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Adviser Support Services

EDUCATION & SUPPORT

We want to help our business partners and adviser firms to offer and sell more Buildings & Contents insurance to their clients.

We have created a resource centre that contains guides, product information and marketing tips to assist individual advisers or firms when they are talking to clients about their Buildings and Contents needs. 

If you are registered with us, you will be able to log in and view a suite of constantly growing materials but the 3 items below will give you a snapshot of some of the information you can use when you work with us.

View

Broker Support pack

A support pack of contact ideas created in light of Covid-19 to help support mortgage brokers and financial advisers 

View

An introduction to Home Insurance

A basic introduction to Home Insurance

View

Household Data Capture Form

Send to your clients to complete and return or complete yourself prior to submitting online

View

Landlord Data Capture Form

Send to your clients to complete and return or complete yourself prior to submitting online

View

How advisers add value on Home Insurance

As an adviser, how you can add value to your clients and why they should look to buy their Home Insurance from you.

View

ABI Guide to Home Insurance

A helpful guide published by the ABI to help learn more about Home Insurance.

CONTENTS CALCULATOR

This form is for use when estimating the total value of your belongings / contents in your property. The quickest way to calculate the value of your contents is to systematically go through every room in the house and make an inventory. Include as much as you can, whether it’s the contents of your freezer or a laptop. Always remember to include over looked items such as soft furnishings, curtains and clothes. Also carry out an inventory of the shed, garage or outbuildings because garden tools like a lawnmower or perhaps a bike can be expensive.

You then need to calculate how much it would cost to replace every single item on the list with a new equivalent. The internet could help if you cannot remember the item value or you might be able to find old receipts. Remember to keep the list up to date as we constantly acquire possessions throughout our lives, especially if you buy a new sofa, TV or other more expensive items. Finally, if you have any antiques, we often recommend that you call in an expert for a valuation.

When you have a total, you can obtain a contents insurance quotation from Assurant for at least that amount, please be aware it is at all times the responsibility of the policyholder to ensure the total figure reflects the true replacement cost of your possessions.

Include items such as furniture, clothing & footwear for all the family, bed linen, lamps etc
Include items such as soft furnishings, TVs, DVD/Blu-Ray players, game consoles, sofas etc
Include items such as crockery, cutlery, baking utensils, white goods, contents of freezer etc
Include items such as table and chairs, china/glassware, silverware, wines/spirits etc
Include items such as aftershaves and perfume, electric toothbrush, toiletries etc
Include items such as plants, garden furniture, sports equipment, garden tools, lawnmowers etc
Include items such as computers, laptops, software, printers, books, desk and chair etc
Include items such as ornaments, pictures/paintings, collectibles, miscellaneous etc
Include items such as curtains, rugs, floor coverings etc
Include items such as iPods, mobile phones, jewellery, watches, bikes etc

QUOFORMA+ SYSTEM GUIDE (B&C)

STEP1

BUILD

We have designed our quote system so the first stage is a quick “click and select” process. This allows you to give us some key information to indicate which insurers may offer cover and an initial indication of a premium.

View our introduction video

STEP2

REFINE

Stage two asks for further client and property information such the valuables cover required, specified items, locks and claims details that will further refine and personalise the cover and premium based on the clients needs.
STEP3

QUALIFY

The third stage requires confirmation of our underwriting questions and your client may be asked additional questions for more details. In a lot of instances, cover can still be available through the Quoforma+ portal on one of our standard policies but occasionally, we may not be able to offer cover. In these instances, we have other insurers we can call to discuss the client’s requirements and to source cover for you.
STEP4

COMPARE

When the first 3 stages are complete, you will see your panel of quote results. You can add additional cover options such as legal expenses or home emergency and include a voluntary excess. From here you can view and print your quote illustration, export the quote results for your research evidence and if you need to, create a Demands and Needs document.
STEP5

CONFIRM

Stage five requires you to confirm the final information required on the policy including noting any lender interest to the policy, your clients choice of monthly or annual payment options and how you would like the policy to be actioned and quoted by us at renewal.
STEP6

SUMMARY

This page allows you to view a summary of the full details you have submitted into the system in order for you to check the information is correct. If you need to need to change any details, you can navigate back into the system to make your changes and then proceed through again before you insert a start date and submit your clients policy.
STEP7

COMPLETE

The final stage of the Quoforma+ system confirms to you that the policy has been submitted and a policy number generated. Your clients policy documentation including their policy schedule will be automatically generated in pdf format that you can save to your client file or send to the client or solicitor; immediately if you need to. Click on the home button in the top right hand corner and you are back to your logged in Home page to use again - simple!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Covid-19 - tell me what you are doing and what support you have in place at this time?

If you aren't already contacting your clients, it is likely your clients may be coming to you as the first point of contact regarding their home/landlord insurance. We have created a list of FAQ's to help with your response. The answers given are general guidance and may change from insurer to insurer. We advise that you check your clients’ policies for the full detail of the levels of cover included but please contact us or the insurer directly for further clarification. In addition to this, various industry tips and hints have been created to help you both personally and professionally at this time:

Paradigm - Practical Support
Broker tips - lessons learned from 2008
Ageas self assessment questionnaire

Q1. My customer has to self-isolate and work from home for an extended period of time. Would their household policy be impacted by the increase in ‘business use’ at their home?
A1: XXXXXXXXXXX

Q2. Would my customer’s household policy cover the cost of a deep clean should the property become contaminated with Coronavirus?
A2. XXXXXXXXX

Q3. My customer has to work from home and has brought some equipment home from their place of work – will it be covered?
A3. XXXXXXXXX

Q4. Does my customer need to change occupation on their policy, as are they are now working from home?
A4. XXXXXXXXX

Q5. Does my customer need to add ‘clerical business use’ to their policy, now they are working from home?
A5. XXXXXXXXXX

Q6. Due to the current situation, customer’s property may be unoccupied for some time, are they covered? 
A6: XXXXXXXXXX

I don’t have the time or resource to offer Buildings and Contents

We know it can be harder than ever to place your client’s mortgage business while still maintaining the level of service you want to offer and your clients expect. A lot of our larger adviser firms have hired specialist staff to deal with Home Insurance; others have allowed their administration staff to manage the quoting of home insurance business. We are able to give help and support however you want to work, offering training generally and on our own products and system.

If you do not have the time or resource then we can still help you offer Home Insurance to your clients. Build in to your fact find and sales process to ask the question and then take advantage of our Gold Service referral option. You give us the name and contact details of your client(s), we take care of the quote, sale and compliance responsibility and then pay you an Introducer commission. If you want to look into this more, look at the Refer Your Clients button at the top of this page or contact us for more detail.

The commission payment doesn’t justify the time spent

If you look at the commission as a one off payment, it may not seem as good as other products you can offer your clients (on average a £30 pm premium may generate approximately £90 commission). However, if you offer Home Insurance to all of your clients and look at it over a longer period, you may be surprised at how quickly this income stream can grow. Look at our commission calculator in the How it works section to see how valuable this could be to your business and your income.

I cannot compete with the comparison websites

Your clients come to you for your knowledge and expertise for mortgage and financial advice. This is no different to the service you can offer them for their Home Insurance, your clients need and will appreciate the advice and service you can offer them over and above price comparison sites. You know your clients and can ensure that the cover and excesses on the policy are appropriate and will meet their needs. We all appreciate price is an important factor when choosing a policy but it should not be at the detriment of the cover.

What support will you offer me?

We offer support from our dedicated Business Development and Account Managers who are here to assist you on any aspect of general insurance. Whether that be questions or queries regarding specific clients or properties, general or product training on the Quoforma + system to quote or submit policies, we are here to help you.

In addition to this, we also offer a full suite of training, marketing and sales materials for advisers that are registered with us – click here to view some examples under our Education section or login to access the full suite.

To contact us, please call us on 03332 000 444 or email us advisers@assurant.com.

The Account Manager contact for your area is listed below: 

Mike Smith – Scotland and NI

Atif Ali - Central and South East

Kim Sillitto-Bagguley  – South West and Wales

Ciara Stanley - North England

We also offer face to face support from our Business Development Managers. Please do get in touch if you would like an appointment to discuss developing your B&C business: 

Mark Pink – covering the North England, Scotland and Northern Ireland
mark.pink@assurant.com
07767 754283

Monita Suter - covering the South England, Wales and Midlands
monita.suter@assurant.com
07881 002710

Commission payments

Commission is earned on each policy sold and also at renewal. A monthly commission statement is generated and all commission is paid upfront on an indemnity basis. Commission is triggered when the policy starts and will be paid the month after a policy starts. The commission statement information is prepared at the start of the month and paid to you within that month. If you have the authorised set up, you will be able access your commission statements from the Dashboard section when you login.

Policy amendments

If you or your client needs to make any changes to your policy, please contact us. We can then go through the policy amendment and advise if it will affect the premium and then re-issue a new schedule.

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What happened to my commission pot if I retire or leave the industry?

As long as you are registered to advise your clients on the suitability of their Home Insurance, we will continue to pay your renewal commissions.  

If you are no longer registered to advise your clients on the suitability of their Home Insurance, we can offer you the following options: 

  1. Commission buyout – We can look at the business you have with us and can offer a lump sum to buy your book from you.
  2. Transfer – you may have created a business relationship with another authorised firm to take care of your client bank going forward. If all parties agree, we can novate your business to them and pay them as part of this arrangement.

INTRODUCING GOLD SERVICE

Gold Service allows you to offer your clients Household and Landlords’ insurance through a referral process, enabling you to earn commission with very little work from your side. It’s an ideal way of taking the weight off your shoulders without the service you offer to clients falling down.

All you need to do is complete a short online referral form, and a member of our professional, expert Gold Service team will call your clients on the specified day and time.

Using our Gold Service eliminates your compliance risk, as we ensure that the service provided meets customers’ needs and are responsible for all compliance and regulatory requirements.

You will receive an introducer commission of 17.5% on all policies we sell and will continue to receive this on every policy renewal. For non-standard, commercial or any other policies you refer, commission levels will differ depending on the cover required and policy sold.

If you have an existing Assurant agency, login to the adviser portal, click on Refer Your Clients and provide details of the customer you’d like us to contact - we'll do the rest!

If you don’t have an Assurant agency and would like to find out more about working with us, email advisers@assurant.com or call 03332 000 444. Click here to apply.

 

Please note: All fields are mandatory.

THANK YOU

Your referral has been submitted.