Technology is a vital part of any business today. Good packagers should be advanced enough to be able to receive agreements in-principle and applications through a fully interactive website.
Over the last five years, mortgage customers have become more sophisticated in their demands, and clearly it’s no longer enough to simply offer them an online application form and downloadable brochures.
IMLA’s latest survey of technology use by intermediaries revealed a number of clear pointers as to trends within the sector. While many applications were already widely used, there was scope to harness technology to help in a number of areas: case tracking; provision of a full online application system; and use of simplified registration techniques.
As expected, computers were an essential part of the intermediary’s office equipment, with 85 per cent using an office PC and 54 per cent a laptop computer, but take-up of other technology solutions among intermediaries was proving less rapid. For example, just 8 per cent of them used a pocket computer or other handheld device (Blackberry, Palm, etc).
Peter Williams, executive director of IMLA, explains: “Technology plays an increasingly important role in the industry and intermediaries are increasingly embracing technology to streamline the process, control costs and improve service.”
It is still the case that many small brokers do not have a website, and the cost of producing tailored marketing materials for themselves is somewhat excessive.
Loanoptions.co.uk already provides The Marketing Toolbox, which contains a powerful set of tools including choices of compliant marketing material and ideas to promote loans to existing client bases as well as how to attract new prospects.
But with the rise of the internet as a shop-front for business, it is no surprise that the businesses which are succeeding in the new world are using websites to promote themselves more effectively to a wider audience.
Therefore with the marketing of financial services, moving more and more onto the internet, Loanoptions.co.uk considered it vital to be able to offer intermediaries a free white label website which offers a ready made shop window to market these specialist products to the widest possible audience as well as online tools to generate enquiries.
The website, which costs nothing to the intermediary, provides an online presence to promote secured loans, commercial mortgages and bridging finance. It can be either added to an existing site as a bolt-on, allowing the intermediary to offer additional services online, or there isn’t a web presence, Loanoptions.co.uk can arrange a new site on the company’s behalf.
Andy Moody, managing director of Loanoptions.co.uk, said: “The marketing toolbox gives our introducers a powerful set of resources with which to market secured loans and commercial mortgages.
“Intermediaries are missing an important trick if they are not actively pursuing new customers by having their own website. It is the most efficient way of providing a shop window for an intermediary’s services and Loanoptions.co.uk has put its experience at the disposal of any intermediary who wants to develop an active sales presence in the secured loan and commercial finance market. Our websites are guaranteed to be compliant as well as not costing the intermediary a penny to create or maintain.”
The lending industry is booming and with a market likely to be worth over £50 billion by 2008, not only are intermediaries getting excited by the prospects, lenders are as well.
And, according to Andy Moody, the Loanoptions.co.uk white label website has had 100 per cent positive feedback.
He said: “At Loanoptions.co.uk, we are working with intermediaries to develop other business streams for them. Our marketing toolbox has been very successful with intermediaries wanting to actively market for secured loans business. We are also very much involved in helping our introducing brokers to see the potential in the commercial mortgage market.
“A prospective client can go onto the website, and with no input by the intermediary, fill in the online AIP form, which will automatically go to Loanoptions.co.uk. With out Rapid Referral Service, the intermediary is instantly notified of the new prospect and then has the opportunity to handle the client himself or let us deal with the whole transaction. This has got to be the ultimate win win scenario for intermediaries in 2007.”
