The phone, SMS and email lines that turn a missed call into a booked conversation, written for life and protection enquiries.
Figures in this article describe the wider market and are drawn from the third-party sources listed at the end. They are not Lead Foundry results, and nothing here is a projection of what any individual broker will achieve.
Protection is a category people avoid thinking about, which means a submitted enquiry is a moment of unusual willingness. The scripts that work are the ones that keep the person in that moment rather than moving straight to product.
Because the thing that prompted the enquiry has usually passed. A person reads something, or has a scare, or takes on a mortgage, and looks into cover. Two days later the feeling has faded and an unknown number is easy to ignore.
The market context makes this predictable. FSC research found only 41% of New Zealand respondents hold life insurance and just 11% hold income protection, with around 70% of New Zealanders underinsured. The FSC ranks New Zealand among the more underinsured OECD markets for life and health risks. Most of the people you reach have considered cover before and not completed it.
What that means for the script: You are usually not introducing an idea. You are re-entering a decision the person already started and abandoned. Scripts that assume the first are the ones that get hung up on.
Hi [name], it is [your name] from [firm]. You asked about [type of cover] through [brand] on [day]. I am the adviser your enquiry came to. Before I say anything about cover, can I ask what prompted you to look into it?
Script: first connected call
The last sentence does the work. It signals that you are not about to pitch, and it goes straight for the trigger, which is the single most useful thing you can learn.
No problem at all. It was through [brand] on [date], about [type of cover]. Does that ring a bell? If the timing is wrong I am happy to leave it, though while I have you: is cover something you currently have in place?
Script: no recollection
The offer to leave it is genuine and it works, because it removes the pressure that makes people end calls. A meaningful share of people who do not recall the enquiry will keep talking once they are told they can stop.
Trigger events in protection are specific and they tell you how soon this matters.
| Trigger | What it signals | Where it belongs |
|---|---|---|
| New or increased mortgage | A concrete, dated obligation to protect | Diary now |
| New child, or one on the way | A change in dependants | Diary now |
| A health event in the family | High motivation, sometimes short-lived | Diary now, gently |
| A change of job or going self-employed | Loss of any group cover, income protection relevance | Diary now |
| General worry with no event | Real but undated | Nurture, revisit at a trigger |
Most voicemails fail by being about the caller. A voicemail that references the person's own action and gives one concrete detail performs far better.
Hi [name], [your name] from [firm]. You enquired about [type of cover] through [brand] on [day] and it came through to me. I will try you again [specific time], or you can reach me on [number]. Nothing urgent.
Script: voicemail
"Nothing urgent" is deliberate. Protection calls carry a faint implication of bad news, and removing it raises callback rates.
That is good to hear. Most people set cover up once and it stays as it was, even when their situation changes. Can I ask when it was last looked at, and whether anything has changed since, like a mortgage or a change in income?
Script: existing cover
That is the usual reason people put it off. Before we talk cost, can I ask what you thought it would come to? Often the number people have in mind is based on something they saw years ago, and it is worth checking against your actual situation.
Script: cost objection
Neither script quotes a price or promises a saving. Both open a fact-find, which is where the answer actually lives and where the suitability standard requires you to be.
The Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services applies from the point the conversation becomes regulated financial advice. Two practical consequences for a script.
Open by naming the brand they enquired through and what they asked about, then ask what prompted them to look into it before you say anything about cover. The trigger event is the most useful thing you can learn on a first call, because it decides whether this belongs in your diary now or in a nurture sequence.
Give them the specific detail: the brand, the date and what they asked about. Then offer to leave it if the timing is wrong. Removing the pressure is what keeps the conversation going, and a meaningful share of people who do not recall the enquiry will keep talking once they know they can stop.
Name the brand they enquired through and the date, say the enquiry came to you, give one specific time you will try again, and leave your number. Adding that it is nothing urgent measurably helps, because protection calls carry an implication of bad news that suppresses callbacks.
Avoid it. A figure given before you have gathered the client's situation is unlikely to survive the fact-find, and the Code of Professional Conduct requires advice to rest on the information suitability depends on. Use a cost objection as a reason to start the fact-find rather than as a reason to name a number.