Relationships are starting to come to the fore, with many business development managers (BDM) surfacing again to get a physical meeting in our diaries ensuring broker knowledge is at its peak.
It’s not all doom and gloom in the mortgage industry. It’s actually robust and it’s about using a more holistic approach with the client and understanding their overall long-term goals and not just saving clients some pounds on their monthly expenses which was historically the case.
A new broker-client relationship
It is up to the clients to discuss their priorities in life. Is travelling and eating out of high importance? Well, that comes with a price tag, so then our advice needs to cater for this.
Are the clients willing to sacrifice? In many cases, they are not as they have been living a lifestyle where a real need for budgeting was not required as rates were so low. It is for us to point that out and be more direct in our approach to ensure clients are receiving the correct guidance.
Brokers need to ensure the relationship with their clients are far stronger than before. Advisers need to think a long way ahead and help clients plan for when the rate end date comes around, with many clients turning to credit cards to survive as an immediate jerk reaction. Is that the right thing for them or is it actually going to be a detriment to the options they have when looking at their mortgage?
Specialist knowledge is the key
Lenders are moving and adapting their propositions and we are going to see a lot more of this this year. I am very confident there is lending for everyone, however the knowledge and expertise of a broker is paramount. All brokers cannot just work in the vanilla lending space, as real specialist advice is going to be the key to ensure our clients have the full range of options available to them.
A new broker-lender relationship
Over two decades ago, the relationship of a broker and lender was the key to the success of your firm, due to the lack of digitisation. Now it’s more about the lenders’ concern for the wellbeing of the brokers and the firms and the growth and success of those businesses. Because, let’s be real, the majority of lenders business comes from brokers. As the high street banks closed over the years, we are the first point of contact for clients. Now, more than ever, clients require holistic independent advice.
With the topic of mental health coming to the fore, lenders should also be embracing the broker community and making changes in their processes and approaches to ensure the well-being of the firms who are technically their profit earners.
Dina Bhudia is a British Mortgage Awards Changemaker nominee – an award which recognises professionals in the sector who are delivering either diversity and inclusion or sustainability initiatives to make our industry fairer, more balanced, or more environmentally conscious.
