In Conversation With Heena Sandhu From Guardian

Welcome to our exclusive interview with Heena Sandhu, business development manager at Guardian, a prominent protection provider that do things differently to other providers. Guardian came to market in 2018 with a single ambition – every family to have protection that they can truly believe in. Guardian is an incredibly valuable asset to our insurance advisors at Oportfolio.

As insurance advisers providing our clients with many different types of life and health insurance policies, working often with expert and esteemed providers like Guardian allows us to provide beneficial and viable polices and guidance to our clients. Heena, kindly agreed to sit down with Content and Communications Director at Oportfolio, Louis Mason, in Oportfolio’s head office in Putney to offer a few insights into the world of personal protection. In this conversation, Heena shares her journey as a protection specialist, and also talks about why Guardian has remained such a well-respected and preferred insurance provider in such a saturated market.

The Interview With Heena Sandhu. Business Development Manager At Guardian

Louis: Can you share your experience in the life insurance sector, particularly at Guardian, and how it has shaped your approach to helping clients find the right coverage?

Heena: I’ve been in the insurance industry since 2018 after leaving the bank where I worked. I had a few different roles there – I was a sales coach and then bank manager for 17 years, so I’ve had lots of financial services experience. Insurance in the bank wasn’t the only focus but formed part of our KPIs so I’ve always been aware of the benefits of having a cover in place. When I started working at Guardian that’s when I really understood how their unique and innovative approach to protection provided better outcomes for clients.

In my role I work very closely with advisers. Every day I talk to them about importance of getting the right cover for their clients and the impact that it can have on their financial wellbeing in the long run. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt over the years it’s that quality of cover matters. But I also learn a lot from them, the stories they share with me about good and bad customer outcomes they’ve witnessed makes me feel even more driven to support advisers and their clients in getting the best cover possible.

What Sets Guardian Apart From Other Providers?

Louis: What sets Guardian apart from other life insurance providers, and how does your team go above and beyond to provide outstanding support for policyholders?

Heena: For us, the customer is at the heart of everything we do. When we came to market in 2018 we did so with a single ambition, for every family to have protection that they truly believe in. It’s still our ambition today and it translates through everything we do. From offering a fair approach to underwriting, to developing products with good customer outcomes at the heart of them – you just have to look at the terminal illness definition on our life protection or our critical illness definitions to see that we really mean that.

At Guardian we talk a lot about doing things differently and making life better for our customers – and for the advisers that work with us. We’ll always try and go the extra mile to make a difference where it counts – it’s why we’ve been awarded FT Adviser’s 5-star service award every year since we launched. We’ve also won 4 awards for our claims experience alone since we launched 6 years ago, and that’s really because our team really take the time to listen to claimants and identify specialist support needed for each person on an individual basis. I feel really strongly that Guardian do offer a better approach – so I’d encourage anyone to come and have a chat with me about our covers and the support available.

Guardian Customer Success Stories

Louis: Could you share a success story or example where Guardian provided exceptional support to a policyholder or their family?

Heena: I could share many stories! We’ve got an amazing claims team at Guardian and an extraordinary claims support service, HALO – because there’s no such thing as an ordinary claim. We recognise that every claimant’s situation is unique. That’s why we don’t simply offer a defined list of support services. Instead, our claims team listen, and work with our professional partners to put in place a tailored support package for the claimant and their immediate family, which in most cases, is made available at no additional cost.

And we’ve got some amazing stories where that support has made all the difference to customers when they most need it. For example, last year we paid a claim for a lady called Marilyn who was unfortunately diagnosed with breast cancer. At the time of her diagnosis, she had a lot going, she’d just accepted a new job, and she was busy planning her wedding. After her diagnosis, Marilyn immediately underwent surgery and was anxious about the chemotherapy and radiotherapy she was now facing. Having just started her new job, she was worried about having taken time off so soon after starting and how that would be perceived. And, although she was looking forward to getting married, she was understandably worried about losing her hair.

Thankfully, under her critical illness policy, Marilyn was able to access HALO and we put her in contact with medical support specialists, RedArc, who introduced her to Julie, a highly experienced cancer nurse. Julie carried out a clinical assessment and took time to understand Marilyn’s needs and concerns – but most importantly she made sure Marilyn wasn’t facing cancer alone.

She advised Marilyn to speak to her union about her employment rights and helped her prepare for conversations with her manager, directed her to UK cancer charities for information on health and haircare and was just there to reassure Marilyn at any time. Getting that sort of support when you’re going through one of the hardest times of your life can make all the difference. And that’s just one example of many where we’ve been able to offer exceptional support – I’ve got lots I could share another time.

How To Find The Most Suitable Policies With Guardian

Louis: What specific strategies does Guardian use to help clients understand and select the most suitable life insurance products?

Heena: Well, we don’t sell directly to consumers, so a lot of the work we do is around making sure advisers are armed with all the information they need to recommend the most suitable cover for their clients. And that’s part of my job as a Business Development Manager – to make sure you have the right support, resources and understanding of Guardian and of the wider market so that you can make sure your clients get the very best cover that’s right for them. And that’s not to say that we as a provider don’t have a responsibility to make protection easy to understand for consumers.

We know there’s a perception out there from consumers that protection is complicated, so we make sure that all our literature, forms, and policy terms and conditions are written in straightforward, easy to understand language with as much industry jargon removed as possible. It’s important that consumers have a strong understanding of the cover they’re taking out, as a result they’ll have a better understanding of the benefits and why it’s the right thing for them.

In terms of finding the most suitable cover, well we believe choice and flexibility are key. And that’s why we do a lot of things differently to the market. For example, earlier this year we launched Life Essentials. It’s life cover for just the essentials, so it’s there for families when they need it but a lower premium also means their money stretches further. We still offer our premium life cover, Life Protection with its enhanced terminal illness definition. We believe giving consumers a choice of life covers means they can find the cover that’s truly right for them – be that Life Essentials, Life Protection or a blend of the two. And we’ve made it really clear to customers and advisers the differences and benefits of both.

Flexibility is also why we’ve made our Children’s Critical Illness Protection an optional extra that can be added to any adult life, critical illness or income protection policy. We believe clients should be able to protect their children as part of the protection plan, regardless of it they can afford – or even want – to add critical illness cover as part of that plan. It’s all about making things easy and straightforward for people to understand.

Why Should You Consider Insurance?

Louis: In your view, what are the most compelling reasons someone should consider life insurance, and how does Guardian address these needs?

Heena: That’s a tricky question to answer, because really the reason people should be consider protecting themselves is very much dependent on their individual situation. And the type of protection they take out should match their needs.

The most common reason people take out protection is to protect a mortgage – to make sure they if they passed away their partner or children would be able to to pay the mortgage and keep their home. ‘But I think, it’s important to not forget about what else needs protecting alongside the mortgage, such as the bills, groceries, and nursery fees for example.

We’re looking at what we can do to work with advisers on seeing that protection opportunity outside of the mortgage and looking at protecting a client’s lifestyle. For example, looking at income protection or critical illness cover to make sure if your client wasn’t able to work due to illness or injury, they’d be able to keep their lifestyle as it currently is. Covering things like car payments, or nursery fees or the weekly food shop. We’ve got a flexible full protection menu, so you can mix and match our covers to create a tailored plan for your clients that meets their needs.

And protecting children as well. It’s a difficult conversation to have, because no one likes to think about their kids being seriously unwell. But we did some research last year, that found young cancer patients and their families face a range of extra monthly costs that adds up to an average cost of almost £700 extra month. I don’t think most families would just be able to find an extra £700 a month to cover those additional costs – let alone be able to afford to take time off work to be able to be with your ill child on top of that.

When we did that research, we also released some top tips for advisers on how to have that conversation with their clients, because we understand it’s not easy. By making our children’s cover an optional extra, we’re making it easier for clients to protect their children because they don’t have to have critical illness cover themselves to add it to the policy.

It’s all about making sure we’re giving you as advisers, the right tools to have those conversations so you can really highlight to your clients the need for protection.

Keeping Up To Date In A Busy Market

Louis: How does Guardian stay up-to-date with the latest trends and developments in the insurance industry, and how does this benefit your clients?

Heena: We think it’s important that we listen to advisers on what they’re seeing in the market, what’s really impacting their clients and what would help them sell more protection. So, we regularly do surveys with advisers and talk to networks to understand more about their pain points and how we can help solve them. And we encourage our BDMs to have that 2-way conversation with advisers about how they’re finding the market at the moment – and we feed that into the relevant areas of the business. And of course, we’re always looking at the latest data trends and insights from across the industry to make sure we’re still offering products and services that are of real value to advisers and their clients.

Why Guardian’s Policies Stand Out

Louis: Can you highlight any unique features or benefits of Guardian’s policies that set them apart from other offerings in the market?

Heena: Yes, I could go on all day about this but instead, I’ll give you 3 that advisers often tell us are their favourites. We have a dual life approach – we don’t offer joint life. Our dual life approach means both partner’s cover is kept separate. That way, if either partner dies the other partner’s cover remains in place. We’ve got crystal clear critical illness definitions. We’ve written our critical illness definitions to make sure people who claim are treated fairly and pay-outs are received with the minimum of questions asked. And for some of the most common reasons for claim, like stroke, heart attack and MS – all we need is confirmation of diagnosis from a UK Consultant to pay-out. It’s that simple.

Our market-leading terminal illness definition of Life Protection. Most life insurers won’t pay out until the customer can prove they have less than 12 months to live. But making this prediction is hard, so many doctors are reluctant to do so. This means many people can spend much of their remaining life worrying about when they’ll get their pay-out rather than making the most of the time they have left. That’s why we don’t need to see evidence that they have less than 12 months to live before we pay out.

Our Life Protection not only pays out if a client is expected to survive for less than 12 months. Uniquely, we also guarantee to pay out if they’re diagnosed with incurable stage 4 cancer, regardless of their life expectancy. And we do the same if they’re diagnosed with motor neurone disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or Parkinson-plus syndromes. There’s lots more I could tell you about, like our Cover Upgrade Promise, Premium Waiver as standard and Optional Children’s Critical Illness Protection – you’ll have to book me in for a meeting to hear about those!

Our market-leading terminal illness definition of Life Protection. Most life insurers won’t pay out until the customer can prove they have less than 12 months to live. But making this prediction is hard, so many doctors are reluctant to do so. This means many people can spend much of their remaining life worrying about when they’ll get their pay-out rather than making the most of the time they have left. That’s why we don’t need to see evidence that they have less than 12 months to live before we pay out.

Our Life Protection not only pays out if a client is expected to survive for less than 12 months. Uniquely, we also guarantee to pay out if they’re diagnosed with incurable stage 4 cancer, regardless of their life expectancy. And we do the same if they’re diagnosed with motor neurone disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease or Parkinson-plus syndromes. There’s lots more I could tell you about, like our Cover Upgrade Promise, Premium Waiver as standard and Optional Children’s Critical Illness Protection – you’ll have to book me in for a meeting to hear about those!

Getting Personal Protection For The First Time

Louis: What advice would you give to someone considering insurance for the first time, especially if they’re unsure about what type of coverage they need?

Heena: Honestly the best piece of advice I could give is take professional advice from a Financial Adviser. To people thinking about protection for the first time, it’s easy to be put off by the different products and what they do – so go through them with your adviser and understand how they could support you and your family. If clients wanted to do some research too, I’d recommend looking on provider’s customer facing websites for webpages and sales aids that explain what each cover does in a consumer-friendly way.  Your clients can find our version at guardian1821.co.uk.

Otherwise, I’d really suggest consider your outgoings and how you’d keep paying those if you were unable to work due to illness or injury – or how your family would manage to keep paying those if they lost your income. A lot of people think they’d manage on their savings, but how long realistically would those savings last? And what were those savings for in the first place? If you had protection in place, you’d be able to keep those savings for what they were intended for and maintain your or your family’s lifestyle. Really think about the impact of losing your income and how you’d realistically replace the money that comes in each month – it’s not to scare people, it about making sure they’re protected for the future.

The Support Guardian Provides

Louis: How does Guardian support policyholders throughout the entire process, from initial consultation to policy management and claims?

Heena: As we only sell through advisers, often the first interaction we have with a customer is during the underwriting process, or once the policy has gone on risk. We try and make this process as smooth as possible for customers and we often accept customer supplied evidence at underwriting and at claims stage to help speed things along.

Our team our always on hand to support with things like Guaranteed Increase Options during the lifetime of the policy, or if a customer has any questions or concerns – and we’ll encourage them to speak to their adviser where appropriate. This year, we also launched anniversary mailings – we email out to every policyholder on their policy anniversary to remind them of the cover they’ve got and the benefits. We think it’s a great way to keep customers engaged in their protection needs and to make sure the cover they have is still right for them.

I’ve already spoke a bit about our claims support service, HALO – which is truly amazing. But just as importantly, we’ve worked hard to make sure our claims process is simple and straightforward. For example, we don’t have a claims form, we take all the information we can over the phone. And each claimant is looked after by a one Claims Specialist from start to finish – they’re the dedicated point of contact throughout the process and we find that really makes a difference to people. They never have to re-explain their situation to someone new each time they call, instead our Claims Specialist will support them all the way through.

The Future Of Guardian

Louis: What long-term prospects or opportunities for growth do you see in the personal protection industry, and how is Guardian positioning itself to help clients take advantage of these trends?

Heena: That’s a really interesting question. In 2024, we’ve seen quite a tumultuous time for the industry. It’s been heavily impacted by what’s been going on in the mortgage industry and that’s been quite negative for a lot of businesses. But interestingly, the entire industry has seen a real uptick in income protection sales – and that trend appears to be continuing. That might be people advisers are looking at protection opportunities that aren’t mortgage related or that might be because of some of the fantastic work that providers, advisers and industry groups like the IPTF have been doing on really driving forward income protection as a great option to protect consumers. I think it’s probably due to a blend of the 2.

Previously income protection was probably one of the least popular covers. What’s really interesting is seeing how much income protection is growing as a market and how consumer’s awareness of it is increasing. At Guardian, we launched our Income Protection in early 2023, so it’s still a relatively new market for us. Which puts us in a great position, in that we were able to develop an Income Protection that was flexible and meets current client needs. We’ve also been talking a lot about Income Protection and its role in the protection mix over the past few months, really trying to support advisers who want to increase their income protection sales and make sure their clients are covering their income.

Speak To A Personal Protection Specialist

And there we have it! All the insights and essential knowledge about Guardian and their practices as an insurance provider, direct from insurance expert and business development manager Heena Sandhu. As Guardian doesn’t provide protection directly to customers, the best way to discover what policies they offer and how they could help you is by speaking to one of our advisors at Oportfolio. Call or message our team today to see how we can help.

Guardian Financial Services

Website: https://guardian1821.co.uk/

Oportfolio Mortgages

Telephone: 02088771169
Email: [email protected]

LRock Media (Photographer)

Telephone: 07903765893
Email: [email protected]