Value in separating policy renewals from annual reviews



Separating the annual review from policy renewal and rewrite dates is a way to help simplify the advice process for clients, according to business marketing firm StepChange.
Speaking at a Zurich/OnePath webinar, Kathy Rhodes, StepChange marketing strategist, said this could help decouple those elements of the process.
“Do the review several weeks in advance, making sure that when the review reminder arrives, you've already got them locked in and committed to understanding the need for that,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes said this would help deepen client relationships during the annual review process.
“Perhaps you want to re-establish why cover was taken out in the first place or perhaps it's an opportunity to reinforce the value of your advice,” Rhodes said.
“Maybe you need to explain complex or new recommendations. Perhaps based on your think/feel/do you want to go beyond compliance obligations and deepen client comprehension, and education.
“It's important to remember that you're not dealing with creatures of logic but creatures of emotion, we are all human.”
Rhodes said this was also an opportunity to provide clients with additional advice.
“Perhaps they're only interested in a certain subsection – are you doing scaled advance right now and you want to make that full advice?” Rhodes said.
“Maybe you're looking to get referral commitment, rather than just a loose promise that they will arrive.
“Maybe you want to lock in another 12 months of working together, offer value beyond your advice or you want to move that client into another usually higher value segment.”
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