The inaugural Beaton IFA Classification 2011 survey combined the adviser databases from all the country’s insurance providers to create a comprehensive snapshot of the insurance advice sector between April 1 2010 and March 31, 2011.

“We knew from the market perspective how much new business each adviser had placed across the industry, how big their lapses were and the size of the book at the beginning of the year and the end of the year,” said Beaton director of research Rebecca Sheils.

The survey then divided the advisers up into four groups, A, B, C and D, each contributing 25% of new business revenue.

“In the A segment the top advisers, 115 advisers, 3% of the total adviser population, contributed 25% of new business revenue. The B advisers, 258, 7% of the adviser population, again contributed 25%. C advisers, 514, 13% of the adviser population and the D advisers, 2928, 77% of the adviser population.”

Sheils said the survey also profiled each sector individually, finding the top A and B ranked advisers dealt almost exclusively in life and risk products, while the C’s and D’s tended to be 70% life and risk, the remaining 30% of their business being health, wealth and mortgages.

Sheils said the survey was also able to identify some common factors among the top ranked advisers. “These A advisers tend to be top notch advisers, we’ve got the highest proportion who are AFAs, the highest proportion who are qualified, almost all of them are members of an industry association and most of them belong to a network dealership.”

Other factors Sheils said the A advisers tended to share was a focus on their professional lives, their individual brands and their reputations. They also tended to be non-aligned and with a greater focus on education. “They’re the ones going out getting qualified, they’re the ones that don’t need to be qualified to do what they do.”

Worryingly for providers, this top echelon of advisers was also the least satisfied with the service they receive. “They tend to have high expectations in terms of service,” said Sheils. “Probably because they’re providing top-notch service themselves, they’re quality individuals, so they have a very high standard regarding the service they receive.”