S1:EP3 - Life's Uncertainties Need not Spell Disaster - How IP safe guarded Tracey Boyd's client

In today's episode

What would you do if you became ill and couldn't work, how would you protect and look after your family without your regular income? This would have been Damian Bamford's problem if he hadn't taken the advice of Tracey Boyd of Mortgage Hub Expert.

Hear his inspiring journey through adversity to stability as we delve into Damian's personal account of overcoming a health scare, and how Tracey's guidance and a robust policy provided a financial lifeline. Their story is a vivid reminder that life's uncertainties need not spell disaster with the right planning in place while reminding us advisers "This is why we do this"

We answer your questions in #AskIPTF - where you get the chance to ask your burning questions - to send in your questions please use the phone number or links below.

Matt then provides us with his top tips on building financial resilience for your clients over "Selling" and overcoming objections.

And please complete this year's adviser survey (https://tinyurl.com/yenmxuay) so please go and complete that! 

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Produced and edited by SEA Studios

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:10

Hello and welcome to let's Talk IP by the Income Protection Task Force, the podcast that shines a light on the often overlooked but vital insurance income protection. I'm your host, matthew Chapman, aka the Protection Coach, and welcome to Season 1, episode three of let's Talk IP. Right, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for tuning into episode three Now. We are loving making this podcast and we really hope that you're enjoying it too. If you are, please do shout about it on social media using the hashtag askIPTF tag. That would be really helpful. Now, today's episode is an excellent one. You really do not want to miss this one. But before we get into it, I just want to remind everyone about the IPTF's advisor survey that's now out. Please do complete this. It really does help us at the IPTF know how we can serve you best and provide content that makes a difference. Links to that are in the episode description. And remember, this episode counts towards your unstructured CPD points, so note down what you've listened to with the name of the podcast and the episode number to be able to claim that. So if it's going to be an amazing show, what is coming up? Let me tell you In this week's interview.

Interview with Tracey Boyd and her client Damian Bamford

Speaker 1 1:21

We have advisor and Seven ambassador, ambassador Tracy Boyd, along with her client, damian Bamford, owner and director of Just the man, to discuss how Tracy supported Damian in providing not just the right policy for him and his family, but through a claim. Next, we'll be answering some of your burning questions in hashtag AskIPTF. This week we have questions on supporting NHS doctors and dentists, plus how to explain the best way to cover the risk of extending deferred periods. And finally, as always, it's my top tips of the week and I can't wait for that one. Right, let's get straight into the interview, shall we? This is going to be a massive one for all you advisors out there listening. This is a real-life example of an income protection case study of someone claiming and the difference it made to them. So please welcome Tracy Boyd from Mortgage Hub Expert and Damien Bamford from Just the man.

Speaker 1 2:17

Welcome Tracy Boyd from Mortgage Hub Expert Limited. She was a former Seven Advisor and now Seven Ambassador to the podcast, and we're delighted that Tracey is also joined by a client of hers, damien, who is also a claimant. So some great discussion points for today with a real life IP client. So welcome to both of you. Thanks for joining me today, tracey. If we could start with you, if that's okay. We always ask our advisors to identify their why for income protection, why is that they like income protection and how it came about. There's usually a sort of a moment, a belief, a point where you know your passion for the product stems from Something's happened. You know, maybe it's a personal story, experience of training, et cetera. So tell us a bit more about your why eureka moment when you saw the value of income protection. If you don't mind.

Speaker 2 3:01

I feel that income protection is the building block of financial planning, and without that, everything else can fall over, which is why I place an emphasis on income protection.

Speaker 1 3:16

Well, that's a very simple, short, succinct and powerful answer. I completely agree with you, damien. Great to have you with us Now. As a policyholder and as a claimant someone who's actually gone through the claims process it's clear that you've become an advocate for income protection, which is brilliant, great. We need more people like you. But having been to that claims process yourself, I wonder if you could share the genuine difference that having income protection made to you when you found yourself unable to work.

Speaker 3 3:40

I found the process from start to the end a very easy process, from the moment I went into hospital and spoke to Tracy to the nine months later where I was in recovery speaking to consultants and doctors. Lv were always there on hand to help me out. If I didn't have any of the protection at all know, I know, that I probably would have lost the house and probably lost my, my business as well, as I'm self-employed. Um, so having that has definitely made a difference from our well-being, our mental health as well. As you know, just being able to look after our family on a day-to-day basis whilst I was recovering it was the stress, wasn't it, damien?

Speaker 2 4:24

I remember remember Sarah saying that I didn't know what was going to happen, I didn't know how we were going to cope and you know, from nowhere this money, you know, just started coming in and it was such a relief to know. Yeah, and it happened quickly as well, a fit guy, a young fit guy, who'd ever think?

Speaker 1 4:44

Yeah yeah, and this is the point, guys, right. So I often say to advisors this idea of optimism bias, right, which is it's not going to happen to me, damon, you're the perfect example of someone saying well, look, it does happen to you, right? Who knows what's around the corner? No one knows what's going to happen to them, when it's going to happen to them, how bad it's going to be or how bad it's going to affect them. So you've got to have these things in place so that, when these things do inevitably happen, you know you're going to be okay, you know your family's going to be taken care of, because that's exactly why we do what we do, right yeah, definitely, and you know it wasn't as if it was just the heart that happened.

Speaker 3 5:18

It all started because I had a stomach bug, and that's where I come from. That's where it stemmed from and it stretched all the way up then and put a lot of pressure on the heart wow.

Speaker 1 5:27

You don't realize, do you? And who knows exactly? Who knows what's going to happen? And that's the whole point. So thank goodness you had an advisor like tracy, guiding you in the first place towards the sort of products and solutions that we're going to make sure you're going to be okay, regardless of what it was right. That's really interesting to me because I think for a lot of the advisors listening they probably don't realize that you get those additional support. So what I really took away from what you were saying there was that it wasn't just the money, that you actually got additional support from the provider as well, above and beyond that, in terms of helping you to understand what was going on your illness and the options available to you. Is that fair to say?

Speaker 3 5:58

That is fair to say, yes, and if I had any questions regarding my health that the doctors wouldn't answer on my part, I could ring up the insurance company and they would provide me with their own doctors to give me reassurance. Basically, that's brilliant and, like I said, it wasn't just a day to day, that it could be weekly or monthly until I start getting better.

Speaker 1 6:19

That's amazing, see. I think a lot of advisors probably don't realise that that exists in the first place really that you get that additional support when they make these recommendations. I think what's really encouraging for me as well is that what you've said, as someone who's gone through the process, is that the claims process was fairly easy and pain-free. Now for us as advisors I think probably Trace will agree with me that sometimes you know there's a concern that it's going to be quite a complex thing to go through. There's going lot of pay book, a lot of hassle. So to hear that from an actual client who's claimed is really encouraging and really positive, because hopefully a lot of the other advisors out there will see that it's not as complex and difficult as it might first be believed.

Speaker 1 6:52

So what's really interesting is am I right in thinking that you were self-employed? Is that correct? Yeah, sorry, I'm self-employed and I wasn't at the time, right, okay, so that makes a lot of sense. So I imagine then for you, income protection has been a bit of a lifeline. I mean, what would have happened if you didn't have income protection?

Speaker 3 7:07

in place. I wouldn't like to think about it. I definitely wouldn't have the house now. Mental health wise, myself and my family would probably have suffered for definite. And yeah, I'm just grateful that we had it in the end. That's amazing.

Speaker 1 7:19

I mean, I think a lot of people don't actually draw the connection, do they, between financial pressures and mental health and actually the impact that would have happened if you had struggled financially, potentially even lost your home, like you say, which it doesn't bear thinking about. I think people really underestimate the impact that would have on you, your family, Ignore the financial pressures but the mental health pressures as well, absolutely.

Speaker 3 7:42

I mean, how long were you off work for? I was off work initially for nine months and then they did a stage return. So, like I said, I used to have meetings once a week. They'd check in to see how many hours I was doing, whether I could do more work the week after or less, and they'd be ringing me up to find out if I've had any consultants. Bring me to give me any other updates, um. And then, yeah they, they start um lowering the payments, then in in, um the amount I was working that's brilliant.

Speaker 1 8:13

So they help rehabilitate you back to work. That's phenomenal and I suppose you know a lot of providers offer those types of benefits and I think maybe advisors don't see the value of that, but in your case it was very helpful to help transition you back to work and get you back to being independent and earning that income yourself, which I imagine for you is quite empowering, right? Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 3 8:30

They also provide support to my wife as well, if she needed it.

Speaker 1 8:35

That's superb. Now, often on this podcast, what we try and do is we try and remind advisors that they're more than just salespeople flogging a product, because unfortunately, when it comes to insurances, a lot of advisors do think that what they do is they are selling insurances that people don't need and people don't want, and often what I do is I try and help them reframe that and think actually what they're doing is making a huge, significant difference at the worst of times for people and without them doing that, people could be left in real financial difficulty. So it sounds to me that, like having an advisor like Tracy to turn to to help you sort everything out, to even set the plan up in the first place at that time of need, was pretty useful to you. Would you agree with that? A?

Speaker 3 9:10

hundred percent. It's all down to trust as well. It's at the end of the day, isn't it so? And I trust her with my life now, definitely.

Speaker 1 9:18

Amazing, so a really good news story. I mean, what would you say to other advisors listening who haven't thought of themselves as being that kind of gateway to financial security for people? Because obviously, tracey is one of our seven advisors and our seven ambassadors. She's clearly very passionate about it, so she's someone that we turn to in the industry as someone who's being an advocate for this sort of stuff. So those advisors out there who maybe are arranging debts for people or putting people in financially vulnerable positions and not having these conversations what kind of advice or things would you say to those advisors about what they should be doing?

Speaker 3 9:47

I would definitely try to insist on getting the insurance. I mean, you wouldn't go traveling abroad without insurance, so why would you live day to day life with it? You know, that's the way I looked at it and just yeah, you've got to push it, man, You've got to push it. Give them examples. What would you do if this happened? Not maybe just think of the worst case.

Speaker 1 10:21

Tracy right when we have conversations with people and we do our utmost to explain it. And I know Tracy's just like me in that I'm a huge, passionate advocate for income protection and all forms of protection. But it's something that I care deeply about because I've gone through my own experiences and I've got examples much like yours that resonate and really hammer the point home. But it's so disheartening for us when we're having these conversations and we're trying our best, passionately, to try and get a client engaged and all they do is they see it as a price-based product. And it's so difficult because the TV adverts don't help life insurance from as little as six pounds and everything's seen as a cost or an expense. And for us we're trying to say, look, you don't get it. The only reason you're able to sit in front of me in the first place and talk about your financial matters is because you've got money coming in from a job that isn't guaranteed, from an income that you can't guarantee is going to be there if something happens to you. And it's so difficult because all we want them to do is listen to what we've got to say and not think about the cost or this, because the cost is insignificant compared to what they could lose, and that's what frightens us. But we'll do it. And Tracy's right what she said you can take the horse to water. You can't make it drink, and sometimes we have to hear the declines or the negative responses and it's so demoralizing. Yet then you get clients like yourself who, smart, listen to what we've got to say, take the advice on board, see the value in what we're offering, take it, have an experience like yours, and then we feel so empowered by that Like listen to your story. It just reignited that passion for me straight away.

Speaker 1 11:51

I was sitting here thinking this is why I do what I do to hear clients like you sit there and say well, this is the difference it made to me, because generally it gives me goosebumps. I'm not even joking when I say that to you, because it's such a powerful thing, because you see the reality of what it is we do every day. You know we don't all get claims, experiences, we don't all see the outcome of what we do, and so to hear it and to see it firsthand from someone like you is just really eye-opening for so many people. Anyone that's listening is going to be thinking the same thing, because it's incredibly powerful and it gives you that real kick up the ass to remind yourself. This is why I do the job. I do so when people like you go through what you went through. You and your family are good. That's it.

Speaker 2 12:31

That's all we do when I met um damien's wife sarah, um, they came and stayed in my shipping container and um the first thing she did, when I know that sounds awful, doesn't it?

Speaker 1 12:42

my shipping container it's your airbnb, isn't it yeah?

Speaker 2 12:46

yeah, my stargazers. Um, she got out of damien's truck and she came up to me and she hugged me and she said thank you so much. She's because, and it made me so proud and privileged to do what I do and it. Powerful I think, probably for the first time, made me realize in your working life how many times does the average Joe sit in front of a professional and is given advice for free?

Speaker 1 13:17

Hardly ever, hardly ever.

Speaker 2 13:20

Not many times, not many times at all.

Speaker 1 13:22

Now, Tracy, it's probably fair to say that having a client go through the claims process crystallizes it pretty clearly in your mind and it helps to focus the mind on why is we do what we do as advisors, why income protection is so important Now. Has being involved in a claims process with a client like Damien been a useful experience for you, and what are your key takeaways if that is the case?

Speaker 2 13:42

yeah, 100%. It's really seeing that insurance. We can't pick it up and feel it and know how good it is and it is only as good as a claim and it's very individual to that particular client. And with Damien, when we first spoke about seven or eight years ago, when Damien and Sarah bought their first home together, they came to me and I put together a package for them of protection and a few years later, when we reviewed it, we upgraded that protection to full protection and that was full income protection through to retirement, rather than a budget plan.

Speaker 2 14:25

And it's interesting because one of the words that you used, matt, was um, flogging insurance, and it's the language that damien used when he text me um on that sunday night saying um, I'm in the back of an ambulance on wait hospital, suspect heart attack, let's see how good that insurance is. You flogged me and I thought, oh my God, I don't flog insurance, I'm an advisor. I'm advising my clients on all the risks involved and how they can adequately protect themselves, whether they take it or don't. I get clients that don't take protection and that's fine. It's criminal and I can't make people take it.

Speaker 2 15:13

And not everybody listens like Damien did. The majority of people listen. How does it make me feel? I feel honoured, that I'm in a position of trust with my clients and that they trust me to give that advice to them. And it is just advice. At the end of the day, I'm saddling them with a big debt and, believe it or not, lenders don't insist that people protect themselves. They have to insure the building. They don't have to. People protect themselves. They have to insure the building, they don't have to insure themselves. And that's because if the building disappears, they've got nothing to take. But if something happens to you, they'll just come and take the house off you, and people don't actually realize the reality of that.

Speaker 1 15:59

I love what you say because I think, if you think about it now, you know, going through that process of talking to clients about protection, I would argue probably and again correct me if I'm wrong, damien but when you see that direct debit coming out of your account every month for that income protection contract, I bet you no longer think twice about it, like it's not an expense anymore. Suddenly, it's this amazing product that you've invested in that's given you so much security that you probably didn't think you had previously. So it's fascinating to me how the perspective changes when you see the value in something right, oh yeah 100%.

Speaker 3 16:31

I mean, for the sake of what are you looking at? A couple of bottles of wine worth of money a month. You know why would you not get it out? It's going to save you in the long run, even if you don't use it. Is that security?

Speaker 3 16:40

absolutely, and that's priceless right yeah I mean the cover that I actually took out as well. I, um, I believe it. It was covered for if my, my kids were ill. Um, it covered me for being out of work to look after them as well. Um, so it's a no-brainer it's a no-brainer right.

Speaker 1 16:56

You heard that here, guys. Absolutely. Now. Finally, damien, if you don't mind, I'd really like to ask you a key question, if I may, and it's one that we hope we can ask a lot more policyholders in the future. So, to all of the advisors listening, do you have a client that you think would be prepared to join us on the podcast? Have a think about who that might be. By all means, let us know. We'd love to have more guests like Damien on, because it really helps us to shape what we do and our propositions and what we offer. But anyway, back to the question.

Speaker 1 17:20

So apologies, we're all about getting more people covered with income protection. That's what we try and do in the Income Protection Task Force. We want to make more people aware of income protection, the importance of it, and help advisors to have those conversations, and there's lots of opinions out there on the best way to achieve that, but it'd be so valuable to hear from an actual client, a consumer, what it was that Tracy said that convinced you of the importance of taking out in protection. Was it something in particular that Tracy said during your conversations? Was it facts and figures or stats that you became aware of a personal experience. Maybe what is it in your mind, thinking back to the conversation you had with Tracy that made you actually go? Do you know what? Yeah, I think I need to take that.

Speaker 3 17:57

I think it was a mixture of everything, really the stats, figures and when we were discussing it, it and that's what it comes down to is protecting my family, not myself, even though it is for myself.

Speaker 1 18:11

if I'm not protected, my family aren't protected absolutely, and you know it's funny because in the coaching work that I do, trying to help advisors have these conversations, that's exactly what I say to them. I say you've got to understand what is it that drives and motivates the customer, because what we're really trying to do is protect people in the way that, you know, we align what we're offering to the things that they care most about. Now, that might be buying a house, that might be protecting their family, that might be keeping food in the fridge to feed their kids, it doesn't really matter. As long as we understand what it is that is important to the client, we can arrange solutions that genuinely produce those outcomes for them. And in this case, I think it's pretty clear to see that that's exactly what Tracy did, and it's wonderful to hear that you and your family were protected so well through that process. And it's really, really encouraging for me to hear the great support you got from the provider. So hats off to LV as well, who've obviously done a brilliant job in looking after you and your family, and it's great to hear that outcome. So again, thank you to them and thank you to you for coming on the show.

Speaker 1 19:02

Again, I'd like to thank Tracy and Damien for joining me today. It's been invaluable hearing not just from Tracy as the advisor, but Damon as a customer who's gone through this experience as a policyholder, because I think it gives us all an extra bit of security, knowing the importance of what we're doing day in, day out. So that's exactly what it's all about. Thank you both so much for joining me today. I really appreciate your time and good luck with the future.

#AskIPTF

Speaker 1 19:29

So that was Tracy Boyd from Mortgage Hub Expert and Damian Bamford from Just the man. Thank you both so much for coming on today. That was a really, really eye-opening experience. Now it's time for Ask IPTF, where you get to be part of the show each week. We want to hear your thoughts, your questions and your stories around IP, so please do send us your voice notes to 07442 247 280. That's 07442 247 280. If you don't fancy leaving a voice note, no worries, you can always email us on letstalkippodcast at gmailcom, or just comment and post on either LinkedIn X or on our new Instagram account, ip Task Force UK using the hashtag AskIPTF. Right, let's see who's on the line today.

Speaker 5 20:15

Hi, matt, it's Hannah McCallop from Premier Plus here. I just wanted to hear your thoughts on how you would explain to an advisor the best way to cover the risks of extending deferred periods on income protection to bring the overall premium within budget. Obviously, there's quite a lot that we can do to bring it within budget, but I know that it is asked quite a lot about how long they can set a deferred period to and how much cheaper that would make it.

Speaker 1 20:41

That's a really good question, hannah, thank you, and I'm sure it's one that a lot of advisors come across. So, naturally, when you make your recommendations to your client, you're going to want to present the full-term IP option. That's the one that everyone wants to go for. But naturally, if the client pushes back and says that's too expensive, you've got a couple of options to how we can try and potentially bring that premium down and make that full-term option a bit more affordable. And so naturally, one of the things you could look at is the deferred period. So obviously, the longer the deferred period, the more cost-effective the plan becomes.

Speaker 1 21:09

But there are dangers associated with that. You've got to make sure that your client has either sufficient savings or means to support themselves during that waiting period before that replacement income kicks in. If they haven't got that, you need to really question whether the saving is worth it. It might actually be a better option to go back to the drawing board with the client and say, rather than looking at this level of income benefit, perhaps we can adjust the income benefit so that we can make sure the policy kicks in at the time when you need it to. But actually we do a slightly reduced level of benefit based on what you actually need under those circumstances. So, for example, what's the minimum level of income that you would need every single month to maintain a lifestyle that's acceptable to you? And that could be a good starting point rather than doing deferred periods.

Speaker 1 21:49

Of course, we all know that longer deferred periods are cheaper, but there are some real concerns that I've got. If you push it too far out and it becomes a point where, actually, the client had to make multiple claims, they wouldn't have enough savings or income to support themselves during that period, you could put the client at a disadvantage. So it's all about weighing up the different options with the client and not putting the client at a financial disadvantage or exposing them to risk if they were off work for any period of time. That was Hannah Vakalic from Premier Plus. Who else is on the line then?

Speaker 4 22:17

Hi Matt, it's Dylan, one of the new batch of seven advisors I specialize in dealing with NHS doctors and dentists. After five years service, they get full six months pay, followed by six months half pay in terms of sick pay. It's quite a generous scheme and I can struggle to get them to consider separate IP. How would you go about convincing them of the long-term value?

Speaker 1 22:41

Thanks, Matt Well, hi, dylan, great to meet you. That's a brilliant question and I imagine for all of the advisors out there listening to this, you're going to be thinking the same when you come across a client with really good sick pay whether they be public sector, nhs, dentist, doctor, whoever. If they receive that type of sick pay where after a period of time, they're going to get that full six months and then six months half, it might initially seem like that's a barrier for you having a conversation around income protection, but the truth remains. The client needs income for life. We've established that. It's not about they need an income for 12 months and we know the average claim is over seven years. So actually that NHS benefit, that dentist benefit, that public sector benefit is not going to be enough to cover them for the average scenario that people find themselves in. So what this is really about is understanding how you can use that potential sick pay and that benefit to your advantage. So I will often encourage advisors, when they're having those conversations, to say to the client, before they even raise it as a potential objection, that the fact that they get good sick pay means it's really good news. It means they're going to be able to get access to lifelong financial security products to protect them for the remainder of their working life more cost effectively than, say, someone who would need it to kick in very quickly.

Speaker 1 23:50

So the benefit of that is what you're doing is taking what would initially look like a potential barrier to sale ie, I've got good sick pay. You're preempting it and then you're saying to the client listen, we know you get great sick pay. And those of you who are very knowledgeable, like Dylan, for example, will be able to say right, I can see that you've been with this employer for five years, so I know you probably get six months full, six months half. That's brilliant news. And before they raise the objection, you can hit that off at the pass by saying this is great news. It means we can get you access to lifelong financial resilience.

Speaker 1 24:20

So once that sick pay finishes, this will sweep and continue for those scenarios where you're off work more than your sick pay allows, and that way you've got total financial security more cost effectively than it would be for someone who needs it to kick in very quickly. So the key there is to not be threatened by good sick pay. Instead to see it not as a barrier but as an actual tool, as an opportunity to discuss with your client the benefits of full-term lung protection, but doing it in a more cost-effective way. Great question, dylan. Thanks ever so much. Now. Thank you to both Dylan and Hannah for contributing to Ask IPTF this week. That number, again if you want to pose your questions to me and want to get them answered or get involved, is 07442 247 280.

Speaker 1 25:04

Matt's top tips of the week. Now, today's interview really did get me thinking. Now you'll often hear me talk about reframing perspective and the importance of what we do as advisors. It's very easy to see protection as selling insurances and, as I've said time and time again and I see the impact and the difference that having income protection made Thankfully he had an advisor like Tracy. But we all need to question are we doing enough to make sure our clients are protected and do we see what we do as important? See, for me, income protection particularly is essential. Nobody can survive without an income. We all need an income just to get by, and COVID taught us that. We had an income shock and we all realized how important it is to have money in the bank every single month. Since then, clients are far more receptive. You look at Damien's situation. He spoke with Tracy and he arranged income protection. As a self-employed person, he saw the value of having that income coming in every month and thankfully he did take the cover.

Speaker 1 26:09

So what I want to do in this section is give you a tip and it's more probably to do with mindset than anything else which is when you go into a conversation, don't ever assume the client isn't interested in what you've got to offer. Don't ever assume that the client is not willing to participate in a protection conversation. Most advisors I coach and that I know often go into these sessions and they already assume before they start the call the client doesn't want to take protection. They've entered into it with a negative mindset and that has an impact on the language they use, the body language, the positioning, the way they talk, the way they present, and the client's naturally going to be more objecting to that because they're not going to listen to what the advisor's got to say, whereas we now know, listening to someone like Damien, that type of product had such an impact on him and his family, and so we need to respect that. We need to go into our conversations free of bias, free of stigma, free of our own concerns. We've got to remove our own bias around what we're doing and remember that every time we protect someone, we do something positive. We make a real difference to people like Damien and his family. So remember that when you go into conversations, don't go in there with a negative mindset. Go in there with a positive mindset.

Speaker 1 27:12

Now, the other thing I'd say is that, listening to the question I had a minute ago in the previous session about Ask IPTF, the sick pay one has also got me thinking because, you see, I think these types of things are often issues that we all encounter. We come across a scenario, an objection, a challenge to our presentations and we instantly think that's a problem. And it's the same as what I've just said. It's all about the mindset. So when you've got these types of objections, this is what you need to do. The first thing is sick pay in particular. You've got to start looking at how you can reframe or reposition and discuss that with your clients. So what they do is they see, actually, that sick pay is a great tool, something they can use to leverage to get access to cheaper long-term cover, and that's a great way of positioning it. But the same principle applies to all objections you get.

Speaker 1 27:58

When you get an objection, try this exercise write it down. What did the client say to you? When did they say it in the conversation? Why do you think they said that to you? Then I want you to go back to your conversation and think what could I have done differently to stop that objection from materialising in the first place? You see, this is an exercise that I did for many, many years, and what it did was it completely refined my protection presentation to the point where I kind of pre-empted all the different types of objections that clients were going to throw at me, and by changing my presentation early on, I whittled a lot of them out. I removed the wind from the client's sails, so to speak, so that they were left with very little to object to, because by positioning it in the right way, by adding lots of value, by using logic-based arguments, you can really create a presentation where the client's limited in terms of what they can come up with as an objection, and when they do, no worries, you go through the same process again, you write it down, you refine your pitch and you stop it from arising in the future, and what that will do is lead to much better conversations with your customers. So do that for me. Don't just see objections as a barrier that make life really difficult. See them as a chance to learn, to develop and to enhance and improve your protection presentations. That's a really good thing.

Speaker 1 29:08

The other thing that I remember from what Damien said to me was fascinating around using different things. So he said it wasn't just one thing. It was the fact that Tracy presented in the right way. She used the right language, she did it at the right time. She used statistics to compound what she was trying to say.

Speaker 1 29:22

And one of the tips I want to give you today is don't just use statistics willy-nilly, don't just use claim stats. Don't just use the likelihood of someone falling ill in isolation. You've got to bring it to life. You've got to use some context, in the way that Damien's a perfect example of what needs to happen. When you stop working, you find yourself ill and you can't work. We've used that as an example. Now you could do that with a client.

Speaker 1 29:47

But when you're talking about claim stats or you're talking about the likelihood of something happening, the problem is those in themselves are intangible, they're just numbers. If I said to someone you've got a 31% chance of being off work, you're just going to think actually that's not a huge amount, is it? 31% chance I might have two months or more off work. Well, over my life that's not a big risk, is it? I might be able to do okay? And so optimism bias creeps in and then we think that's okay and we don't need the cover. So when you do use statistics or claims, numbers or likelihood things happening. You've got to put some context around it, and I think I did this in a post recently. I said right, if it's 31% chance, I'm going to need two months or more of work. Contextually, what that means is every month I'm betting two months or more of my salary. With a 31% chance I might lose it all. Now when you put it into that context, suddenly it becomes hold on a minute. That's quite high risk. I don't want to take that risk anymore. So we made the numbers come alive.

Speaker 1 30:41

Another great example is I was doing a coaching call with a client recently and they told me about an example they used where, when they did a bit of logic based comparison with the client, it really had an impact. What they did was they said to the client right, let's look at what percentage of your income that you're using to invest in your mortgage and your property, and it turned out it was around 39%. And then, when they gave them the full protection presentation, it ended up being around 2% of their earnings. In that context, the fact they're happy to pay 39% of what they earn towards their debt, yet it's just 2.5% 2% to protect everything they own, including their ability to pay this debt. Suddenly that protection presentation becomes extremely high value.

IPTF News and Outro

Speaker 1 31:20

So, again, if you're going to use stats and figures, do it in a way that compounds your advice, that is logic-based and gets the client truly bought into why you're doing what you're doing. Those would be my top tips for the week. Gets the client truly bought into why you're doing what you're doing. Those would be my top tips for the week. Bish bash bosh. Now that's episode three in the bag.

Speaker 1 31:39

Thank you again for listening today. If you did enjoy today's podcast, firstly, please do subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you do not miss out on an episode, and secondly, please do shout about it, get on your socials, link the podcast up, maybe even leave a review. Everything you do helps us get the podcast in front of more advisors and it can really help us make a difference to people like Damien and their families. Now some IPTF news to look out for. As I said before, the advisor survey is still running. We would really appreciate it if you could lend just a few minutes of your time to complete it. You can find the link on the IPTF LinkedIn page or in the description of today's episode. And we now have an Instagram feed. So if you're on the gram, follow us on IP Task Force UK and, as always, you can find more on the IPTF over on X at the IPTF, iptf on LinkedIn and, of course, as always, atiptfcouk.

Speaker 1 32:31

Thank you again for listening. Let's talk. Ip is produced and edited by c studios, executive producers are joe miller, andrew wibberley and vicky churcher and, as always, I'm matt chapman. Empower yourself, empower your clients and let's talk. Ip pay.