On March 28th we held our Annual Conference at Twickenham Stadium, and it did not disappoint! From the buzzing Exhibition Hall to Martin Bayfield’s anecdotes, it wasn’t a Conference to forget. Our Head of Sales and Marketing, Sharon Mawby, gives you a run down of what happened and shares some photos from the day!
We had such a fantastic day at our Annual Conference and I’m
so pleased with how it went. Twickenham was the perfect venue and right from
kick off there was a buzz of excitement with a record breaking 256 advisers
attending.
The Exhibition Hall was packed with lenders and providers
engaging with brokers and early feedback from our brokers has suggested the
1-2-1 meetings were incredibly worthwhile as well as the masterclass streams.
This year we decided to bring back the panel debate which
was one of the highlights of the day for me. It was great to see brokers
getting the chance to direct some of their questions to industry experts on
some of the current hot topics.
And what about the keynote speech from Martin Bayfield? He
was great, and everyone found his stories incredibly funny!
Ultimately, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everybody
who attended or helped make our Conference so special. A huge thank you to our
advisers, lenders and providers, and the Mortgage Intelligence team for making
it one to remember!
Take a look through the picture gallery below and see if you can spot yourself!
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To become a member of our award-winning network or club contact us today on 0345 130 7446.
With 2019 just around the corner there’s no better time to start planning your marketing strategy and improve the way you do things. Our Senior Marketing Executive, Nick Terry, gives you his top five marketing tips to make your goals more achievable.
Know your audience
For me, my first marketing tip for advisers, or any business, is to know your audience and know where their attention is. You must recognise which platforms your customers and potential customers engage with but also find out what questions they’re asking, then you can try to answer those questions.
Add value with content
Producing regular content through a website or blog is a great way to grow your brand but it’s important to get this right. With your content you don’t want to oversell your business but rather give away your knowledge for free. Adding this value in advance means that people will trust you and think you’re credible.
I know that as brokers you’re busy and often don’t have the time to write your own content, which is why at Mortgage Intelligence we have articles ready to be downloaded and used. Just log in to Broker Zone and go to Services > Marketing > Content Marketing.
Don’t neglect existing customers
As advisers you may already have a big client bank. It’s always important that you make sure you don’t neglect your existing customers while chasing new ones – be sure to check in every so often with your existing customers to see if their circumstances have changed or to see if you can help them in any way.
Tell stories
People react to people. A big part of your marketing approach these days should be focused on demonstrating the successes of your clients. Call it a case study or a testimonial, but essentially, you’re telling a story, and in the process making your business relatable to a potential customer. For example, instead of a couple posting a photo of the inside of their new house in celebration of completing on a mortgage, a more powerful photo would be for them to take a selfie of themselves in the house. This way when you’re viewing the photo you’re already starting to create a story for them in your head, making the imagery more engaging.
Reviews and Feedback
One of the key things that can really help your marketing strategy is by getting feedback and reviews. Many potential customers now read online reviews that can heavily impact their buying decisions. Asking every customer to leave a review on google or your website (asking face to face always works best!) should slowly build up your reviews for new potential customers to read. This process, linking back to my first point, will also allow you get to know your customer better and what questions they’re asking!
We have many services available on Broker Zone to help you with your marketing proposition from content that will add value to promotional materials, all signed off by compliance and ready to use. Give our fantastic marketing team an email if you would like some more information marketing@experiencemi.co.uk.
Join our award-winning Mortgage Network as an appointed representative, or become a member of our Mortgage Club, to start benefiting from our fantastic range of comprehensive services and support. Call the Broker Support Team on 0345 130 7446 (opt 1) to find out more.
Nathan Reilly spoke with Business Development Manager Andy Yates from Teachers Building Society to chat about what Teachers Building Society can teach the financial services industry, why he loves his job and his West Country roots.
Andy has over 30 years’ experience working in the financial services industry. Having worked with high street lenders, as an adviser, regulated trainer, T&C supervisor and regional manager he has a huge amount of knowledge about mortgages and the wider financial industry.
How do you help both Network and Club members?
The recent broadening of our lending criteria means that we are now available to all occupations nationally, we’re like a new lender option for you. As a smaller regional building society you can quickly build a relationship with us as you have continuity of contact points with the broker team, we provide an excellent speed of service, access to in-house underwriters for decisions, strong affordability at higher LTV with our 5 times income cap available up to 90% LTV (95% LTV for teachers) and we’re also able to consider future contracts and probationary periods.
What sectors do Teachers Building Society specialise in?
Our lending is based on criteria rather than price, we can help FTB or First Time Movers requiring higher affordability at higher LTV. We are happy to consider an applicant’s future contract and those starting on a probationary period – useful where payslips are not yet available. We support the government Help to Buy schemes both purchase and re-mortgage and provide a 95% lending option for shared ownership clients. Specific teacher criteria include: Newly Qualified Teachers on their first one year contract are treated as permanently employed and Supply Teachers can be considered once they have a track record of two academic terms.
What is it that surprises advisers when you talk to them?
That we have broadened our lending criteria to support all occupations – not just teachers! Our 5 times income multiple remains available up to 90% LTV … and 95% LTV if you are a teacher.
What’s the best part of your role as Business Development Manager?
Easy answer – the day to day contact with advisers and being able to provide a solution. I really enjoy the relationship side of the BDM role, its great working with established adviser relationships and as one of the smaller regional building societies, I enjoy the opportunity of presenting and meeting new broker firms.
What can Teachers Building Society teach the financial services industry?
Good question – I’d say use our experience of the Teacher profession sector, future contracts, pension contributions, supply teachers etc. Every lender will aim for first class service levels and Teachers is no different – if you’ve not used us before give us a call.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I’m a West Country lad, so I would move back to the south west, somewhere on the coast like Shaldon – it’s a lovely spot with some great local pubs. The Shaldon car sticker I saw made me smile “A beautiful drinking village ruined by fishing.”
If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Playing on my West Country roots, I’d opt for a pasty!
Join our award-winning Mortgage Network as an appointed representative, or become a member of our Mortgage Club, to start benefiting from our fantastic range of comprehensive services and support. Call the Broker Support Team on 0345 130 7446 (opt 1) to find out more.
National Account Manager for Protection Craig Bryce examines why more millennials don’t choose life cover, and why this makes it even more important to have the protection conversation
I read a recent study of millennial parents which revealed some startling statistics and attitudes towards life cover. It showed that three quarters of young parents have no life insurance in place to cover them should the worst happen. I was also surprised to hear that 67% said that they simply did not have time to go through their options.
Looking at these figures, I think it is clear more needs to be done by the industry to help young people protect themselves against worst case scenarios.
So why don’t more millennial parents have it?
It seems that generally younger parents will always feel that life insurance is less of a priority than older generations, simply because they are less likely to die anytime soon. The survey revealed that millennials would rather spend their funds on new technology and experiences, than on insurance against future events.
But I wasn’t surprised to hear that many millennials assumed that life insurance was simply too expensive to consider, with 80% prioritising other financial needs, such as living expenses, recreational expenses, and saving money for the future. The cost of life cover is a common misconception among the public and one that has prevailed across the generations.
But life stages, such as buying a house, are being reached much later by millennials. This means that many young parents are left vulnerable while renting, without having had the life insurance conversation with a mortgage adviser.
Why is life cover still so important for millennials?
As you will know, one of the main reasons millennials should consider life insurance is their age. Life insurance is often cheaper when they are younger, which means putting it off only increases the cost, and taking advantage now will very likely save them money on their premiums.
If your millennial clients have dependents and people that rely on them, you can help them consider what would happen if their income was suddenly taken out of the picture. Would they be able to live comfortably? Would they have the same lifestyle? These are just some of the questions that form an important part of helping more millennials understand the importance of life cover.
If you would like to know more about how to join our award-winning Mortgage Network as an appointed representative or becoming a member of our Mortgage Club, call our Broker Support Team on 0845 130 7446, option 1.