Why grow your group protection SME portfolio?

Mohammed Qassim, Regional Account Manager

Friday 06 January 2023

 

Nearly all UK businesses are SMEs¹. There’s 5.6 million of them¹.

And when it comes to group protection, I’d argue they don’t have enough. Looking at group income protection for example – only one in ten employees have some² – but there’s different products out there for their different needs.

Here’s why you should grow your group protection SME portfolio.

Helping your clients stand out

The employer market is crowded. And your clients want to attract the top talent and keep them in their business – and to do that, they need to stand out.

Gone are the days when all employees care about is their monthly salary – it’s all about their total reward package. Benefits, protection, you name it – they want it. So helping your SME clients set up group life, income protection or critical illness will help them get the best people through the doors.

Boosting your business

Growing your SME portfolio doesn’t just help your clients stand out. It’ll benefit you and your business too.

Advising on group protection will bring more opportunities to cross-sell and up-sell different products. Your clients have group life? Great. Have they considered income protection? Already talking about group critical illness? Perfect – an opportunity to talk about how they might benefit from a group life policy.

More than just financial support

Group protection doesn’t just stop at financial protection. Different products come with different value added services at no extra cost.

With AIG’s Group Income Protection your clients’ people will have access to our Employee Assistance Programme. They’ll also have access to specialist vocational rehabilitation support if they’re injured or too poorly to work.

With AIG’s Critical Illness Cover insured employees have access to RedArc’s nurse services if they need to make a claim.

And all employees insured through any of our group protection products get access to the award-winning Smart Health.

These added extras are even more important for your SME clients and all add up to one thing – happier, healthier employees. Which means happier clients and a better chance of repeat business.

Simplicity is key

Some business owners often have a misconception about group protection. It’s complicated, difficult to set up and needs lots of maintenance. But that’s not quite the case.

Our online system makes it easy to quote and administer policies for your SME clients. If they’ve got under 200 employees you can do everything online – and most of the time there’s no need for medical evidence too. Easy.

So, why should you grow your group protection SME portfolio?

• The number of SME businesses in the UK presents a huge opportunity to get them protected
• Your clients will see a number of benefits – as will you and your business
• It provides more than financial support meaning happier employees and happier clients

Want to know more? Just get in touch with your account manager, or give sales support a call and we'll be happy to help.

 

¹ House of Commons Library, Business Statistics, 12/2021
² https://corporate-adviser.com/income-protection-forum-myths-and-misconceptions/, 10/2022
Smart Health, our EAP and RedArc are non-contractual benefits that can be changed or withdrawn in future