Seeking advice?

Are your customers fully aware of the additional benefits ARAG’s before-the-event legal insurance policies offer? A free legal advice helpline accessible 24/7 and manned by experts and access to a wide variety of legal document templates via the legal services website which can be downloaded at any time are two really valuable extra benefits.

With the New Year in full swing, now is the time to emphasise to your customers how these services can empower them to protect their legal rights by providing valuable guidance when help with legal issues is needed.

For business customers statistics from 2012 examining the usage of the legal services website show that the most popular group of legal document templates downloaded were related to employment (62% of downloads). These included employment agreements, documents related to employee disciplinary matters and accessing the comprehensive employee handbook. This was followed by documents related to debt recovery and behind that the health and safety category also proved popular.

For individuals and consumers one of the most popular documents to download was the free will, demonstrating the desire for many to secure their future. As with all documents, the simple step-by-step approach for the will document creation was appealing.

Landlords also utilised the service, sourcing documents ranging from tenancy agreements to Section 8 notices.

A similar pattern emerged with calls made to the legal advice helpline. In 2012, 68% of the calls made to our legal advisors related to employment matters. Other popular reasons for customers to call for legal advice related to landlord and tenant disputes, commercial issues, property-related queries and consumer matters.

These resources are incorporated into ARAG landlord, business, motor and family policies as standard which provides you with a helpful sales tool.  The value for the customer lies in helping them to manage the risk of disputes escalating and provide a cost benefit to those policyholders who do not need to make a claim under their policy. The added value to brokers is that these services create an effective retention tool when it comes to influencing policy renewal.

For more information, visit our website – www.arag.co.uk

 

A time for change... it is indeed!

The recent report - A time of change: solicitors' firms in England and Wales - published jointly by The Law Society, Legal Services Board and the Ministry of Justice examines the results of a comprehensive survey conducted with solicitors firms to provide a “benchmark of the profession”.

The report leads us to conclude that in the light of the recession, evolution of technology, changes to funding and legal aid and further challenges brought about by the LASPO Act and associated reforms -  the industry needs to adapt in order to move forward.

The report highlights a market shift where the larger specialist firms will look to grow and thrive in this environment. Yet this could be at the expense of the smaller firms who will not be able to compete without the benefits of economies of scale. In fact the report finds that “smaller and medium-sized firms are significantly more likely to have reported decreases in turnover”. One of the areas the firms will be hardest hit is in legal aid where funding is being cut right back by the government courtesy of the LASPO Act due to become law in April. The report shows that 23% of the firms included are concerned about “adapting to the changes in legal aid” and “31% of firms currently working with legal aid funded cases were considering withdrawing from one or more areas of legal aid in the next three years”.

With increasingly limited choice owing to the market shift and reduced access to justice, consumers too will suffer. Fortunately for those with BTE  legal protection an expert panel of solicitor’s firms has already been assembled by the provider. With a range of firms available according to the dispute, the customer will be well placed to protect their legal rights. At ARAG, we ensure that our panel solicitors not only have specialist subjects but are also spread far and wide across the country and we ensure service standards through our panel.

ARAG are committed to the ATE market and we are considering options for new products in light of LASPOA. Our message is that in the new legal world we will continue to support access to justice, working with panel and non-panel firms on behalf of those with BTE and supporting others along the ATE route in an environment which it appears will be less welcoming to those wishing to protect their legal rights.

Find out more about legal insurance on our website: www.arag.co.uk

Make that prospect list and then make it happen!

Now is a good time for insurance salesmen and saleswomen around the land to look down the funnel at the pipeline and see where the new business is coming from.

I have a book of existing business so the first effort is to ensure that this is retained. The problem is that you never will manage to keep all of it. Businesses close or are acquired. People move on and new people with different priorities move in. A book of business will always decline without sales input.

However, your existing book of business is also a great source of new revenue. You need to ask yourself: Do you handle all of their business? Can they recommend you to someone else? As always, diligent efforts will prove to be beneficial.

On the other hand you will also need to target a completely new set of customers to create or renew your database of prospects. Here are a first few steps:

• Define: Your area, your products and what your company wants to achieve.
• Research: Invest the time upfront to save it later down the line by building a comprehensive list of potential contacts with names, job titles, contact details and any other useful information
• Refine: Ensure that your data is clean and remove out of date information. This exercise is as good as any excuse to get in touch with people and will help you to prioritise your list.
• Verify: Does your sales manager agree with your list? Yes? Good! Let’s get on with it.

Unfortunately there is no short cut. You must make contact, you must pursue. Nobody likes it but it is just something that has to be done.

Two further thoughts:

• Don’t outsource prospecting. It doesn’t work!
• Now and then enquiries come to you. Jump on them.

ARAG fighting for the winning spot

ARAG have just received some very exciting news and are proud to announce that they have been shortlisted as a finalist for ‘Insurance Provider of the Year’ at the 2012 Personal Injury Awards.

The awards go to individuals or companies who work in the personal Injury sector, and its aim is to “identify high standards of practice and to inspire others to emulate the achievements demonstrated by those who have been shortlisted”. The ceremony will be taking place on 14 November at The Riverbank Park Plaza Hotel in London; and is set to be a fantastic evening.

ARAG feel privileged to be shortlisted, as there were a number of high quality submissions this year. ARAG has proven itself to be a cutting edge legal expenses provider since its formation in 2006. The company was formed by six legal expenses professionals, and has now grown to over 55 staff, with an income approaching £40m. Their innovative approach to business, excellent client communication and positive client satisfaction, has led them to be a strong contender to win ‘Insurance Provider of the Year’.

With only seven weeks to go, the countdown to the event can now begin!

Broker feedback instigates BTE sales expansion and restructure

Expansion of our innovative product range, ever growing client base and beating sales targets year on year provides the perfect conditions for BTE sales to reshape the team structure. From a team of two five year ago, headed by Andy Talbot, today it  boasts eight field sales and office based personnel.

In March, Matt Warren was appointed Broker Business Manager.  He moved into the role five years after he joined ARAG as a Business Development Executive.

With a long history of experience in the legal expenses industry, including line management roles he accepted the challenge to drive the broker sales team forward over the coming years. Andy Talbot, Head of Sales comments: “Matt has been with the company practically from the start and has excelled in generating business from brokers in the South of England. His new role makes him additionally responsible for the UK-wide broker facing development team.”

More recently in August, ARAG further strengthened their sales team when Chris French joined the team, taking on the role of Broker Account Handler.

In this newly created position, Chris is responsible for supporting the Business Development Executives, providing office-based support for brokers, monitoring customer satisfaction and also be accountable for his own panel of brokers.

Broker Business Manager, Matt Warren comments, “At ARAG we respond quickly to customer feedback and the addition of Chris to the team proves our commitment to continually benchmarking our performance and strengthening where required, resulting in an enhanced service to our customers.”

It doesn’t stop there. We are positive that we have the relevant expertise, quality product offerings and high level of service required to continue to attract high calibre ‘household’ names. As such we are expanding our Corporate Sales function and expect further insurers and underwriting agencies to work with us in the near future.

To keep up to date with us and discuss your needs, please visit Andy Talbot, Matt Warren and Jon Layton on Thursday 13 September at EXPO South, Ascot - stand 7.