Advice doesn't have to intimidating, suggests adviser
The mortgage industry should be as accessible as possible and make the advice process less intimidating for clients, suggests broker Emily Franks (pictured), who believes that customers respond well to the more informal approach she takes to her role.
The adviser’s recently-launched business, Emily’s Mortgage Services, is so-named because some of her clients address her as Ems, which neatly lent itself to the initials of her brand name, and the more comfortable approach that’s she fostered. She’s been busy since getting underway at the start of the year.
“Mortgage broking can be so uptight sometimes - we keep it relaxed,” she told Mortgage Introducer. “I think a lot of clients identify with it. They know that I've got family, they've got families. I had a client on a call yesterday and her daughter was three and she was chatting away in the background. It helps break the ice, it really does. If clients have to nip off the call to take their little one to the toilet or whatever, I'm not bothered at all.”
She continued: “Don't get me wrong, some of the best advisers I have met are the traditional men in suits and ties and my mentor was very much like that, and he was a quality adviser - he was exceptional. But that doesn't mean that we can't change the face of mortgage broking.”
The Norfolk-based broker has arguably tapped into something pertinent about the psychology of being a client making one of life’s biggest purchases. “Mortgages are scary for clients,” she reasoned. “It's a huge commitment and there's a lot of regulation and a lot of serious things we have to talk through, but that doesn't mean that you can't enjoy the process. Because we're so heavily regulated, I think there's a danger that we push that onto our clients - it's not up to them to manage compliance.
“I've always said that to my clients, the most important thing is that we get on and that you trust me - you can't do that if you're intimidating and unapproachable. We need to make it more accessible, we need to make it less scary, we need to make it less like they're signing their lives away. People buy from people, and I've built my reputation on clients coming to me because I'm here to help.”
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How remote meetings can help build a broker business
Part of the more informal, yet professional service that Emily’s Mortgage Services aims to offer, is based around the convenience of the remote meetings which its director conducts with her clients. With a background in banking, having spent 10 years at Lloyds Bank, she qualified as a broker at the end of the 2019, and began working as a mortgage consultant for Countrywide, in 2020, just before COVID hit. Furloughed, she only truly got into her stride after the first lockdown, when remote working was becoming much more commonplace.
“It's how I've built my business, and it's been wonderful,” she explained. “I've got clients all over the UK. I'm not just tied to where I am in a small town. I've got clients up in Scotland, in Wales, in Northern Ireland. I've been used to remote advising from day one and I think clients have adapted to that really quite easily as well.”
Still, the director of Emily’s Mortgage Services was able to learn some key skills alongside the team at Salus Mortgages, where she worked from 2021, until she went self-employed at the end of 2024, to become director of her own business. “What shaped me as an adviser, and what I've learned so much in the last five years is watching other advisers, watching other brokers,” she said. “You need to learn how to do things correctly. I think remote working has its place for experienced advisers. The danger of working from home when you're not experienced in the role is that you could pick up bad habits. There could be vital things you miss.”
The biggest challenge in her career so far has been overcoming her imposter syndrome, she admitted. “It doesn't matter how many good reviews you get or how many times someone tells you that you know you've done a great job, you still think, ‘God, am I really doing this, am I good enough to do this?’” she shared. “You'll always have a bit of self-doubt. I always want to do the best I can and I always will question am I doing the best I can, and I think part of that makes me a good broker because I'm always double checking and second guessing myself.
“I remind myself of how many applications I've done and how many mortgage offers I've put out and how many clients come back to me time and time again, and the fact that they've continued to hunt me down. It makes me realise that, actually, I'm not bad at this at all. I'm not the type of broker to give up, I will keep going. Until I've exhausted all options for that client, I won't just walk away from a case and I think that drive and determination has proven to a lot of clients that actually she does know what she's doing.”
