New insurance products the business for advisers

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Almost half of the country’s risk advisers attended Sovereign’s roadshows for their new business insurance products, making it one of the company’s fastest selling insurance cover options.

Tuesday, November 1st 2011, 10:18PM 1 Comment

by Benn Bathgate

"When we sent out invitations to the market we were inundated, over 1,000 people wanted to come to our roadshows" said Sovereign's chief distribution officer David Haak.

"What was also quite different was we actually released the products and then accredited advisers on the same day, so they had to make a commitment to spend a whole day with us, now normally you would probably lose half your audience once you've launched, they go off and train themselves, on this occasion 95% of the people stayed behind to be trained."

Haak said the research conducted by Sovereign before the launch of the Business Continuity and Rural Insurance products convinces him that a serious under insurance problem exists - creating opportunities for Sovereign and advisers alike.

"The independent research that we did showed that about 45% of New Zealand businesses had no insurance whatsoever, it's staggering, and 75% have no insurance cover on key people in their business."

He said the impact of the Christchurch earthquake had undoubtedly helped demand for the cover, and that the company had worked on the products design with advisers after feedback suggested a need for products "that are simple to understand and to use at claim time - when it's most important."

The two products - TotalCareMax Business and TotalCareMax Rural Continuity - protect businesses in the event of illness or accident incapacitating key staff.

Rural Continuity provides a monthly payment if a farmer is unable to work for more than 10 hours a week, while Business Continuity is available to both business owners and key staff.

"When we launched these products we were confident they would tap a need in the market," Haak said.

"And that's been reflected in our sales figures."

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

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