Listen well and boost your customer retention rate
Mortgage clients are going to need guidance like never before – and by truly listening to them and taking time to understand their needs, advisers can drive up their customer retention rates, according to an award winning broker.
Danielle Rasor, who is head of sales at London-based Fitch & Fitch – winner of Broker Firm of the Year (11 to 50 Advisers) at The Mortgage Introducer Awards – anticipates a boost to business in the new year, before the imminent lower threshold for Stamp Duty payments.
“With the Stamp Duty deadline looming, we're going to see a bit of a boom in the first quarter for people wanting to get completed before those higher costs kick in,” she told Mortgage Introducer.
“People are going to need advice and guidance more than ever before, in terms of what products are out there and which are going to be best for their needs. We are having to go into more depth with clients and really explain to them not only why this is the interest rate that they can have, but why interest rates are like this and the geopolitics at play, what's happened economically to get us to this point. That is definitely something that we're doing a lot more these days, to the benefit of the client. But as brokers you've really got to be on the front foot and understand what's coming.”
The art of listening…
Rasor (who is pictured with Grant Hendry, from award sponsor Foundations Home Loans) has a simple but effective tip for fellow brokers about the power of listening well.
“The biggest thing that I say to my team all the time is take the time to listen to the client that you're dealing with,” she shared. “I know that that sounds really, really basic, but it can be a very fast-paced industry and people can be very keen to get that next deal locked in and that next rate sorted. But I would encourage everyone to just take a breath, take some time and actually really chat, get to know your client, understand what they need from you and why they need it.”
She continued: “You will have a better business journey, better outcomes, better feedback and a really high retention rate for your clients, which will only be better for your business in the long term as well.”
Read more: Stamp Duty changes price out buyers, push landlords to sell
What will 2025 be like for the mortgage market?
Rasor believes that the turbulence which has beset the mortgage market in recent years has passed, and that the year ahead will be calmer in terms of mortgage rate changes.
“I feel like we're coming up for a period which is going to be more positive, calmer,” she said. “The forecast is a reduction in rates - there's a lot of debate out there about how quickly that's going to happen. But I do feel the worst of the turmoil we've had for the last couple of years is firmly behind us and I'm really looking forward to 2025 now.”
Rasor stepped on stage at The Mortgage Introducer Awards last week to accept Fitch & Fitch’s Broker Firm award and is clearly delighted to have done so.
“It was a really challenging category to be in,” she observed. “The firms we were up against are some of the leaders in the industry, so I was absolutely elated and thrilled to have won. We spin a lot of plates and, if I say so myself, we spin them really well. That, I think, is probably what gave us the edge, that we really are making effort in all the right areas.”
Among these, Rasor identifies the company’s strong values, the care it takes over the well-being of its staff, its commitment to sustainability by planting trees for every mortgage application completed, and its high levels of protection across the clients that it serves. She believes there are positive benefits to come from the company’s big win.
“First and foremost, for me, is the morale boost to the team,” she said, “that validation from an independent judging panel of our peers to say, you guys are doing really good work and we acknowledge that.
“Beyond that, I hope that we can inspire some other companies within the industry to make positive changes and to push on through any challenging times, because if we can do it then you guys can do it too.”
