With the vast majority of mortgages after the MMR falling under an advised sales process there will undoubtedly be customers who have taken out a mortgage before, who will fail to understand why they suddenly need to provide you with so much extra information, much of which they could consider intrusive or unnecessary.
The key to effective customer engagement is rapport and understanding. If someone understands why they are doing something, such as providing a complete breakdown of all their spending, then they are much more likely to offer the information willingly and engage with the process.
In addition, there is the challenge of keeping a customer engaged throughout what will undoubtedly be a much longer sales process. Under the old regime the process might have taken 20 minutes as a non-advised process whilst under the MMR it might take 120 minutes.
For many people a visual representation of what they are being told hugely increases their understanding. Showing someone through each step of the process helps to explain the types of mortgages available, how the different repayment options work and the process that they have to go through.
This is particularly powerful when dealing with a remote adviser or any situation where you cannot actually get to sit in front of the customer.
The effect on customer engagement if the customer can genuinely make a fully informed decision is huge. It is also likely to lead to much fewer mis-selling complaints in the future.
A client who truly understands the advice they are receiving and who can make informed decisions as a result is much less likely to be hit by surprises which may cause them to claim in the future that they were mis-sold to. So just by using something simple like visuals you get the double positive of increased sales and more robust compliance evidence.
Bill Safran is CEO at Vizolution
