Top tips on talking insurance

“It has to start from the initial conversation. Make it very clear to customers what they can expect from you, and that will include not just covering their home loan needs, but also discussing their insurance needs,” he emphasised.

Finance Made Easy’s Tony Bice told The Adviser that brokers should frame it to customers in the following way: “I simply say to the client: ‘Look, this is an extremely important part of the process. I know it's exciting buying your first home but you’ve also got to make sure that you protect your home or you protect your income.’

“Then I bring up the benefits of a risk insurance plan to protect their family. If they’ve got kids, I hone in on the fact that they have small children and it's important that if anything happens to either of them that the surviving party doesn't lose the house.”

Mr Bice added that most clients will appreciate brokers bringing up the topic of insurance.

“It’s not that you’re trying to sell them steak knives or encyclopaedias but you're selling them an actual benefit that they haven't been aware of or have been aware of but just haven't continued with,” he explained.

Mark Schroeder, director of insurance provider Spectrum Wealth Advisers, also recommended that brokers run through common objections that might arise with clients.

“Articulate the need and then go through the barriers: Is it high cost? No. Is it tax deductible? Yes. Is it easy to implement? Yes. Should you think about having it? Yes. You can just take them through those three steps. They'll understand, they'll make their own informed decision as to whether they want to be insured or not, and very rarely they'll say no.”

[Related: Selling insurance with mortgages ‘a no-brainer’]