myi: You seem to have really turned around the fortunes of First Complete, how have you done that?
The last year has seen a significant difference for First Complete and its members. We have grown our share of the mortgage lending market and we have more than doubled our protection sales to record levels.
Over the past 18 months we have examined all areas of our proposition. We have focused on our three key areas: mortgages, protection and general insurance. We put panels in place and made sure that we had a selection of the very best lenders, providers and products.
This included looking at our relationships and commercial terms and renegotiating favourable deals which means we have been able to dramatically improve the client facing proposition for our advisers.
At the start of 2011, LSL’s two largest Financial Services subsidiaries- Your Move and Reeds Rains- became Appointed Representatives of First Complete, demonstrating LSL’s long term commitment to First Complete and the sector as a whole.
We have significantly upped the level of support for our advisers both in terms of one-to-one bespoke support and the number of sales activity meetings and targeted sales campaigns.
We are investing significantly into a new IT system, we have delivered a new extranet and we bought TMA, the club for directly authorised advisers.
Finally, we have significantly increased the focus on quality of business protecting both the advisers and the lenders.
myi: What does First Complete offer to its members that other networks don’t?
The key difference with First Complete is that we are not a mass market business but a bespoke offering, which provides advisers with tailored support to help them in their individual businesses.
We offer one-to-one customised field support and business development.
We provide members with access to a full and energetic meeting programme to ensure they have up to date knowledge – we held 180 meetings in the last calendar year alone, providing advisers with a whole range of options for training and support right around the country.
We also benefit from LSL’s immense financial strength and bargaining power which means we can offer a top tier mortgage proposition, exclusive products, and competitive and comprehensive protection offering.
myi: What are the challenges facing networks over the next 12 months?
The number of networks has stabilised but the key differentiator for the next year will be the quality of business that is placed. Quality is already becoming increasingly important for lenders, so the networks that cannot manage their quality will be the ones who fail.
The FSA are increasingly looking at a network’s compliance and even its recruitment policies, so the way networks will stay in business is by offering advisers something more than just competitive rates.
The focus of First Complete has always been about providing advisers with in-depth training and one-to-one business development. This has been highly successful and advisers are staying with First Complete as a result. It is this one-to-one care that will help ensure our success in 2012 and beyond.
myi: How do you think the market will change for advisers and what will First Complete do to help?
2012 will be very similar to 2011. The economic markets continue to be uncertain and banks are still wary of lending to one another, this will result in maybe slightly less lending than in 2011.
The number of advisers in the market seems to have stabilised over the last year and it seems as if most of the advisers that are still in business are the ones that are making it work, either through widening the range of products that they sell or by working their client banks more than they used to.
First Complete will help by providing advisers with tailored support for their individual business, so whatever the market throws at us, we will be there to help advisers cope, making sure they have the skills and the products to have a successful business whatever the wider economic environment.
myi: What are your plans for First Complete over the next 12 months and how will advisers benefit?
Our key driver is to provide a comprehensive level of personal support for advisers. We are listening to what are members tell us and responding to it. We will continue to review and enhance our proposition to make sure it more than meets the needs of our adviser members and their clients.
Finally we will continue to grow, we have an active recruitment strategy based around providing more than just the highest commission, with a focus on training, up-skilling, writing quality business and working with individuals to help them grow and develop.
Our proposition is very much about recognising that different businesses have different needs and adapting what we provide to suit their individual needs.
