Some 41 per cent of respondents said this would be how they will maintain business levels in 2023 and it is expected that technology will facilitate this.
A fifth of respondents said they would invest in lead generation, 15 per cent in technology and six per cent will focus on recruitment. Some two per cent of respondents plan to enhance their partnerships with lenders and 16 per cent will look at other ways to maintain business.
Cutting out mundane tasks
Reacting to the results of the poll, brokers said they would focus on cutting down the onboarding process for customers and give more attention to speaking with them.
Imran Hussain, director at Harmony Financial Services, said his firm will be looking at making the onboarding process “seamless” as clients did not want to sit with an adviser telling them details like their date of birth or National Insurance number.
He added: “This can all be done via our client portal in less than 10 minutes we can have all the basic information we need prior to even sitting down with a client or even save them a journey if we can’t help them.”
Greig Cowley, mortgage broker at Riverside Mortgages, said his company had invested in a CRM system which “takes a lot of the heavy lifting from our shoulders and makes the client journey much smoother, dispensing with a lot of the mundane admin tasks we’d typically do”.
He said this was important considering the recent uncertainty in the market as this allowed his firm to serve more clients.
Cowley also said the firm was looking to recruit more brokers in its local area of Teesside to manage its growing client base.
Mark Hosker, mortgage adviser at Cyborg Finance, said enhancing the consumer journey was his firm’s primary focus.
He added: “To achieve this, we are upgrading our website’s onboarding process, utilising API from Twenty7tec to provide positive feedback to prospective clients. This three-pronged approach includes enhancements to our bespoke CRM and the release of fresh content to our website.
“This tech investment will improve the consumer journey and lead generation. While our customer retention is already strong, we are improving our retention communications with Dashly.”
Jonathan Southgate, founder at Sterling Southgate, said as the market protracts, it would be imperative to make the client journey “as fluid as possible”.
His company has enhanced its support team and outsourced its social media to enable this.
“Added to this we have removed all paperwork and lender chasing from our advisers giving them time back to concentrate on advising and keeping those clients happy,” Southgate added.
Readying for borrower demand
Greg Cunnington, chief operating officer at LDNfinance, said it was “no surprise” that investment in customer retention was at the forefront of brokers’ minds as this year was set to be a big year for mortgage maturities.
He added: “Investment made to retain remortgaging and previous clients is therefore going to be very important this year. Investment in technology links with this as good technology can help advisers to manage their client retention strategies.”
Samuel Mather-Holgate, independent financial adviser at Mather and Murray Financial, said his firm was “driven by demand”, so more advisers were taking their equity release qualifications.
He added: “We see more clients wanting this and expect the demand to increase.”
His firm is also considering a green product offering to clients across mortgages, pensions, investments and insurance, to meet the needs of people concerned with sustainability.
Striking a balance
Other brokers said being able to adjust to a changing market was key.
Justin Moy, managing director at EHF Mortgages, said trying to find a happy balance was “difficult in an ever-changing marketplace” and recent uncertainties had forced him to focus on what is important.
Moy said greater availability of technology reduced his firm’s reliance on paperwork to the point where an office was no longer needed. He said technology helped to cut costs and streamline processes.
Otherwise, his firm will focus on hiring experienced brokers who want to work in easier ways and keep expenses down.
Lee Johnson, director at Willow Private Finance, said his firm’s philosophy was to support the broker team so they could build relationships, solve problems and close deals.
He added: “To achieve this we heavily invested in increasing the number of highly skilled administrative staff to complete 90 per cent of all the administrative tasks normally completed by mortgage brokers. Why is this important?
“In 2022 we saw significant changes to service levels by lenders and supporting specialists due to nine interest changes. Thanks to our model, all our clients were kept very much in the loop as the brokers were always accessible to their clients and the admin team aggressively pursued cases to their conclusion on behalf of the client. As such, we had a 45 per cent increase in case numbers compared to 2021. 2023 will see more investment in this area.”
