Mamdani returns to Sun Life with a three-pronged distribution strategy

Three months after returning to Sun Life as senior vice-president of distribution and channel management, Adam Mamdani says he has a three-pronged wealth and insurance distribution strategy focused on providing holistic advice via its captive force, expanding non-participating life insurance sales through independent networks and offering a digital experience to new clients.

“The independent insurance distribution model is just as important as the career salesforce model,” Mamdani said. “We create value in both those models, so we can serve as many Canadians as possible.”

Mamdani started his career as a Sun Life advisor in 2008 and became the head of Sun Life’s Toronto branch in 2014. In 2017, he joined RBC where he had various distribution roles in the insurance segment until earlier this year.

Mamdani said his time at RBC helped him get a broader perspective on how to improve the client experience and understand how to distribute insurance and wealth management.

“I’m a boomerang,” Mamdani added. “I started my career at Sun Life as an advisor … coming back feels like a full-circle moment.”

Sun Life Financial Distribution (SLFD), its captive salesforce, has 2,600 advisors. Many are licensed both as investment dealers and life agents, Mamdani said. SLFD’s “biggest differentiator” is that advisors can provide wealth and insurance to clients, he said.

At the same time, Sun Life is shifting its independent distribution network towards selling more non-participating products, Mamdani said. AI and straight-through processing can handle underwriting and policy issuance for straightforward cases automatically, increasing the speed and ease of doing business for independent distributors.

“We are still available for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients,” Mamdani said. “And we’re working with our solution providers to find more opportunities to serve the mass market and mass affluent Canadians.”

Revenue growth here includes selling more term products, which have conversion opportunities into permanent policies, and health, critical illness and universal life policies, Mamdani continued. “Every time we get an opportunity to speak to a large independent broker audience, we don’t just focus on par, we speak to our full solutions.”

Going hybrid

In addition to its traditional distribution channels, Sun Life started a digital distribution platform called Prospr in 2022 for online direct-to-consumer and hybrid advice, Mamdani said. Sun Life wants to make Prospr accessible to as many people as possible.

Sun Life wholly owns Prospr. Its call centre-based captive advisors work with SLFD to serve clients depending on the complexity of their needs, he said.

“We make sure we can speak to younger clients who may not necessarily want to meet someone across the kitchen table, and that’s what Prospr does,” Mamdani added. “They like the idea of digital onboarding, but they don’t want to lose the human touch.”

The intent is to give prospects choice about how and when they want to connect with advisors, Mamdani added. For example, some customers prefer exploring products on their own before picking up the phone later to connect with a human.

Despite being an online platform, most of Prospr’s sales are hybrid. About 70% of clients who start with digital onboarding want support from a human advisor, with only 30% completing their entire journey unassisted, Mamdani said.

“We do not believe that direct-to-consumer sales is the solution,” Mamdani said. “We wouldn’t be recruiting the number of advisors we’re recruiting … if we didn’t believe in the value of human advice.”

Sun Life is using Prospr as a training ground for new advisors. The 60 to 80 advisors in Prospr are salaried and receive licensing support. About half will move to SLFD, Mamdani explained. “You need to have the infrastructure to have succession planning in the future.”

“Sun Life has a strong focus on helping clients achieve financial security. The chance to come back to contribute to that … and to reunite with colleagues I have worked with in the past, is very compelling,” he said. “It felt like the right time.”