General insurance (GI) solutions provider Paymentshield has announced the launch of a new quote referral option, which it believes has the potential to radically change how advisers manage their general insurance business.
This new solution will enable advisers to refer customers to Paymentshield’s own team of in-house specialists if they don’t have time to offer advice themselves, while retaining full oversight of the sale.
Paymentshield says the launch of the referral service acknowledges that the combination of the Consumer Duty and prevailing market conditions has resulted in a high level of pressure on advisers’ time. The provider argues it ensures that quality GI advice is still accessible to all clients, with advisers now able to offer customers a call-back from Paymentshield, who will make contact during a specific time slot requested by the client.
Paymentshield’s service will integrate all referrals into the digital Adviser Hub Dashboard, giving advisers full transparency on every lead and customer interaction. This means that whether the adviser is offering the advice themselves, referring it to Paymentshield or doing a mix of both, they’ll be able to track all their GI business in one place.
This interface also enables advisers to see all actions that have been recorded against each lead, including current status, contact history, next steps, and at-a-glance data graphics showing overall referral conversion rates.
The new referral service is now live across Paymentshield’s adviser network, with Paymentshield’s advised sales team, who have been able to offer advice to clients on midterm adjustments and those thinking about cancelling for several years, able to scale up and down quickly according to demand, the firm says.
Initial trials with firms from The Openwork Partnership and Home Loan Partnership had an average quote to sale conversation rate of 65% where Paymentshield called the customer and discussed their needs.
Paul Shearman, proposition director at The Openwork Partnership, said: “With the Consumer Duty now in effect, it is vital that all advisers continue delivering comprehensive solutions and not walking past clients’ needs for GI and pure protection.
“The introduction of Paymentshield’s new referral model is therefore very timely and provides a great solution for those advisers who prefer to engage a GI specialist to support their clients, but don’t have the resource within their own business. It is early days, but the initial trial results are really encouraging.”
The launch is the latest development in Paymentshield’s ongoing technology advances to ensure that every customer has the opportunity to receive expert advice about their home insurance needs.
Paymentshield’s annual Adviser Survey consistently shows that the overwhelming majority of advisers (typically around 95%) believe that having a GI conversation with clients is best practice, but around three in five say they sometimes miss opportunities.
The referral launch also enables Paymentshield to offer a fully-regulated solution to firms in the mortgage distribution market that are not regulated by the FCA to sell GI products.
Emma Green (pictured), distribution director at Paymentshield, added: “We believe that the best way to buy insurance is by getting advice, but given the challenges in the current market, with advisers having to work harder than ever, we recognise that they might miss opportunities to offer GI advice. So, we’ve developed an innovative solution to support them – in turn ensuring their customers are still getting the best possible outcome, and that advisers can still develop a valuable income stream from GI. In essence, when it comes to GI, we want to ensure that advisers can sell it or refer it, but don’t ignore it.
“We’ve worked hard to develop the tech that underpins this new offering, making the process completely transparent for advisers so they can instantly see how the lead has progressed. Our new digital dashboard presents all the data in a really clear format, and we’ve had really positive feedback from partners who have already used it.
“We’re looking to further expand our referral options in the coming months, so watch this space.”