Kelly Phillips

Senior Business Development Quality Manager

Omni Protect

There is a huge focus right now on sales quality, both from providers and from the FCA. The latest findings highlighted something important: the majority of protection business continues to be written on an advised basis, with intermediaries responsible for around 80 % of all sales. In a time when AI appears to be taking over every corner of daily life, this statistic feels reassuring. It shows that customers still value genuine advice. They actively seek it out and rely on it.

AI: Helpful or harmful? Sometimes it is a bit of both

Customers today are more informed than ever, or at least more confident in the information they gather on their own. One of the biggest challenges firms raise is the growing number of customers using tools like ChatGPT to obtain a mortgage quote. The problem arrives when the customer discovers the actual quote is higher than what the AI produced. This can create frustration before the adviser has even had a chance to begin the conversation. Once the customer feels

they have already exceeded their budget, trying to introduce a protection conversation becomes extremely difficult.

This situation raises an important point about whether a little knowledge can be dangerous. The issue with customers using AI tools lies in the lack of detailed input. They often do not consider mentioning their credit history, employment type, medical disclosures, dependants, or any of the nuances that matter. As a result, the answer they receive may not be incorrect in general terms, yet it is rarely accurate for their personal situation. That difference is significant.

Advisers now find themselves offering tailored guidance while also untangling assumptions created by answers gathered in a matter of seconds.

Changing customer expectations

Another major shift in today’ s landscape relates to customer behaviour. People are living in a world shaped by Netflix, Amazon, and instant gratification.

14 | Protection Adviser Online