"Our new guide is designed to help advisers focus on the points in the journey where they can make the biggest impact."
- Jon Fuller - Royal London
Royal London has launched a new adviser guide, Building Better Business Quality, Together, designed to give firms practical support on client engagement, application quality and long-term retention.
This comes after Royal London data found that one in five protection applications never go on risk and one in ten protection plans are cancelled within their first year, which it says represents missed opportunities to keep clients protected and support sustainable business growth.
The guide is built around four core principles: risk, reputation, revenue and retention, which aim to highlight how stronger business quality can support better client experiences, successful claims outcomes and more resilient protection businesses over time.
It focuses on three key stages of the protection journey, engaging clients early and setting expectations from the outset, getting applications right first time, and maintaining ongoing engagement after cover starts.
The guide also highlights the role of regular client reviews in helping ensure cover remains appropriate as circumstances change.
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"Our new guide is designed to help advisers focus on the points in the journey where they can make the biggest impact," Jon Fuller, protection distribution director at Royal London, said.
"Whether that's setting realistic expectations, helping clients disclose information accurately, encouraging regular reviews or using business insights to identify opportunities, small improvements can add up to deliver better outcomes for clients and stronger business quality over time.
"By combining practical tools, data-led insight and tailored support, we want to help advisers build more resilient protection businesses while keeping more clients appropriately protected for the long term."
Maria Bishop, protection proposition manager at The Openwork Partnership, added: "Business quality is fundamental to delivering good customer outcomes and maintaining trust in protection advice.
"Through our regular business quality discussions, Royal London has demonstrated a strong commitment to understanding adviser behaviours, sharing meaningful insight and working collaboratively to identify areas for improvement.
"Their focus on using data to support better disclosure practices, application quality and customer outcomes provides advisers with practical guidance that can help strengthen standards and enhance long-term business performance."
