Advice, not product point of difference
Insurance advisers’ point of difference should be the advice they give, not the products they deal in, says Pinnacle Life director Ed Saul.
Tuesday, July 9th 2013, 7:40AM 
5 Comments
by Susan Edmunds
His company has just announced that it will offer special events benefits on its online life products, so that people can increase their cover with no questions asked if they marry, divorce, take out an increased mortgage, or become a parent.
Policyholders can have three special event increases, and no more than one per year. Increases must not exceed 50% of the cover that was initially taken out.
Special events benefits had already been available on adviser-dealt policies but Saul said Pinnacle had only recently found a way to keep the wording simple enough to include them in online policies as well.
“We try to keep the online products as simplified as possible.”
He said advisers should not feel they were losing their point of difference. “They offer advice and a lot of people still need that advice. Advisers’ point of difference is the advice they offer. I don’t think they should be trying to gain an advantage through product.”
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Comments from our readers
On 9 July 2013 at 9:22 am Amused said:
Rubbish! An insurance adviser's point of difference is that as part of our advice process to clients we ALSO search out the best product/insurer. QFE advisers aside of course. On 9 July 2013 at 10:23 am Dirty Harry said:
I'm not in the habit of taking advice from the owner of the 1% market share direct sales firm that likes to make tv ads bashing me and the work or good advisers everywhere. Yes I remember those ads with the brown suit guy and the jet plane.
And gaining an advantage through product as a point of difference? Patronizing much? Bless you dear boy, thanks for your concern over my feelings. One who has not the products would obviously prefer not to have the focus on product though: how about Pinnacle's cancer cover vs proper trauma cover from any major player for around the same price?
How about income policies?
Yes, advice is a great point of difference; in fact I regularly advise on the difference between a Pinnacle policy and others.
On 9 July 2013 at 2:21 pm Mike King said:
@ Dirty Harry - you take the words right out of my mouth, but probably express them more eloquently! On 9 July 2013 at 4:13 pm Coach1770 said:
If you were to, for arguments sake, plot Ed Saul's advice on a given axis, and figuratively plot Pinnacle's 'reason for being' on a different axis, and continue these lines as far as you could go until they connected ... at that point my adviser friends and colleagues, you would find the end of the Universe as we know it. On 12 July 2013 at 3:12 pm Kevin Hickland said:
Is that why Pinnacle life are trying to sell their business to a company who will give advice not bang on over radio & TV about their whole pitch is about discounted premiums & just push a button virtually & we will churn the business & be cheaper & Pinnacle talk about advice their comments are a comedy show & a disrespect to a hard working industry & advisers.
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