Advisers offered opportunity to net life sales

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Advisers can now take on the likes of Cigna and Pinnacle Life and take a slice of the growing online sales market, selling life cover direct to consumers via their own branded website.

Sunday, December 30th 2012, 9:34PM 1 Comment

by Benn Bathgate

For $72.50 a month Insure You will set up websites for advisers – using their own branding – which can sell life, mortgage protection and general insurance products from Tower, with the option to sell health products set to be added in the New Year.

Insure You’s John Hill said the key to their offering was the fact that it wasn’t a marketing website but a direct-to-consumer sales channel.

“It’s your own online shop as opposed to a website. People come here to buy, not to compare or look,” he said.

For a ‘clean-skin’ customer using one of the websites, the process involved them answering 11 questions and could be conducted in less than 10 minutes.

He said the website would also send the adviser an email alert if someone dropped out at any stage of the process, enabling the adviser to follow up on the lead.

Hill said the online sales channel was growing at such a rate that in Australia direct sales are predicted to account for 40% of new business by 2021.

“The mould of purchasing life insurance has changed,” he said.“You need to have this as part of your business.”

He said each advisers’ website would have Tower branding and that advisers’ would receive the usual Tower remuneration on sales, upfront commission and renewals.

Insurance4 Me founder Des Morgan agreed the online insurance space was growing however, there is one significant stumbling block when it comes to online sales.

“The key is making people aware of it. That’s where these others will struggle. Nothing is going to happen unless [advisers] actually drive traffic to [the website].”

Benn Bathgate is a business reporter for ASSET and Good Returns, email story ideas to benn@goodreturns.co.nz

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