Gone are the days when anyone in the working class category would cringe as soon as an insurance sales man said hello.
You see, those were the days when these salesmen walked around with small hand bags, armed with scores of brochures to hand to potential clients. That was not the bad thing.
The bad part is as soon as they opened their mouths to speak to you, the potential customer. They would invade your personal space and terrorize you with how you would soon need this insurance because when you die, your next of kin could be left with no means to survive.
Huh? Really now?
Their methods of selling insurance services were mostly about scaring their potential customers so bad, that instead of a customer coming on board, they would take off to hide!
Fast forward to 21st century. Kenyans are more educated, more networked, and are bombarded daily with loads of information on life and wellness.
People are more willing to make long-term life choices. They are involved in all sorts of income-earning activities, some in careers that were never imagined barely a decade or so ago. That's the kind of would be clients that insurers should be ready to meet out here.
Let me tell you about a personal experience with insurance: I took an insurance cover many years ago with what was then known as Pan Africa Insurance Limited. My objective was to use the money on a personal project one day. Of course I did not know which but I knew the day would come.
Those days, insurance companies did not have packages or products geared to different needs such as wealth, investment or health. They only had a few life covers, and one or two other products in endowment policies.
I took the Life Endowment package after keenly listening to the financial advisor (those days they were not called such sophisticated names) and true to my plans and his advice, when the product matured, I was able to use the money to pay part of my college fees. Today, this great insurance company, the second largest insurance provider in Africa, has now rebranded to Sanlam Group!
Founded in 1918, Sanlam Group is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Limited and the Namibian Stock Exchange.
Today, they have many more interesting products to offer customers, a diversified financial services business with assets of more than $60 billion and an international footprint.
Sanlam Group has presence throughout South Africa and business interests in 32 African countries, India, Malaysia, the USA, the UK and Australia.
Their areas of expertise include insurance, financial planning, retirement, investment and wealth, with comprehensive and tailored financial solutions to individual and institutional clients.
Sanlam has a majority shareholding in Pan Africa Insurance Holdings Limited (PAIHL), a partnership that has enabled synergies between the two brands. Through the partnership, PAIHL has been able to harness the global capability of Sanlam.