What’s New? Product Updates
Broker Spotlight Steve Watmore S G Busby Ltd
Issue
October 2018
Product Development Corner
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Introduction
Buzz Buzz Buzz
Hi
We all love buzzwords. They get our attention and capture our imagination! “Strong and Stable” is a popular one currently amongst the political commentators but all evidence suggests that it’s more ironic than accurate. When thinking about this article I’ve been unsuccessfully trying to centre on a buzzword highlighting a list of strengths, I believe, ABACUS possess over others within our market so let’s go through them now:
What more products would you like to see?
The ABACUS Approach We always operate with a focus on the client and you, our broker. The systems should be crystal clear and efficient, the rating and cover should be competitive and sustainable. By “sustainable”, I mean that we do not operate an underwriting/rating model where we discount new business to then increase the rate at renewal. This doesn’t give you a positive conversation to have with your client at renewal and we don’t believe it’s the right approach. No-one should rely on the inertia of the customer in order to sustain a rating model, so we don’t do it. long-standing Insurer Relationships Our insurer panel is limited compared to some but the work we do with our insurers ensure that the cover and rating is the most competitive in the market place. Our long-term approach means that our insurers are protected from an unsustainable rating model. A focus on short term GWP growth will only end in you risking your customer relationship as renewal premiums rise and cover is compromised. Our insurers do not need to aggressively pursue market share because they’ve always had it. Our work with them centres on providing you with the tools necessary to win and retain business in one of the most competitive classes of insurance, a task we do very well! Evolution, not Revolution One of my favourite sayings and one so ignored by an amazing majority across all industries. The ABACUS approach is always to bring you the latest innovations but with usability and customer journey front and centre. Our trading platform is praised for its ease of use, efficiency and clarity so we’re not going to tear this up to gamble on the latest AI, VR or any other abbreviated approach for the sake of having a short-term marketing brag. The rest of 2018 and beyond will see some of the most exciting developments we’ve ever made but we will not compromise or risk the strengths that have made ABACUS the preferred property owners market for so many of you. Strong and Stable actually sounds about right….and it’s a great strength in an ever-changing, ever more competitive and volatile market!
Thanks for taking the time to look at our magazine. As anyone who has tried to produce something like this on a regular basis knows, it is more difficult than you think. Thanks go to Robin for co-ordinating and all the regular contributors for making this an interesting, useful and fun read. The weather this Summer has been amazing and it was great to be with a group of our broker and insurer friends on a walk around Castleton at the beginning of it. It was incredibly special for me to be joined by my eldest daughter. She now understands how hard her Dad works… well ok… how fun our industry and the people in it can be. Our portfolio system is now working in the background and this will be ‘rolled out’ over the coming months. Along with the physical extension of the office here over 3 floors, we really are doing all we can to make sure we continue to deliver the service and product that you expect of us. Thanks go to Steve Watmore of S G Busby for his contribution to this edition, and once again, thank you for your continued support. Kind regards Nick
Thank you all for your continued support!
James
Nick Blunden Director
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Previous Caption Competition Winners
The winning caption was from Robert Wood of Cheshunt Clover Insurance:
‘At Last – Photographic proof that Barry Brook does catch fish – Occasionally!’ 2nd prize goes to Colin Merenda of Merenda & Co: ‘You said FLEA cover was all I needed!’ 3rd prize goes to Carla Green of County Insurance with: ‘When you said it was an exclusive 3D showing of Jaws, I didn’t quite have this in mind!’ Well done to our winners and thank you to everyone who entered! We look forward to receiving your entries for this edition’s competition.
ABACUS Caption Competition We have some great prizes up for grabs in our ever-popular Caption Competition. The prizes for the top three entries are:
1st £50 Voucher of your choice Can you come up with a winning caption for this image?
2nd £25 iTunes Voucher
To be in with a chance, simply send your caption entry for the photograph above to robing@sabacus.co.uk by Friday 19th October 2018
Good Luck Everyone!
3rd £10 Next Voucher
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News round up Here is a quick round up of news relating to the let property industry …
Changes afoot for HMO landlords Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) landlords should be aware of upcoming HMO legislation changes which will come into effect from 1st October 2018. While there are a number of amendments, among the key changes are mandatory licensing of an HMO and minimum room sizes. Mandatory licensing These government changes require that any property rented out to five or more unrelated people must be issued with a mandatory HMO licence. Landlords who fail to licence an HMO face a fine of up to £30,000. Minimum bedroom sizes Again, landlords face an unlimited fine, or civil penalty of up to £30,000 if they let a room smaller than the prescribed dimensions. As from October, minimum room sizes of at least 6.52 square meters for one person, and 10.23 square metres for two people, apply.
Good news for investors seeking a buy-to-let mortgage As at August 2018, the cost of buy-to-let mortgages remain at record lows and, the good news is that with little movement in costs and rates over the past three months, the sector is set for a stable few months. Reporting on the data, LettingAgentToday website says that the cost of both a three-year and five-year fixed rate BTL mortgage with a 70% LTV fell by 1% over the three months from April - a reduction equivalent to an annualised saving of £108 and £126 respectively on a £150,000 mortgage. Also in BTL mortgage news, WhatMortgage reports that the amount of buy-to-let mortgages available for first-time landlords has soared to record levels (reaching over 1,260 products) - giving borrowers more choice and lower rates. The data (from Moneyfacts) reveals that the amount of deals in this market have increased by 13% since the start of the year despite the major uncertainties caused by regulatory and tax changes in the buy-to-let market. 3
News round up Here is a quick round up of news relating to the let property industry ‌
Government to miss annual housebuilding target by 50,000 Data from Knight Frank and reported on PropertyInvestorNews website states that 86% of housebuilders believe construction of 250,000 additional homes a year is the maximum achievable amount by 2022 - falling 50,000 units short of the government’s 300,000 target. In its annual Housebuilding report, Knight Frank found that only 1% of respondents think surpassing 300,000 additional homes each year is possible by 2022. The government is looking for ways to speed up delivery of housing, with 39% of respondents still identifying planning as the biggest hurdle. Looking ahead, 61% of builders plan to increase the number of homes they construct during the next 12 months.
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Legal Expenses & Optional Rent Guarantee insurance explained The following article can be shared with your customers to help them understand why Legal Expenses & optional Rent Guarantee insurance may be suitable for them.
What is it? Legal Expenses & optional Rent Guarantee insurance is aimed at private landlords. If your tenant defaults on their rent or you need to pursue or defend civil action to protect your interest in a let property, the cost of taking the necessary legal action is often prohibitive. It could be that the tenant has absconded and is difficult or impossible to trace. Your options may be limited. Typically, you may need to choose between: l t aking legal action (including eviction) to try and recover the debt from in-situ tenants or trying to trace and take legal action against tenants who have fled;
Q&A
What do I need to be aware of? Virtually all insurance, of whatever type, requires a policyholder to take certain reasonable steps to protect both their and the insurance company’s interests. This basic principle applies to legal expenses and rent guarantee cover options. In this instance, in order to qualify for optional rent guarantee cover, policyholders will be required to: l obtain a credit agency reference sourced from a reputable and recognised credit reference agency; l have at least one satisfactory and relevant written character reference for each tenant. Typically character references from close family members would not be considered appropriate.
Please note also that an excess (the sum you will be expected to contribute towards the cost of any future successful claim) of one month’s unpaid rent applies to l doing nothing and writing off the debt as a “lost cause”. each claim made. Fortunately, in cases such as these, Legal Expenses & Rent Guarantee insurance can provide legal advice and financial assistance.
What does it cover? While different products may provide various types of cover, the combined Legal Expenses & Rent Guarantee policy we offer has: l a 24 hour legal advice helpline; l u p to £50,000 cover for legal costs and expenses incurred as part of a tenant dispute, including recovery of an undisputed debt for unpaid rent; l legal costs incurred to evict anyone other than tenants who have your permission to be in the property; l l oss of salary or wage income, incurred due to the time you may have had to take off work to appear as a witness or defendant at any court or tribunal hearing (up to £100 per person per day, maximum £1,000 per claim);
RENT GUARANTEE
l loss of rent cover up to £1,500 per month for a maximum of 6 months (or until vacant possession has been attained); l c over for all tenant types; l c over for both long-term leaseholders as well as those on a minimum 6-month agreement.
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InsureBots are coming ... What is a chatbot?
A chatbot is a small piece of software that is configured to interact with users who can ask simple text-based questions, and the bot will respond with pre-written responses that can include links, images and videos. They can be multi-level – so if the user asks something, they get a response and then you can have the bot follow up with another question based on the previous answer. So it can be quite a complex interaction but based on a simple flow of questions and answers. Think of it as an interactive flowchart. Even simple bots can free up a lot of time dealing with easy questions and move potential clients further along the buying process.
Getting more complex
Facebook chatbots are getting more and more sophisticated. Now is a great time to add a bot to your business. Bots can be the concierge point into the relevant parts of your products and services 24/7 without the need for actual staff input. A bot can be programmed to respond to prompts and guide users with simple short click button options. As it is pre-scripted, you can make sure it is a compliant process, something lots of insurance companies worry about when using social media.
A bot can now be run outside of the Facebook environment so you can use it in emails or on your website as a way to get people into the products and service they require. As well as advertising and guidance, you could set up a bot specifically for claims to help guide users into the relevant info. People trust Facebook and are happy to use it. It works on their smartphone, so you are always easily within reach. Promoting your new chatbot functionality is a great way to get first mover advantage and add real value to your customer experience. As an example, chatfuel (a bot platform) provide the following figures* for engagement:
Chatbot Message Open Rates l l
Messenger 80% Email 25%
Message Click Rates l l
Messenger 30% Email 3%
As you can see, more people will engage and interact with a bot than with your email. There are a growing number of examples of bots selling products. Imagine a bot that can build you revenues while you sleep and handle onsite enquiries efficiently and consistently. And people are connecting with bots to get information and updates. So you can use your bot to engage with customers, and inform them of new content or news. You can have your bot replace any live chat facility you have. The bot is only getting smarter. Now may be the time to add an Insurebot to your online marketing and sales activity. *Chatfuel.com
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Product exposed Residential Property Owners Insurance As you may be aware, our Residential Property Owners (RPO) insurance is one of our most popular products – not only is it easy for you to get an immediate quote online from our panel of specialist insurers, but our RPO insurance offers what we believe is very cost-effective cover and additional benefits not available with some other providers (such as Trace & Access cover and malicious damage by tenant as standard). Here is a quick refresh of our ABACUS RPO insurance …
l P olicy documentation available immediately online.
Who is the product for?
l E asy-to-use referral system online for “that difficult quotation”.
This product is for landlords who own and let out a residential property. What does it cover? Our policies cover all the standard risks associated with landlords insurance including many elements of protection which some other let property insurance policies from other providers exclude (e.g. subsidence and communal comments as standard). Key features of our Residential Property Owners product l Up to 25% commission. l A ll property and tenant types covered. l C ommunal contents, subsidence, trace & access, and malicious damage by tenant typically all included as standard. l L oss of rent included (up to 20% of building sum insured). l Portfolio risks catered for. l I mmediate online access to our panel of insurers.
Why ABACUS RPO?
If you have any questions or queries in relation to this or any other product, or with getting a property insurance quote, please do not hesitate to contact our Sales & Marketing Team on 01702 606 312. They will be more than happy to help.
l C ost-effective, flexible cover to meet your customers’ own unique needs. l O ur system gives you instant online access to our panel of insurers, with immediate quotes. l I f a quotation “refers”, we will come back to you quickly with our terms. l P olicy documentation available immediately online. l H elp and support readily available from our Sales & Marketing Team.
Customer + Broker + residential property owners insurance = ABACUS At ABACUS we are committed to our Broker Members by providing ongoing marketing support and help. 7
Our current product range
Terms We Cannot Cover
As a little reminder, here is an update to the list of our current product range …
At ABACUS, we pride ourselves on being able to offer terms on most risks. There are certain property types or business uses, however, which we currently cannot cover.
l R esidential Property Owners (RPO) l Unoccupied Residential Property Owners (URPO) l Commercial Property Owners (CPO) l Unoccupied Commercial Property Owners l Legal Expenses
l l l l l l l
ent Guarantee R Holiday Homes UK Terrorism Tenants Contents Renovations High Risk (not poor quality) Portfolio
As a reminder, these are ….
l Thatched Properties l Grade 1 and Grade A Listed l E mergency overnight housing l Refuge centres if drug / alcohol / criminal associated l F irework (only) retailers l P etrol stations l Tyre fitters l R eligious buildings
Got a question or need some help and advice?
Then ask Robin! Most of you have met Robin Gentle, our Head of Sales and Marketing, either at ABACUS do’s, Broker events, or when he is on the road visiting different agencies. And as you know, he is friendly, approachable and above all, very knowledgeable about ABACUS, our products, and our services.
available to help when he is in your area – he can be contacted by telephone or email whenever you have a product query or need some help and advice. Simply email Robin on: robing@sabacus.co.uk or give him a call on 07887 477 209 – he will be more than happy to help!
What you may not realise is that Robin isn’t just
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ABACUS Out & About Dusting off our walking boots, we set out to the Derbyshire Dales to tackle the finest & highest hills that Castleton has to offer. Despite the scorching Summer we have had, thankfully the day was a little cooler, and perfect walking conditions allowed us to complete the day’s trek comfortably. We were joined with some fabulous company in June for a superb curry dinner in Cardiff, with brokers coming from all over South Wales. Our thanks again go to Philip Middleton of Foundation Insurance for the restaurant recommendation and Bill Broom of Blink IS for orchestrating such a fine meal. Alan Perry of Alpine Insurance joined myself & Stuart Godward of Blink IS recently, unfortunately witnessing Southend United crash out of the Carabao Cup (League Cup for you old-schoolers) in the first round to Brentford. Despite the result, an enjoyable evening was had by all involved. Thank you for reading. Enjoy this edition of Exposed.
Robin
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Broker Spotlight Steve Watmore
We pride ourselves on listening and acting upon the feedback you provide. It is this approach that has allowed us to build the products, service and systems you experience today.
S G Busby Ltd
Tell us about your brokers We are an established insurance broker trading in excess of 50 years, offering our clients a range of personal lines and commercial insurance products from our two offices in Marlow and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. We believe we have a creative and competitive edge, that allows us to commit and communicate to our customers, giving our clients a real understanding of how we can help them and reassure them by comparing and formulating a competitive level of cover to fit their budgets and needs, with excellent after care. What are your plans for 2018/19? Continuing to commit to our customers giving them the highest customer service, keeping ahead of new regulation changes, growing our book and investing in IT Systems and Software, to ensure Busby’s stand out and remain focused within the industry. Why do you support ABACUS? Great people, a good panel of insurers and an easy quote system. Who is your favourite sports team? Arsenal for my sins!
What hobbies do you have? Golf, football and helping my daughter with her horse. What is your favourite food? Indian - I like it hot! What car do you drive? Mercedes 45 AMG Yellow Night Edition What is your favourite drink? A cold Cobra with my Indian, Cider or a Vodka, lime and soda. What is your favourite holiday destination? Florida, I am not a beach bum; I like to be on the move. Let’s hear about a memorable event with ABACUS At BIBA this year we went out on the Tuesday with the ABACUS team and had a great night, we then met up again on the Wednesday later on with Barry, Ben and a few others, they got a round in and we had Apple Pie Cocktails! They had been drinking them for a while and whilst they looked a little odd they went down a treat, very much a case of looks can be deceptive.
If you have any queries, or you wish to tell us about your experience with ABACUS, we always enjoy hearing from you. We welcome any feedback you may have – good or bad! You can contact us by phone on 01702 606 312, by fax on 01702 606 369, or by email at agency@sabacus.co.uk. We look forward to hearing from you.
We want your feedback!
Contact Information Accounts
Claims
Sales and Marketing
Existing Business
Tel: 01702 606 320 Email: accounts@sabacus.co.uk
Tel: 01702 606 312 Email: agency@sabacus.co.uk
Tel: 01702 606 311 Email: claims@sabacus.co.uk
New Business Team
Tel: 01702 606 304 Email: quotes@sabacus.co.uk
Tel: 01702 606 306 Email: team@sabacus.co.uk
ABACUS
Baxter Building 80 Baxter Avenue Southend on Sea Essex SS2 6HZ Tel: 01702 606 300 Email: info@sabacus.co.uk Fax: 01702 606 369
The information contained above is not intended as legal or broking advice. Specific advice should always be sought on individual requirements and it is always necessary to read the contractual documentation for full details of the product and cover provided. This newsletter is managed by ABACUS, the content including all views and expressions are those of ABACUS. ABACUS is one of a range of products marketed and distributed by BLINK Intermediary Solutions. ABACUS is provided by Alan Blunden & Co Limited, Baxter Building, 80 Baxter Avenue, Southend on Sea, Essex, SS2 6HZ. Alan Blunden & Co Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Full details of FCA authorisations can be found at www.fsa.gov.uk/register Produced by iamyourdesigner - 07969 663 847 | 1992
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