Protection and pensions are the most common areas advisers are focusing on with their SME clients in 2013 yet misconceptions still exist around the products; research has found.
The research from Legal & General and unbiased.co.uk found over 80% of SME advisers surveyed had micro business (2-9 employees) clients or small business (10-49) clients, compared to 44% of advisers who have medium business clients (50-249 employees).
The poll revealed over four in five (81%) advisers in the SME market currently advise their clients on group pensions, followed by auto-enrolment (74%), business insurance (64%) and employee benefits (63%).
Meanwhile, half (50%) of SME clients are receiving advice for Group Income Protection while over two-thirds (65%) have Group Life Insurance plans.
Looking at business protection, the top three products advised on in 2013 are Share Protection, Relevant Life Plans and Loan Protection.
However, L&G warned when it comes to the finer details of these products and the types of business they are targeting, "misconceptions" still exist within the adviser market.
One in five (21%) advisers weren't aware that Relevant Life Plans have no minimum number of employees, while almost a third (32%) of advisers didn't know all Relevant Life Plans are written in a trust.
Almost 40% weren't aware that Group Income Protection policies can include Employee Assistance Programmes and 32% weren't aware of the rehabilitation support which may be provided.
Clare Harrop, head of specialist protection at L&G said: "It is encouraging to see that advice on protection products is an important area for advisers within the SME market and these advisers are considering a wide range of different protection products available.
"However, there are still some misconceptions in the market that we need to tackle to make sure more advisers are having these important discussions with their clients."
