As clients access more information and resources, advisors are acting as traffic lights, guiding them in the right direction.Adam Webb/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
As clients gain access to more information, some of it is competing and contradictory. In turn, Rowena Chan says a new part of the advisor’s role is to act as a traffic light.
“There’s a lot of traffic coming in. You try to make it simpler, clarify and hopefully you guide them in the right direction,” says Ms. Chan, senior vice-president, retail advice and solutions at Sun Life Financial Inc., and president of Sun Life Financial Distributors.
With more clients looking to buy investments and insurance policies online, Sun Life is also directing client traffic between its various advice channels, from its Prospr hybrid platform to full-service advice.
Sun Life launched Prospr in 2022, a digital platform supported by a team of almost 100 salaried advisors, some of them certified financial planners. Most clients are in their 30s, Ms. Chan says. Many are buying houses and having kids, while others are paying off student debt and opening their first registered accounts.
“They’re more digitally savvy. They may do a lot of research,” she says. Although some are confident and content to operate entirely in the do-it-yourself world, others want a hybrid option.
“They need confirmation, so we have choices – you can buy direct, or you can talk to an advisor to help you buy,” Ms. Chan says. “Or, if you prefer a full plan, we can do a full plan.”
By serving clients with more basic needs, the hybrid platform – which has about 170,000 clients and $700-million in assets under administration – allows the firm’s face-to-face advisors to move upmarket, she says.
Prospr’s salaried advisors have no problem referring clients to the dedicated advice channel when their needs are more complex, involving tax and estate planning and more sophisticated insurance options.
But buying insurance without an advisor is becoming easier, as artificial intelligence enables providers to underwrite policies instantly and offer larger coverage amounts.
“If someone is choosing to purchase insurance digitally, we have to make it simple and easy,” Ms. Chan says, with basic questions and instant approval, and the ongoing technology investment that requires.
“However, along the way, some may start digitally but, based on the questions, they may end up thinking, ‘I should talk to someone,’ and we must have that enablement,” she says.
On the product side, Sun Life recently introduced term life insurance that allows clients to change their term amount or duration based on evolving needs, such as after buying a house. It also has a term product designed to make it easier for people with diabetes to access coverage, with a care program to help those clients live healthier lives.
That type of added service is part of a broader trend among life insurers looking to add value during a policyholder’s lifetime, making their products more immediately relevant.
To that end, Ms. Chan says Sun Life is looking at ways to extend virtual health care to more Canadians after its 2023 acquisition of telemedicine provider Dialogue.
“Is there an opportunity to incorporate it into our insurance solutions, similar to our diabetes solutions?” Ms. Chan says.
She’s also keeping an eye on demographic changes, including how insurers can serve a growing percentage of people choosing not to marry and have children.
“They know they need help, but they’re looking for more immediate gratification,” she says. “We should actually think about the needs for this group and what type of solutions will help them protect themselves. But at the same time, the needs may not be the traditional ones, and the time horizon or the patience may not be the same. Those are areas I see changing and we need to pay attention to.”
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