"When face-to-face becomes an option again, will advisers want to work in that way?"
It has been a long year – one in which I think we’ve all learnt a lot, but specifically in the mortgage market, it’s a period which has genuinely changed how we interact with each other, and our clients. The big question now, as we move out of lockdown, is to what extent the norms and requirements of the last 12 months will remain, particularly as we’re allowed to meet face-to-face.
This is something we are thinking about a lot, because we recognise the importance in getting this right, not just in terms of how we interact with advisers, but from our staffing point of view.
Historically, for instance, our BDMs did most of their adviser engagement face-to-face. The pandemic, by necessity, changed that, and they’ve spent the last year doing it all via email/phone or Zoom/Teams. When face-to-face becomes an option again, will advisers want to work in that way?
My suspicion is that they will. The Zoom/Teams period has been efficient for both advisers and lenders – and it will continue to be utilised and used – but, given that this is an industry which is a people business in its truest sense, I think there will be a want (and a need) for everyone to sit down with each other, grab a coffee (or something stronger) and re-engage on a personal basis once again.
This is particularly the case I think for the forging of new relationships. Our BDMs would thrive on meeting new advisers face-to-face, talking them through the proposition and outlining the services and areas where they could help, and that didn’t change during the last year, but I think it helps both sides so much to have that engagement in person. It illicits, in my opinion, a stronger relationship which can only be beneficial in the future.
As mentioned, use of Zoom/Teams and the like is certainly going to continue at a level that would have been seen as unimaginable pre-COVID-19. But, it’s what you use it for that needs to be debated, because in certain areas it doesn’t work as well as you might believe.
Take, for instance, interacting with a larger audience – not just a few people on a call, but potentially hundreds. If you’re presenting, it’s almost impossible to gauge audience response – you can’t ‘feel‘ a room online and this can lead to presentations being boring or attendees simply switching off.
We’ve had feedback from a number of advisers that when lenders are doing their endless ‘criteria dumps‘ via Zoom and the like, it’s hard to keep up any level of interest.
No-one is suggesting this isn’t a good way to get in front of lots of advisers relatively easy, but we as lenders will need to keep this format fresh, perhaps by introducing market updates, workshops, lender USPs, regional data, etc. It can’t just be all about the product/criteria nuts and bolts because the likelihood is you’ll have trouble in getting advisers to dial in again.
In that sense, a BDM back out on the road is going to be extremely helpful to lenders. They’ll be back in front of advisers where they can not only engage in terms of product/pricing/criteria, but they’ll be able to genuinely help on specific cases – again this can’t be done over a Zoom call with tens or hundreds of attendees. But it is possible face-to-face and I think this will be welcomed by advisers.
And, given the likelihood of a very competitive market being the norm for some time, BDMs will be required when it comes to the fast pace of change. Criteria and pricing changes happen constantly, and a BDM will be required to respond to those and take advisers through what has happend and what it might mean for their clients.
Essentially, in this brave new world, we will engage with advisers in any way they want. It’s really about working out whatever works best for them and responding to it. However, I think news of the death of the face-to-face meeting are greatly exaggerated. In fact, I think there are many who are craving for that human interaction and miss it – what we will be able to do now is blend face-to-face with the technology available to get a happy outcome for all.
This will deliver a much more efficent marketplace for advisers and lenders, and will ultimately deliver better outcomes for clients. And who could argue with that?
