FR: Gareth, tell us about yourself and your current role?
I’ve been working in financial services for more than 25 years – spending the majority of that time with Just Mortgages. I joined in 2010 as an adviser and have worked my way up through the employed division, becoming a divisional sales director and then financial services director.
Around 18 months ago, I joined the client services division as sales director with the remit of increasing proactive client engagement and improving service, while capturing embedded value within the existing client base. My focus has been on building and increasing our dedicated team of remortgage advisers and bookings team to support our advisers in nurturing their back book, and ensure our orphan client bank is properly looked after too.
While remortgage remains the entry point for conversations, the priority has been to ensure this is much more proactive than reactive. As a result, the focus has shifted from a basic refinancing process, to a full financial review with ongoing, tailored advice.
FR: 18 months on, how is it going?
The results have been tremendous. In my first year in the role, we generated £500,000 in extra income with a 40% increase in existing client bookings. At the 18-month mark, we’re on track to do the same again this year, creating an uplift of £1 million. Best of all, by adding that fresh emphasis and rethinking how we manage existing client relationships, we’re delivering a better service, we’re responding better to client needs and ultimately, delivering better outcomes – which is the biggest measure of success.
In line with demand, we have grown our central team of advisers – which currently sits at 20, with another six going through approvals. We continue to leverage Smartr365 to drive new efficiencies and increase resources, and have further enhanced our internal proactive client contact through a number of mediums - with support from external lead generation. This has all helped towards increasing bookings, as well as delivering smoother interactions and a better customer journey – it’s a win all round.
FR: Beyond remortgaging, what other areas of advice are being identified?
Client services is much more than just making sure everyone comes back to remortgage – it’s a chance to provide a lifelong service to clients. That is very much our philosophy, so the team works closely with clients to respond to the needs that are highlighted in our financial reviews. We regularly support clients with protection reviews, exploring later life options and increasingly, adverse credit and more specialist requirements. Beyond that, we also work closely with our specialist new build division around staircasing and helping clients on the journey to 100% homeownership.
Where financial reviews have taken the biggest leap forward is through wealth. This year, we have seen the biggest increase in the number of referrals to our wealth advisers at Just Wealth. Whether it’s pensions, savings, investments or estate planning, these are hot topics right now and our advisers are identifying these gaps and providing suitable support.
FR: What’s the response been like from advisers?
Advisers are really on board with what we are trying to achieve and if anything, have really stepped up in response. They see the value in the existing client bank when it’s looked after properly. While we may have a dedicated team of advisers, we’ve been clear that our primary aim is to facilitate putting clients back in front of their original broker. Where that isn’t possible – either due to a lack of capacity or the original broker has left the business – our team takes over the relationship. Ultimately, our role is to be that backstop, helping our advisers nurture those client relationships, or serve as a surrogate as and when required.
Overall though, advisers understand that it’s a great way to increase their income, secure further referrals and boost their own business performance. The client services division has also proven to be an attractive career opportunity for some of our existing advisers – with many of our central team made up of advisers formerly based in branches.
FR: What does the future hold?
I’d say watch this space. We’re expecting client services to grow further in 2026 with an expanded team and further development of our technology to streamline the process.
The coming year will also see an increasing focus on adverse credit with the launch of a dedicated team of specialist advisers that will sit alongside client services. The renewed focus and emphasis is really in response to the significant number of enquiries we are seeing from clients dealing with adverse credit. This team will be able to support both existing clients and new borrowers in a much deeper way through bespoke advice and a tailored approach. They will also benefit from enhanced training centred around empathy, wellbeing and customer vulnerability to ensure we truly understand the person behind the case and any broader challenges or characteristics contributing to their situation.
Not only is it a growing concern, but adverse credit can be factor at any stage of life – so providing bespoke support is absolutely essential. Fortunately, the options have never been better for those with credit blips or even more significant challenges. Through this approach, the hope is we can continue to dispel the myths and demonstrate that securing a mortgage or refinancing is still a very real possibility, with growing appetite and acceptance beyond just specialist lenders.
