5. Use insurer initiatives as a motivator

While price shouldn’t be the sole reason to recommend a policy, provider initiatives such as premium discounts can give advisers an additional reason to speak to clients, or to go back to those previously considering protection with a further incentive to take cover out now.

VitalityLife is offering a 5 per cent discount on its Optimiser protection policies until the end of June, and LV recently offered a 5 per cent discount on all income protection policies taken out during March and April, which it has done periodically over the last few years.

Across the life of the policy a 5 per cent discount can be a worthwhile saving (taking a 25 year £30 per month premium to £28.50, saving £450 over the term), which could make the premiums more palatable to some clients. At the very least, it’s a conversation opener and a good reason to make contact.

Earlier we referred to a lack of trust and claims statistics are a good way to manage this in a pro-active and positive manner. They are published by providers on an annual basis and canbe used by advisers when talking to clients about protection, to help prove that policies do pay out, and counter some people’s perception of the industry.

According to new research from British Friendly the vast scale of self-employed people who believe less income protection claims are paid out than actually are with just 2 per cent of respondents saying that income protection claims were paid out more than 90 per cent of the time. Some 45 per cent believed that the main reasons claims were declined was insurers deliberately trying not to pay, even though on average the industry pays more than 90 per cent of IP claims.

Kevin Carr is managing director of Carr Consulting & Communications and chief executive of Protection Review