Insurance sells process must improve

Firms which sell general insurance have been told that they must improve their standards when cold calling potential customers.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is concerned that customers are not being treated fairly and the organisation is demanding that standards improve.

Research by the FSA, which looked at the sales processes of 43 firms, found that the standard of sales were poor when the company contacted the customer.

“The quality of cold calling in general insurance sales was disappointing – consumers were pressurised and the benefits of the product were sometimes exaggerated,” said Vernon Everitt, director of retail themes at the FSA.

“We expect to see significant improvements when consumers are cold called. Swift action has been taken to deliver those improvements at the firms we visited and we are following up with other firms which use cold calling as part of their sales strategy.

“The bottom line is that firms must never pressurise consumers into making a rushed decision and must always clearly spell out the nature and limitations of the products,” he added.

The FSA advises consumers to make sure that they do not make a rushed decision and keep a cool head when being sold a product which they did not enquire about.

The same piece of research from the FSA found that the standard of sales was high when a customer initiated the phone call.

Tags: insurance sales, swift action, Cold calling, strategy, organisation, head, Economy of the United Kingdom, general insurance sales