Focus on developing leads from your client bank, brokers told

In the face of anticipated challenges in the coming year, brokers should focus on looking for new business closer to home by generating leads from existing clients in 2024, according to technology firm Property Circle.

With a dwindling number of individuals actively engaging in the property market, the task of generating fresh leads has become notably more challenging, the company pointed out, citing recent HMRC data that indicates a 21% drop in transaction levels in October 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.

Property Circle said that based on its experience, for every 100 mortgages in a client bank, there are over 40 mortgage opportunities. Marc Randall (pictured), chief executive at Property Circle, however, pointed out that it would take approximately 42 days for a mortgage broker with 500 clients to manually review every mortgage account they possess.

“All brokers and other agents need to be able to proactively manage their client banks,” Randall said. “Manual systems are OK if brokers have the time to be constantly scanning existing clients, but for anyone with larger client banks, without dedicated human help, the task is nearly impossible.”

LeadGen – Property Circle’s client bank lead generator for brokers launched earlier this year – can take the burden of manual checking away, he added.

The technology, when integrated with an agent’s client base, operates autonomously, continually assessing existing clients. It systematically scans the database for timely renewal, equity release, and other early review opportunities. Subsequently, it validates and prioritises these opportunities, presenting them to brokers as viable leads.

“Not only does it free up time to leave brokers free to concentrate on new business but adopting LeadGen means that by keeping in closer contact with existing clients, brokers are meeting Consumer Duty requirements by actively demonstrating a constant overview of customer outcomes in the longer term,” Randall further said. “Make 2024 the year when your client bank becomes a real asset.”

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