Ramping up insurance referrals from mortgages

MDRT is an independent association of the world's leading life insurance and financial services professionals from more than 500 companies in 70 nations and territories.

Bloxham started her mortgage business in 2015 and two years later added insurance into her services. By 2018, the single mother of two, had won New Zealand Adviser of the Year, but at the time no business or money was coming in and she was just about to sell her car to pay the mortgage.

As her business flatlined, she went to a Gold Coast conference, having won Adviser of the Year for the second time, and met Doug Bennett who became her mentor. She speaks to him every week and says this has been an added avenue to her success.

Because Zoom meetings have proved successful, Bloxham doesn’t work weekends, has timed meetings with clients, ends meetings during the week at 5pm and spends Friday afternoons prepping for the next week.

At the end of each meeting she always asks clients if they have anything to ask her. “You're making sure you've put the conversation both ways.”

If her business partner is in an insurance meeting, he will be booking the next meeting, not waiting for office staff to do it.

“I’ve got clients who don’t work Fridays or Mondays because they work weekends. I know they are free on those days, so I rebook the same time the week after the first meeting to keep the momentum going.”

Bloxham says if mortgage advisers are not doing insurance themselves, they should think about adding a person into their business who has expertise in the field or the reverse, insurance advisers adding a mortgage expert into their company.

She says this is important as a mortgage client needs to get insurance before they get the keys to the house, particularly if they have a big mortgage.

There are two reasons for doing this, she says. “Number one, if something happens to buyer while they are looking for house and the adviser has arranged insurance, they can still buy the house. Number two, when a client has the keys to their new house, they really don't want to hear from their adviser again.”

Bloxham does warn against rushing clients into the insurance aspect of buying a house.

She says insurance should be talked about with clients and arranged if possible between when pre-approval for a house purchase is granted and when they are viewing potential properties. “That’s when we want to be doing their insurance because the mortgage part is slowed.

“If the mortgage adviser is passing on the insurance to another party, both don't want to be pressuring the client at the same time,” she says.

“When an insurance referral is made, the adviser must get an overview from the mortgage adviser, as the client won’t know the insurance adviser. All those pieces of the conversation have to be kept going.

“Because I am the mortgage adviser, I can lead the person in from the start because a relationship is already established. I can drop into the conversation about doing insurance as I have a ticked box amongst the preapproval asking if the client would like to be contacted about insurance. You have their buy in, but if people don't want use your services it in writing they have declined.

“Not every single person gets insurance through my business –maybe 40%.”

Before it gets to that detail, Bloxham says she will do a fact find on a client and be prepped before the first Zoom meeting, so she is not wasting clients’ time and can work out the insurance conversation. Clients also provide some of the fact find.

If clients agree to Bloxham arranging insurance she will send a fact find form for them to fill out, with information already gathered from the mortgage application. She also does preunderwriting to give clients some information on real insurance rather than just guessing at it.

In other tips, Bloxham says changing mindset can play a big part in success. Her mentor Bennett helped her stop second-guessing. “Pick a mentor and when a problem arises, and ask yourself what would your mentor think? It gives you a different version and then go with your gut instinct and confidence.

She says MDRT tools have also helped her plan. Every Friday Bloxham checks what her business numbers need to be. She is already a month ahead for next year. ‘Nothing of anything we do is by accident.”

She says mortgage and insurance advising all about the process: clients are individuals who are not all the same and can be overwhelmed; keep the conversation going. They have come to you as they are looking for a mortgage; focus on the insurance being in place before they turn the front door key to their new home; for insurance advisers it is about teaching the mortgage adviser when to move the client to you.

Bloxham uses social media heavily, putting up comments about mortgages. “It's all general, so it can't be taken as given financial advice. And people are messaging me. I probably get five or six messages per day coming in from people who often come to see me about a mortgage and then insurance at the back end. ✚