The scheme, which was launched in May 2005, is designed for commercial mortgage brokers who wish to generate more business, and for residential mortgage brokers wishing to expand their activities to include some commercial mortgage sales. The tool box consists of a number of templates for marketing material, which brokers can request to be personalised for their own businesses. It includes press advertisements, mailers, leaflets, posters, flyers, web content as well as reporting templates to help monitor the success of each campaign. Once intermediaries have submitted a request through their Commercial First regional sales manager and it has been approved, they can expect their bespoke, fully compliant artwork in approximately two to three weeks.
Stephen Johnson, sales and marketing director at Commercial First, commented: “Our recent research has shown that marketing support is top of the list when it comes to what brokers need from lenders, with 53 per cent of brokers citing it as the most important thing they need to write more commercial mortgage business. We believe that there is huge potential to grow the proportion of commercial mortgage business that flows through intermediaries. Currently only 15 per cent of UK commercial mortgages are intermediary-introduced, whereas this figure is 85 per cent in the USA. Intermediaries in the commercial mortgage market can now offer their customers the same product choice and service benefits enjoyed by residential mortgage customers who use a mortgage broker to find them the best deal, rather than approach a lender direct. The Commercial First marketing tool box is an example of our partnership approach to doing business with our intermediaries. We have used our considerable experience and expertise to produce the basic materials which we can then customise to individual requirements. This helps our intermediaries to plan and deliver advertising and marketing activities that will increase business levels.”
Commercial First also encourages a partnership approach between established commercial specialists and residential mortgage brokers who have little or no experience in the commercial mortgage sector. Johnson concluded: “Our products are designed in a similar way to residential mortgages, so they are simple to understand and all fees and criteria are totally transparent. Residential mortgage advisers no longer need to turn away enquiries for commercial mortgages. Instead, if they partner with an established commercial specialist, they can increase fee income and ensure client retention for their core product sales.”
