the right thing Australians wouldn’t be so under insured.
While soft skills are necessary, product training is even more critical
A decade ago all insurers put on product training about the ins and outs of contracts. particularly in IP. The presentation usually revealed the good stuff up front, and, often the nasties introduced “up the back ” Few presenters on IP were BDMs, instead the real product experts were rolled out. This idea was pioneered by Col Fullagar at Tyndall, much to the disgust of the Tied Agency companies.
So you were informed when a product acquired a few nasties-a capability clause, a dodgy injury definition, an overseas travel exclusion, criminality clauses etc. Those nasties disappeared over time because they were being exposed, only to re-occur as insurers attempted to regain profits lost in the great GROUP LIFE IN SUPER frolic
The insurers have defaulted that function to the researchers, then went on a frolic trying to get the “best ” rating, whatever that is. Research is useless unless you know what to look for, based on your preferences ( lets call them biases, and I avoid using contracts featuring any of the above ) and what those features actually mean for your client
The AFA still owns an excellent moderated training course on IP- but decided some years ago to abandon their training obligations to members. Why ?? Not sure, but its not a good look
Right now there are no organizations offering non-brand specific “concepts and elements “product training. If there were, why would I still find IP contracts for a person working in the USA from time to time with a policy with a 3 months limit on benefits paid overseas.
How can that be in a clients best interest.
There is one exception-TAL have developed a Master Class series on various key insurance areas . Yesterday I attended the IP course and learnt things despite my 28 years advising on risk. GOOD ON THEM !
But the questions being asked around that table proved to me that some advisers were ” armed and dangerous ” – they had not yet acquired the basic knowledge to be able to put what they heard yesterday to any use.
Both AFA & FPA do not provide CPD points for “product training ” Why for gods sake ?
Before we all became “investment advisers ” urged on by insurers who wanted to become “wealth managers ” soft skills were part of your insurers training. And please do not say that was just for “old lifies ” – if Trowbridge and the banks get their agenda up we will all be back as Tied Agents “. At least then soft skills will be taught
My greatest fear is that in the industry’s “regulator driven ” rush for ALL advisers to have totally inappropriate degrees before entering the industry, that risk product training and soft skills training will not be part of the requirement. PI premiums will skyrocket
It used to be said that product knowledge was only 10% of an advisers kitbag – but you needed to know 100% of that 10% to be a successful risk adviser.
Much has chaged since I came into the industry as a tied agent with AMP. At the time AMP produced many agents with excellent training (for the day) and we wrote a whole lot of busines when life was oh-so-much simpler.
There’s a changed environment now though. Hard-selling skills don’t cut it now – clients and prospects are too savvy in the main for almost manipulative tactics like that. In one way that’s a good thing – prospects aren’t sold something they don’t want.
On the other hand, these same prospects have to accept the responsiibility for not having life-risk insurance, or not enough of it, because they reject the hard-sell. No one can have it both ways.
My point in all of this? That sales skills are fundamentally important in this business, but essentially those which have moved with the times. Learning people skills is the most important of all sales skills followed closely by how to apply in a given situation the information we’ve all learned from product training. In this I mostly agre with BillB above.
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