A quarter of protection advisers at a recent industry body training session said they were keen to ditch multi-application approaches in favour of more efficient pre-underwriting processes.
Eighteen adviser delegates in an audience of 80 said they wanted to develop pre-underwriting research processes following a Protection Review and Personal Finance Society training session on the topic.
Session leader Peter Chadborn, director of IFA Plan Money, presented on the benefits of a pre-application research template.
Plan Money has developed a template with Aegon; it consists of seven questions on a single sheet that establishes details such as weight, occupation, smoker or non-smoker and basic medical condition information.
The aim is to gather information at an early stage in the protection research process to establish realistic premiums and the potential for counter offers with providers before full-application stage.
Chadborn said: "A lot of advisers 'multi app', in that they will send three or four applications off to providers to get the best product for the client.
"A huge amount of time and processes are wasted in this approach. And this way clients expectations can be managed much better as the research is done before writing a full application."
Ian Smart, head of product development and technical support at Bright Grey and Scottish Provident, said because some advisers ‘multi apped' there were applications that were started and not completed.
He said: "If there is a better way for advisers to work that gives us enough information to make a decision in principle it could cut out a lot of extra unnecessary administration work."
The PFS and Protection Review Independent Protection Workshops cover a range of topics from products and underwriting, to sales and objections. The two industry bodies are running a series of sessions across the UK.
Kevin Carr, chief executive of the Protection Review, said: "One of the most popular elements has been the pre-underwriting form sessions, as a different way to ‘multi apping' which can mean lots of administration. It can be used to manage client expectations, as well as cut down the workload."
Plan Money designed the template based on a similar pre-underwriting research form that Aegon had previously developed for advisers.
