A cool time to sell cover to consumers

11 January 2010

Christmas is over, new year resolutions are falling by the wayside and the summer holidays are many months away.

January can be one of the most miserable times of the year but it’s also the time when consumers are most likely to feel the need for a critical illness or life policy.

During the winter, on average around 30,000 more people die than in other seasons. The British Medical Journal has published a study showing that a 5°C drop in temperature can lead to a 7% rise in hospital admissions for strokes and a 12% increase in heart attacks.

In fact, the NHS can predict the impact on hospital admissions - heart attacks peak two days after a cold snap, strokes after five days and respiratory disease after 12 days.

According to the NHS, cold weather raises the blood pressure and this increases the risk of conditions including heart attacks.

Meanwhile, the British Heart Foundation states that depression, more prevalent in winter, is linked to heart and circulatory diseases.

It is also believed that the lack of vitamin D in winter raises cholesterol levels.

Add to this the typical winter behaviour of comfort eating and snuggling up on the sofa rather than exercising and it’s little wonder that health suffers.

So it’s a time of year when protection should be further up clients’ lists of priorities. They’re more likely to make claims and more likely to know someone who has been affected. And they might also have made a resolution to sort their finances out.

IAIN MALLON
DIRECTOR OF PROTECTION MARKETING
AXA

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