‘I am a name not a number’

It comes from the late 1960s television series The Prisoner, where the lead role, played by Patrick McGoohan, was being held captive in an idyllic coastal village setting.

We are about to emerge from one of the most challenging periods most of us have ever lived through. It is probably very difficult to find an individual who has not been impacted at all by the virus.

To date more than 120,000 people have died who would not have been expected to. We know that roughly 20% of households are better off financially than before the crisis. 30% are worse off, but who are they?

Generally, it is assumed the better off have done well during the pandemic. Many low-paid jobs, particularly in hospitality, have been furloughed on reduced income or disappeared. Those office workers who have worked from home with reduced travel costs and spending opportunities are said to be the ‘winners’.

But consider an airline pilot whose partner is a restaurant manager; they could have both lost their jobs. Such a household will be suffering a severe financial shock. Numbers lead us to generalise but our customers are actual people with names and stories. They are not numbers on a spreadsheet.

Another set of numbers are targets. Here the need is to differentiate between a successful corporate result and an individual customer experience.

Take the vaccine programme. The corporate objective is that all over 50’s will have been offered a first dose before May. To drive down hospitalisations and deaths it is necessary for a very high percentage to take up the offer. Then the vaccine has to be highly effective among those who receive it.

If 70% take up the offer, and the first dose gives 70% protection, the corporate objective of an offer can be met but the anticipated reduction in those events among that population will be 49%. Lockdown measures still have a lot to do to get numbers down.

It is easy to set a corporate objective, but without understanding underlying behavioural influences it is easy to miss the desired result. The result that is being looked for is that the vaccine rapidly and significantly reduces the impact of the virus and the country can open up again in accordance with the various road maps.

‘Offer’ gives no guarantee of success - a meaningful target requires an achievable number. In this case should it be 95% receive their ‘offered’ first dose?

Even then corporate behaviour shows how success can still be missed. Efficiency means the greatest numbers are processed at the fastest rate. Mass vaccination centres deliver that corporate objective. But if the 5% that are missed are the most vulnerable to the virus, and find it most difficult to get to a centre, the overall result will not be as good as it could be.

There is always the temptation to seek the low hanging fruit, because it makes the numbers appear good. However, it may not deliver the optimum desired outcome. When I received my vaccination, there were over 50 vaccination units. It was a very streamlined operation that was probably vaccinating well over 500 people an hour.

That is fine for the people who could easily get there. What about those who find it difficult to leave home or even worse are homebound? Visiting them could mean that, even with 50 mobile vaccinators, you would be lucky to vaccinate 100 in an hour. Yet they will probably be the people who are most vulnerable to the virus.

The impact of the virus will no doubt increase the numbers who are in need of later life lending products. It is easy to look at surveys and Government statistics and see where the opportunities lie. Those with lockdown frustrations who want to spend; those who want to help family members who have suffered financially; those whose partners have died and not been properly provided for under the deceased’s pension arrangements. All need advisers’ help.

Surveys and Government statistics will give numbers not names. How do you get them to seek your advice and give you their names? The best way is to use case studies they can relate to. You have to treat them as a name not a number to get them to contact you.