There is no question that business protection considerations are a hot topic right now.
In the last few weeks there have been several discussions launched on Linkedin asking what small businesses are neglecting in terms of business protection and whether or not business owners are sticking their head in the sand when it comes to business protection.
There is a massive gap in the business protection market among UK business owners and some of the recent statistics from Legal & General in support of the Every Business Matters campaign on Unbiased.co.uk are quite staggering but not unsurprising.
There are just too many businesses out there who have insufficient or no cover in place to allow operations to continue on the death or serious illness of a shareholder, partner or key person.
I don’t think it’s fair to say business owners are sticking their head in the sand with regards to this issue, many are well aware of the seriousness of this level of risk and the financial havoc death or critical illness can bring on firm.
The issue is perhaps lack of guidance and education. Directors, Partners and Key People are busy doing what they do best on a day to day basis, growing their companies, developing their brand and making the venture a profitable as possible. Finding the time to discuss, consider and understand what their business protection needs are, is often a hard thing to do for no reason other than they are too busy doing other things.
Add to this, the general resistance amongst many advisers to sell business protection because they believe it is too complex or they don’t understand all the nuances of the cover and you have a great recipe for avoidance and apathy across the business sector.
I believe we have a responsibility to support business owners, to help them identify where their vulnerabilities lie and to explain the process to put the correct cover in place with the appropriate legal documentation.
It doesn’t have to be complicated or painful, taking the time to evaluate a business, identify key areas of risk and providing a solution is a tremendously rewarding exercise.
We have helped many businesses over the years to put the correct planning in place and time and again when the exercise is complete the owners reaffirm the process has given them a real peace of mind and sense of control. They feel able to move on with the day to day development of the business safe in the knowledge that all their hard work to create a business with value is underpinned with the correct protection.
If you have any concerns with respect to your business or you would simply like more information on business protection then we would love to hear from you.
Take action and don’t let apathy expose your business to unnecessary risk!
Dr C.