Mortgage Broker Broadcast
Developing your knowledge to help you build a successful Mortgage Broker business. Craig Skelton shares his thoughts and experiences on all aspects of mortgage advice covering everything from operating in the banking world, estate agency based advisers all the way up to working as a self employed broker. He will be joined by experts from within the industry and other business sectors which all play a key part in becoming a successful mortgage broker in the modern world.
Mortgage Broker Broadcast
Making Retention Effortless
What happens after the case completes? For most mortgage brokers and protection advisors, client engagement often drops dramatically post-sale. Yet that's precisely when the real opportunity begins.
Joanne Cole returns to the podcast to discuss how BrokerIQ (soon rebranding to Your Advisor Here) has evolved over 18 months into a comprehensive client engagement platform that's transforming how advisors maintain relationships with clients long after the initial sale.
The catalyst for creating this technology came from Joanne's own experience as an advisor, when she realised she was handing clients lever arch folders filled with policy documents and expecting them to remember all the benefits they were paying for each month. "Is this really what I'm presenting to my client in this digital age?" she wondered.
This platform helps advisors meet Consumer Duty requirements by documenting ongoing client communication and ensuring products remain suitable throughout their lifecycle. Unlike CRMs that focus on the sales process, this solution specializes in the post-sale journey – sending automated reminders about policy benefits, simplifying annual reviews, and creating a single digital location where clients can access all their financial information.
The impact extends beyond compliance. By providing clients with a branded app experience where they can access all their policies (including valuable add-on benefits like 24/7 GP services), advisors enhance retention while ensuring clients get full value from products they've purchased. This proves especially effective with younger clients who expect digital-first experiences but might otherwise overlook protection products.
As Joanne explains, "The client relationship does not stop when you complete your mortgage process or protection policies. It continues very much after that." By embracing technology that automates regular touchpoints without sacrificing the personal connection, advisors can build deeper relationships while freeing time to focus on what they do best – solving problems and providing expert guidance.
Connect with Joanne on LinkedIn or visit their website to discover how enhanced client engagement can transform your practice and ensure your clients receive ongoing value from
Looking for one to one mentoring, visit my website to see how it works craigskelton.co.uk
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Hi and welcome to this week's the Mortgage Broker broadcast. My guest this week is Joanne Cole from BrokerIQ, and Joanne was on the podcast back in October 2023. So it's 18 months since Joanne came back on, came originally onto the podcast to talk about BrokerIQ and what it was and how it was helping and supporting brokers, so what I wanted to do is get back onto the podcast. 18 months is such a long time in the mortgage broker space, a long time in the technology space as well, so what I want to do is get back on just to explain what's happened over that 18 months, where they are now as a business, the rebranding that they've got coming up as well, and how she's helping and supporting brokers with client retention, client journey, post-sale and a lot of other things besides. So, yeah, let's just get Joanne onto the podcast. So welcome back onto the podcast, joanne. How are you?
Speaker 2:I'm great, Craig. Thank you so much for having me back. I'm delighted to be back here with you this morning.
Speaker 1:No, thank you. Thank you for a great, very busy lady, which we'll get into and we'll talk about, but I appreciate you taking the time to come back on it's 18. I know we had a brief conversation before we hit record, but 18 months since we, since you're on the podcast and wow, things have changed so much in the broker space in that 18 months and we're going to talk about what's happening with them you and broker iq and the, the brand and everything else and but yeah, just so much has happened in that period of time and I cannot believe it's 18 months since you were last on the podcast.
Speaker 2:No, neither can I. It just seems to have flown by. It seems like yesterday. We were here and delighted to be back with you today, craig, to discuss. I just feel like the market in general has been just so busy and there's been so many changes and continual pressure on our advisors, as usual, so it's good to be back here to catch up.
Speaker 1:I know, definitely, thank you. So for those people that haven't listened to that, it was back in October 2023, if people want to listen back to the original podcast, but for those that haven't listened to that podcast or don't know who you are, do you want to just do a brief introduction?
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well. I am the founder of a piece of technology called BrokerIQ. We've been on the market for a number of years now. We are a customer engagement platform. We're a client experience platform, and I decided that I would build the technology. After spending some time in the mortgage advisor space, my particular passion was on the protection market and I felt like advisors really needed a tool that sat on the front end, that helped them communicate with their clients and provide all of their documents and all the information to them, and that is really the core basis of what we are at BrokerIQ. We've grown so much over the last number of years and we have so many more features added to the technology and benefits for our advisors, so I look forward to discussing that today.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I say loads to talk about. So if you can remember back 18 months, when I can get my words out, remember back 18 months. Where was BrokerIQ at at that point in October 2023? Can you remember where you were at as a business at that time?
Speaker 2:We were probably still very early on in our journey. We had a piece of technology that was on the market. We had probably a number of advisors and early adopters using our technology at that stage. We've grown considerably since then. So we have many more advisors using our technology now and we're, you know, speaking to the larger networks and enterprise customers at this stage. And, yeah, I look back at that time and even look at our features and where we were then and what we're doing now.
Speaker 1:And it's like talking cheese, to be honest. I say I was looking at your website before we recorded, before you came on, and looking at like your website is totally different. I can remember, like in terms of what you're looking at in terms of the customer engagement platform. Now it is clearly sort of good to see how far you've grown as a business over that time, because I can clearly clearly see why and I love the engage, I love the automate and I love the retain, because that for me and that's one of the reasons why I wanted you to come back on the podcast, because the retain side of things for me is a key for every single broker, short-term, long-term. I think it is just a massive thing that brokers can miss out on so much opportunity from past clients because they're not, they're just worried about the front end, generating leads, new clients, new clients and do forget about their, their existing clients who they work so, who were new clients, who they work so hard to get that client in the first place, and I think that's what I know.
Speaker 1:We're going to talk about other things. I know you're now into the wealth space. We're going to talk about the protection space as well and look at that in more detail, but it retains a big thing. What was the sort of spark that started BrokerIQ in the first place? Because they say you was a broker, so what was that sort of do you know what? This is the opportunity. So what? What was that?
Speaker 2:and it was just funny, I put a post on LinkedIn last week because in its very simplest form it sort of picked with one of my own, one of my first clients. So I suppose our ESP is that we focus on the protection side of the business. So that's always been where my passion is. We are, we're in the mortgage space. We focus on the protection side of the business, so that's always been where my passion is. We're in the mortgage space, we're in the protection space. We've now moved into the wealth space. But our USP is our protection journey and for me it was about that client that you took on board.
Speaker 2:Maybe it was the mortgage process, maybe they took a protection policy, but for me it was only just on the protection that I had um done a case with. It was one of my first clients and he was a really big client and he took seven policies from me at that time and those policies were spread out over a number of the providers. We had Aviva, we had Guardian, we had LV and I spent considerable time building his case, working with his family, getting him the best cover that was suitable for him and his family, and at the very end of that process. I printed out all of his policies, I put them into a A4 lever arch folder and I A4 lever arch folder and I presented this to my client and I said there you go. And I thought at that stage well, haven't I done a great job, because I have done this for one of my very first clients? Give myself a pat on the back. No, I didn't. I thought, oh my goodness, in this day and age, is this what I'm really presenting to my client? There is no. Is this what I'm really presenting to my client? There is no digital element to this. You know, as an advisor, do I want to push them into seven different portals or seven different mobile applications? No, it becomes confusing. And yet I had presented if you need anything, go to this folder. If you need, give me a call. But there was no ability for me to reach that client, to send them a message and for them to even access in a digital capacity if they needed me at any stage, even to make a claim. And that was really, in its essence, the reason that I built what was BrokerIQ at the time. It actually initially was called ReviewIt because it was about policies and reviewing policies.
Speaker 2:As I got more into the space. It became that tool to engage with your clients, to retain those clients and to reach out to them and to be there when they needed you most. And that might have been through the mortgage process, or it might have been through the protection process. And I suppose, as I said before, our USP is in protection a mortgage advisor and you're selling protection, or you're a protection advisor and people are taking products from you. What is the tool that you're going to use to communicate with those clients past past the point of sale?
Speaker 2:And back then I didn't know about consumer duty, I didn't know about any market studies that would be happening. It just to me made common sense that I should not be presenting my client with a paper folder that they may put in the bottom drawer and never look at again, and they were going to be paying considerable amount of money every month for these and for the for the benefits of these, and that wasn't even on the added benefit. There was lots of add-on benefits then that you know. There was no digital reminders of what they had or where to access them. So that in its, in its very core, core purpose was exactly why we built BrokerIQ.
Speaker 1:And we've grown tremendously since then. And I think what I see because you've had that experience with a client thinking about how can we not just accepting this is the process and this is how it's going to be. It's then thinking, actually there must be a better way than of doing this. And every broker, we will all have those things of oh, there's a better way we could do this, there's a better way we could do that within the process, from a mortgage broker's point of view and protection advisor's point of view.
Speaker 1:But very rarely people actually do something about it, like for you, fair play, you've actually thought you know what, because I will not even know where to start, thinking, right, yeah, I'm going to do this. It's like, okay, yeah, I've got this great idea. Okay, well, how does that sort of then become sort of into reality? So I say that's sort of where things are generally left. It's like, yeah, we could do this better, but I'm too busy and I don't know how we can do this better, so I just keep doing it as we're doing it, whereas you've been sort of the champion for change, really in terms of that space, Like I said, particularly around the protection side of things, which is like your USP and that's sort of the big thing for you, purely because BrokerIQ it's not Broker IQ anymore. Is it like?
Speaker 2:have you rebranded or are you rebranding? It's the worst rebranding kept secret in the industry because we sort of did a bit of a soft launch last summer. We're still a startup, so you know things don't always happen with lots of precision, I suppose. So, yes, we are fully rebranding to your Advisor here over the next couple of months, so we will become your Advisor here, which I think just is much softer and it's for everybody and it insinuates exactly what our brand is about. It's about your Advisor being here, because we were very much built for the intermediary advisor market. You know that's our space and we're here.
Speaker 2:At the core of our technology was always to support the advisor and support the end user. That was the real ethics, I suppose, or ethos, behind our technology and it's always been the same. So I feel like your advisor here just sort of sums all of that up in exactly the right way and it's easier for people to accept and to hear and to understand. I suppose, um, and yeah to your point, what made me sit up and actually do this? Um, I, I don't think I meant to do it, craig. To be honest, I don't think I set out to build a whole company and be here so many years later. In fact, I know I didn't. Um, I think I was fairly new into the industry and I think that helps because I wasn't. You know the advisor word. It's a challenge for everybody. You get down into the processes and you do your best for everybody, whereas I think I was at that very early stage where it was new to me.
Speaker 2:I'm a qualified teacher, as I hide from nobody my backgrounds in data analysis and digital transformation analysis and digital transformation so I think what attracted me to the industry was the data and the wanting to do something with that. So for me it was. I don't think I could just accept that we had all of this data and that this data could actually do something really good for the end user and for the advisor, but there wasn't a system there for that. I didn't mean to build a system for hundreds of advisors or thousands of clients like we now have. I built it for my own practice. Really, I suppose, as I was growing as an advisor and it gained some traction, covid hit. So then digital became more important in the industry and communicating with those clients in different means became much more important. So I think that was really the catalyst that made me do it, and also my brother was a software developer.
Speaker 1:That's the key point, because I had an idea, just drop that in there.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, Forgot about that, forgot about that. So during COVID he was kind of building the technology. While he was building the technology, while I was giving him the ideas. So I suppose that's how and then it sort of grew. It sort of grew as a concept and grew as an idea and then we were able to raise investment off the back of our concept and idea and we've sort of grown steadily since then and thankfully it has been a good idea and people do want to use it.
Speaker 1:So it's, and you've got testimonials on your website. Obviously, you've grown the business in terms of the brokers that you are working with now and you've got good testimonials on your website, which is like you say. You've got great feedback from there In terms of. Do you want to sort of really strip it back from a? If I'm a broker, that's like totally, totally green. Can you sort of I hit your website and I go well, totally green. Do you? Can you sort of I hit your website and I got?
Speaker 1:Well, you talk about branding. As soon as I go on your website, I'm getting the new branding. So I don't know how we sort of like not, I've got a little flash thing coming up with the new brand anyway. So I don't know it's a big secret or not, but when you sort of so when you look at I'm a totally new broker and I've going sole trader, I'm a one-man band and I've been a broker before, but just going self-employed, giving you that as an example strip it back to basics. What does broker IQ do? What part of the process does it come in and what is it fundamentally?
Speaker 2:a CRM or is it like a? I'm just trying to think back to basics for somebody that's sort of not seen it before. Yeah, and that's a very stereotypical type of a client for us is somebody who's maybe leaving, going self-employed, becoming DA, and they're going out on their own, and that's a really good time to actually start a new system of your own. So no, we're not a CRM. We fought very hard in the industry over the last number of years to differentiate ourselves from the CRM. I never want to become a CRM and we are very clearly not a CRM. We are all about the customer experience, the client engagement. Part of that, and a lot of it, is the post-sale. However, we do have processes that you can use from the very start of your journey with your clients. If you're a DA and you have new clients or existing clients, or if you're part of a network, you would. You can go for your own branded app or you can go for your Advisor here app and we are app based. We sit at the front end of the customer journey. So when your client comes in, just like you would with your bank, maybe you would say look, it's Craig Skelton here. We have our own app, want you to download the app and we will communicate with you and follow the processes through their app. So you are getting your own brand if you choose. They onboard themselves and it's like a very mini fact find. So they would onboard and then you can do all of your process through that. So the process is part of our technology, is very polished and very refined. You have your own messaging tool, just like whatsapp. You can set up templates, you can schedule messages to go out and you can receive documents from your clients. But probably again I'm going to say craig, that is only a very small part of our technology and it was probably something that got most of our advisors on board. But now that we're up and running a couple of years, we are very much about that post-sale. So once you have all those processes in, we now have the ability to put your policies onto your app, to put your mortgages onto your app, and we take over that post-sale journey so that you're not having to sit there with them.
Speaker 2:One built this was that. I find that the technology that was on the market and it has dramatically improved over the years. There's some I'm very friendly with a lot of the CRM systems that are right there and I think now they they don't see me as a threat to them and but the post-sale communication is still something. We're going to drive clients into portals and the portals have got better, but they're not going to do the post-sale communication. You know they're going to send an email to tell you to log into your portal and the client's just it's just the instant barrier, whereas we're doing that very effortlessly through your brand, with your own engagement. We're automating that process. We now have AI built into that. We're extending that further, understanding that further, and the clients can log in. They can see their mortgage schedule, they can see all their policies. They can. They can receive educational videos. The education piece was so important for me when I was building this Again, a lot to do with the protection.
Speaker 2:What policies do I have?
Speaker 2:Why do I have those policies?
Speaker 2:What does this mean for me?
Speaker 2:You can get regular triggers on your add onon benefits.
Speaker 2:You know which is also not only just really important for the retention of a mortgage or protection advisor, but also now with consumer duty that we are doing the best from our client for our clients and that we are providing somewhere for clients to go to easily access their products but also receive the benefits that they have.
Speaker 2:Maybe it's your 24 rgp, I mean, it's no use to you if you don't know where it is. You know if you don't know how to access it. We even make a claim button which triggers a notification to you guys as an advisor, so that you can be more engaged in that process with your end user. So I suppose, to summarize it, we have great tools for the very start of the process, getting clients onboarded, because that's part of it. But really our USP is that post-sale journey. The client relationship does not stop when you complete your mortgage process or your protection policies. It continues very much after that. And again, we're here to support the advisor market that you're not driving them into other portals and other apps. That is going to cut you out of the journey.
Speaker 1:And I really appreciate you and you giving that clarity because, like now, I understood it anyway. But they are thinking just from a. You've explained who your typical client kind of will be and is, and I think that's the thing is that, especially like being self-employed, running your own firm, you're busy trying to generate business and you do forget about your client retention because you've signed them up, you've got the profit, you've done the protection, you've done everything you need to do, you've earned your money, you've got your broker fee, you've earned your money. You're not going to anything now for the next two years, three years, five years or whatever the case may be, and I think you tend then to forget because you are cash flow forecast at the beginning, you forget about the retention and it's not until several years down the line that you think I need to work. I do need to, whereas you need to get it right from the start with client retention. It's not something you can think, or two years later, three years later, I need to get my process right for that now and worry about that then and then getting people into that kind of process, which is obviously worst case scenario, but what you want to do is get that process right from the start.
Speaker 1:When people's circumstances change you're looking to move home or things like divorces, the not so nice stuff happens, like the divorces and things like that it's then you want them to make sure that you're the forefront of their mind, whatever happens. And I think and they've got access to you, access to the documents, they they've got total clarity and very easily available where they can go to one place and go. That's my advisor, they're still. They're still going. There's my advisor. That's still going. There's my mortgage document, there's my policies, and it's all in one place. At a time when think about the not so nice things with regards to claiming on their protection, it's sort of like what? Like I know what I'm like, I've got my. I'm now thinking I've got an LV plan, I've got an Aviva plan, I've got a vitality plan, all these different things going on and if something happened, so like which? Like?
Speaker 2:is. There's not one place where sort of everything's there for me. Well, it's even that, you know. I suppose consumer duty is also a big concern because you know it's about. It's about providing that transparency and demonstrating your duty of care for that end user as well, and especially when it comes to protection, giving them a policy that they may have had own benefits on and they don't know where it is or how to utilize. That then becomes a real problem with consumer duty, because are we really doing our duty of care?
Speaker 2:And I suppose I often think about the providers. You know and it's something my advisors always say to me, and I have to be very careful because I have a lot of providers that are friendly with me and very much value what we're doing what support are we really getting from the providers for the advisors to really help with that protection journey? Because you know when you do I don't like to use the word sell a protection product, but when you advise on a protection product and you give it to your client, that's a big thing. You know when they're paying for it every month and it's a you know. You need to know that it's going to be there for them when they need it most and that they can access it easily and that they understand what they have. So being able to document that and evidence that and automate a lot of that throughout that journey, I think is really important and takes a lot of the liability off you guys as advisors, who are using it every day. So that has been a core part of our technology is that there's the automation, there's the transparency of the policy, that there's the regular and relevant touch points on a client's journey and, as you say, maybe it's at those big moments in their life where they're moving house or having a baby, that you're there for them at that, at that stage, and that they know to reach out to you.
Speaker 2:I do know a case, um recently that an advisor was telling me about, about a client of theirs who's quite sick and you know they didn't realize they had global treatment and you know the advisor when he found out he's been doing the best that he can to sort of facilitate that and you know I just wonder if they had known earlier what could have been done, because I know cases in our own area where people have availed of global treatment and I think it's one of the best.
Speaker 2:It was always one add-on benefit that I used For my clients. I know people in my own area who have availed of that and it has made a dramatic improvement in their lives. But I know the advisor who sells that or provides that for the clients is very active in our community and in our and you sort of know, and that people are going to be able to access that. But in some cases maybe, maybe they're not, maybe the policy's there and they don't know they have it. So you know, how can we make sure that these benefits are, are tangible and are there for people when they need them most? And that is something I'm so deeply passionate about, and I wonder how the providers are helping the advisor community to actually do something about that.
Speaker 1:It's a good point. Because I don't like it is how many clients have we got? And even as a broker, you'll have gone through the like. We take global treatment as a and as example. What does that actually mean now, yes, you as a broker will have gone through that with a client at the beginning. You would hope in terms of it's an add-on benefit that you will have gone through.
Speaker 1:But how many things is going into a client's head at the point of sale, like all these things are going in? And if you're doing the protection conversation at the same time as the mortgage, they've got so much going on at a stressful time and that's not the broker's fault that the client may not have retained the fact that they've got global treatment, understanding what that is, or waiver of premium, whatever the terminology is and the added benefit is of their policy. Probably waiver premium is not a good example, but things like global treatment, which are key and when people need those, that second opinion at that critical time, like really sort of time, is of the essence, can be with a lot of people as well in those kind of situations and they say is they may have bought into at the time but then not understand it and then need to claim on it and not even understood that they had this policy in the first place. But the broker did their job and, like you say, consumer duty is just a case of.
Speaker 1:It's not just the tick box at the start of the journey with the client. It's the ongoing annual thing with regards to is that still relevant for that client? Is the client still going for that client? Is that? Is this client still going to get value from that? Which is it's scary, but it's also key for brokers as well to understand that they've got to got to have retention as part of their annual conversations with every single client, which is not easy and will take time, but it's what they're going to have to do yeah, and that's where I think the digital comes in, because the more you can automate that and, as I say, I'm a big fan of the video education.
Speaker 2:All of our advisors use video throughout the platform, whether it's to welcome clients on board or to speak through the mortgage process or to talk about the policies that they have, so that, yes, you've had that conversation with them, but they may also have had a video to watch, um to really, and you can see if they have, you know, read the message or that the video has been played. That that becomes really important in that post-sale journey. And again, it's your annual review. We do a lot with the, with the annual reviews. We actually are also connected to iPipeline. That's been a real, that's been a big change for us in the last number of years. I don't think I was partnered with iPipeline when I was last on the podcast.
Speaker 2:So you know, I think that protection journey and that retention and the annual reviews and going back to look at that client and providing a digital system, that shouldn't cause you guys any more effort as an advisor, but that sort of takes over that post-sale journey, whether it's an automated video out or whether it's an automated message to remind them their annual review's coming up or even to profile them.
Speaker 2:Maybe they're self-employed, they haven't taken their income protection to say, look, we also advise that you have your income protection. We spoke about this. Maybe this is something you'd like to have a conversation, and I'm a big fan of you know this is not a pushy post-sale engagement, this is a you know I'm here to do my job and this is what we have acknowledged and we are letting you know and we're here if you need us and the advisor. Then it's never to replace that relationship for the advisor. It's just to automate that post-sale communication to educate the client and to provide that transparency. And I think you know the pure protection market study and the consumer duty. Um regulation has been very worthwhile and very needed for the protection of the advisors and I think our technology really helps with that to so that it doesn't leave all of the onus on you guys that it's there to help you digitize that and document and evidence that you are doing the best for your client.
Speaker 1:I think that's it. Brokers will be sat here thinking this all sounds very good, but annual reviews and I ain't got time to do the stuff that's on my desk at the moment, never mind annual reviews, and I think that's you've got got to. Obviously, from a wealth space or pension investment advisors are just used to the annual reviews. That's that's what they have to do year in, year out. And there's been a big piece recently with the fca about the, the fees with annual reviews and it was quite positive in terms of the findings that came from that from the firm's point, from the firm's point of view, and I think it was quite a worrying time for the industry.
Speaker 1:But I think, with regards to consumer duty, the brokers have got to have the understanding that they they've got to have that regular check-in with a client. They cannot just leave them for the next five years and say thanks very much. It's relevant now, but it might not be relevant in five years time. But that's not my problem, it is your problem as a broker. It is your responsibility to to ensure that those products are fit and purpose and proper now, as they were back when you signed the mortgage up two years ago, three years ago, whatever the case may be. So if I'm a broker sat, you're thinking I'm too busy to do all this, joanne, and it's sort of leading on to that. When to what you said there about technology side of things. So when we look at helping out the brokers with regards to who haven't got time well, maybe this is where the technology will come in. What does that technology and AI look like from your point of view with regards to post-sale communication with brokers' existing clients?
Speaker 2:Well, I suppose we're not connected and one of our barriers is that we're not connected to the CRMs. We do offer to be connected and some of the CRMs are opening up to this. That's a challenge in the industry, but we have built to be very that. We are standalone. We have built to be standalone and I suppose that's one of the elements in that. We have our new autofill where you can just drag and drop a document and it populates and then automates the post-sale journey so that we are not requiring any integration to CRMs and it's literally a matter of seconds and that, once that's done, that then starts the post-sale journey for you. So your annual reviews would be triggered off that, your education about what the client holds and your gap analysis would be triggered off that. So we would be running a profile on the client at any given time. If they have a mortgage and they maybe have a life in critical illness but they haven't got an income protection policy and they're self-employed, we would be regularly reminding the advisor to do something and you can trigger reminders out to the client if you wish, on that as well. We also are connected with iPipeline, as I said before, and you can run quick quotes from them at the start of the journey or and throughout the post-sale journey, and you can do the same for the mortgage process. You know if you want to review that mortgage or your the renews coming up or the reviews coming up, you know you can do a countdown um from as far as a year right for that mortgage and that's all automated.
Speaker 2:And I think I think you did highlight on a really good point there that a lot of our advisors, or a lot of the advisors I mean, I have to say, are excellent and are like they're doing a lot of this.
Speaker 2:You know they're doing it manually and it is time consuming. And one of the issues that we have seen is that maybe it's just not documented and evidenced all of the time that they are picking up the phone and they are reaching out to that client and and I think that's something that we can do and we do very well is that we automatically we're evidencing and documenting that throughout our technology where we can see this notification has gone out, this message has gone out, the client has read that message, you know and that you're able to take them on that more automated digital journey as opposed to picking up the phone, because I think advisors do do a good job of it, you know, but it's just more manual and and um, it's a more time consuming process and we're just trying to bring that a bit more digital and to document and evidence that throughout I think.
Speaker 1:But the thing is, with with what you've created, it's in one space. The thing is the client communication, the updates, the, the sort, the documentation and all the things that's happening. Post-sale, like you said, is a bolt-on from a CRM. You're not looking to replace a client's CRM. People are very precious around their CRMs and the CRM creators are very precious about their CRMs and people who are then working with a good CRM are very precious about that, because if they get one working, that's right for them. It's a good place to be.
Speaker 1:What you're talking about in terms of is the post-sale, and I think with regards to, well, it's the same with anything. It's like with my clients I've got I'll look at did they WhatsApp me? Was it on email? Were they on Messenger, on Facebook, or was it? How did they communicate with me? Was it on LinkedIn? Where was the communication? Where's the communication after?
Speaker 1:With regards to that one place, because then, after I've had meetings with them, it's then, well, I'll WhatsApp them or I'll email them if they email me in the first place, whereas what you're talking about, if I'm getting this right, is the post-sale. If then FCA got involved and said Craig, you're not doing annual reviews with that particular client and I'm going. Yeah, I am, but I've got evidence of phone call. I'm trying to look through my WhatsApps, I'm trying to look through my emails and my messages and all the other things as well. But actually, if there's that one place where you've got that right, that's what the clients had. This, this is the day that's had this. They've had this this day and it's all automated and and it's a seamless process that works for the broker. That's just going to take so much stress and drama out of brokers life.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and also doing the best for your client. The client now has one place to go, so the client. As I say, I built this for the advisor and for the end user, so that that scenario that I encountered at the start of my journey would not happen again, that I would be able to say there you go, here it is, and I'll be in contact with you regularly and you can access it all here. And if you need me, you go to my app, instead of going to a paper file to think do I phone me? Do I phone the provider? Do I? How do I do this? Or or maybe, or maybe one of those providers or mortgage companies gets out there before I realize that I, that I'm supposed to be contacting the advisor or the client. So you know there's.
Speaker 1:The system has benefits for the advisor and also very much benefits for the end user yeah, no, I think that's right, but it's a good point that I've not picked up on there. But it's all about the client journey and their client is clients experience and and it's also as well. It's sort of with regards to the app, obviously clients are using the app. You've got to give them the reason to to not delete the app off the phone and get rid and like think I'm clearing out my phone. I've got a new phone, I'm gonna clutter up, get rid of all my old apps and things like that. If I've got all my policy documents in one place and I'm not I'm very I'm far less likely to get rid of the app, purely because they will. It's got everything that I need and I will be using it and I do need to know what I've got and when, because you never know when you're going to need the information and they need to be there at your fingertips because it is all in that digital space.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and actually we do receive. We've been receiving actually quite a lot recently, I think, as we just grow. We don't communicate with the end users, so we would never be in communication with the clients, the advisors, clients unless the advisor asked us to do something with them or it was a technology issue and it would always come from the advisor asking us. But advisors are asking their clients for reviews. But advisors are asking their clients for reviews and I have to say that's one of the best reviews that we get from the end user is that it's I think it was one last week it was the best thing from sliced bread because they had everything in the one place. Now this advisor gone the extra mile and put their car insurance on their home insurance.
Speaker 2:they had travel insurance on, so now they had a full portfolio and that advisor was very savvy because now they're getting more regular engagement. Your car insurance is up for renewal. Remember to contact me. They don't do car insurance, obviously, but they can. It's convenient, it's, it's a nice thing to do for your client. So I think they had gone and put all of their clients policies on. So this client now had a full portfolio of their protection alongside their mortgage. So they were now had a we would call that a full client profile.
Speaker 2:We are now able to see and that's something the industry I think has really struggled with over the years and and I'm not saying we have the solution to that, because that was the advisor took their initiative to do that and but that client now has their mortgage. They had all of their life, their critical illness, their income protection, their health, their car and their home and their travel was on there as well. So they had a full portfolio, which I thought was very, which was a lovely testimonial to get. So we get more and more end user feedback from our advisors that how convenient it is to have everything in the one place and they don't feel in the dark and there are all benefits. I can't emphasize that enough.
Speaker 2:You know the studies coming out about gen z, especially um and those younger generations who who do want to do see the value in protection at a younger age. You know it's how we reach them and but especially they're they're really keen on those add-on benefits that they are having. Maybe it's a free coffee if it's the health, or maybe it's 24 7 gp, um or you know whatever. Whatever benefits they have, therapy sessions. The big thing, you know, it's important that those add-on benefits are there and easy to access for the clients, that they're triggered, that they're reminded they have 24 rgp. You just don't know, like myself over the last, last number of years, what young mom's sitting at nighttime can't get a doctor's appointment and just need to see a doctor and they don't realize they've 24, seven GP. I have used it for that.
Speaker 1:And that's the thing is that when you look at that's one of the objections, when you look at the one of the objections, from which is a little bit sideways step with what we're talking about. But from a broker's point of view, the client objections they get when they're talking about like you're right, what you said earlier on in the podcast you never tell sections not a sale it's, it's a, it's never. It never will be, never should be that, never will be that. But brokers will have objections from clients, from younger clients, first-time buyers who say I've seen it firsthand, my mom and dad have told me I, I've seen it first time. My mom and dad have told me I don't need that, mom, that my mom and dad said I don't need that. Mom and dad said, oh, they didn't have that, they never needed that. So I'm not taking that out. And it's a case of like, like, like what you've highlighted, there is the world and human beings in such a different space. When they went, when did they take their mortgage at, in 1970, 1960, 18, what was the? The world was in such a different place back then to where it is now.
Speaker 1:So the needs of like you look at the added benefits that you talk about and you really are like I know you're into those into the, into detail.
Speaker 1:Those are, the benefits are massive and I know firsthand, like you were talking there and I'm smiling because I know that my mum's needed a gp recently and she whinges and moans about gp. Well, I've got 24, 7 gp on vitality. So sorry and I don't tell her because then I'll know she'll sort of go off on a tangent sort of talking about why have I not got that? But if you think about the mentality of the and obviously I'm not even in that, the the new that the young generation, in terms of buying houses where people are right now, is that those kind of protection policies need to be talked about, need to understand what those other benefits are and then how they access those other benefits is like you, like you say you, we are seeing more younger people taking out protection plans because because of those that are benefits, of mental awareness, of 24-7 GPs and those things that have never been available before, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:But I also think that the protection space is changing. I am so passionate about the protection space, if you can't tell any, and I do a lot of work in in this, in the protection space specifically and but I think perceptions are starting to change as well in the younger generations about you're right, there's a generation, I suppose, that are so and I made it the meet them every day. People think I sell protection, that people outside of our industry don't know that I don't sell protection. But you know I meet them and they think that it's you know they're going to get their claim or you know they don't need protection and things like that. I think that was also one of the reasons why I built the technology, craig, because I saw firsthand how my adviser, who was the most incredible man and still is working to this day and was able to help people in the most difficult stages of their lives, and I was way back, taken aback. I was like I didn't really you don't see that. You don't see that side of things, you know, and I think that's where it stemmed from. I think that's why I went down that road away. I thought you know what I'd like to actually work in this industry as an advisor at that stage.
Speaker 2:Now I'm on a on a different path with the technology side of it. But you know, I think people's perceptions the younger generations they're more savvy, they're more aware there's the industry's done a much better job of them, of getting those younger generations involved and changing their perceptions of maybe their mums and dads. You know it's sensible now to be protected and to know that the insurance companies are there for you when you need them, and I think it's our job to then provide them with a digital solution that they've become used to accessing in every other element of their lives, whether it's Amazon and that instant connectivity, that it's not good enough to hand them an A4 folder and say there's your protection policies if it's their mortgage stage and they're going to take it out. I suppose that's just something I'm exceptionally passionate about and I think our technology really solves that problem no, definitely, and it's a really good point in terms of uh, and that it's interesting to hear.
Speaker 1:That's how this all started in the first place. So, which is it's an interesting story to to bring it all around with you so we understand, like your past, where you are currently in the rebranding Any plans for the future, any other sort of things that are going on with regards to the platform and the space, and what does the future look like?
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness, there's so much happening. There's so much, and I suppose that we're really focusing on that post-sale journey, craig, and making it easier for the advisors to access it. You know we have lots of features coming, lots of tools coming where. You know it's a real benefit for the advisors and it really helps them with their day-to-day life and helps them with their post-sale journey. Ai obviously and I don't like to bat it about too much we have some AI and we do some AI autofill and but know we have, we have quite good plans. We were starting to work on some AI projects now, um, in the agent space, I suppose there's a lot out there about agent AI and how we can help and, um, I suppose that's one of the elements that we that we will be looking at over the next couple of months. Um, we've moved into the wealth space, so we will be building on our proposition in that area as well. And, yeah, lots, lots coming.
Speaker 1:Plenty going on. I think that's like you say. With regards to AI, I think I hear brokers that are scared of AI, thinking it's going to take over the world or take over their roles. I'm still the firm believer now that we just need to embrace AI. They will never be replaced. Brokers and people will always need that one-to-one experience, that face-to-face, over the phone or virtually in terms of talking and communicating with a qualified, experienced mortgage broker.
Speaker 1:But let's just embrace technology to make ai work for us in terms of things that we don't enjoy doing, or the things that we don't have time to do, or the things we don't want to do. So let's just use AI for that bit and we can then just focus on the the good stuff that we do enjoy doing, which is the customer interactions. That's what brokers enjoy doing. It getting people in the homes and finding solutions for problems that clients have that's what brokers enjoy doing. So if we can embrace ii, like you say, in terms of the post sale, the retention space and things like that, then well, just embrace it, just go with, go with the changes and work with people that know what they're doing in that space. But also, as well, just go with it and just focus on what you're good at and focus on what you enjoy doing.
Speaker 2:I think that's fair to say yeah, and I think it is like. I mean, I don't like to talk about it too much because I think I still feel like we've a lot to do with digitizing and processes and systems and interconnectivity and opening up and you know, you know we've a lot to do with the end-to-end journey in this space. I said at the very start of that journey, but at the very end of the journey we started and we finished it, but there's a lot to happen there. I think AI can really help that. But I don't like to bat it about too much. I think it has to be done very sensibly and it's not something you just throw out and expect people to embrace, because I think there's a lot.
Speaker 2:I mean, we busy industry. Like everybody, I remember, and I work daily with advisors. You know we're in very, very busy industries where people we still get the whole. We've always done it that way and that's that's something we have to. We have to overcome, you know we but we can't expect people to change overnight. So we have to go very softly with that and and try to bring everybody on that journey with us without throwing out AI at them and scaring everybody as well. So I think it's very main. We're always very mindful of what we're doing, that we're using it simply and easily. Our autofill is a very easy way to speed up an advisor's life. It's a drag and a drop, but it takes the next part of the journey. It's so simple, it's so easy, it's matter of seconds, um, and it's not going to scare anybody, you know. So we're always very careful about what we're doing when it comes to ai absolutely, joanne.
Speaker 1:We've chatted for such a long time 40 something minutes in so and it was like we've covered a lot in terms of, if I'm a broker, thinking about I'm wanting to know more, what's the best way to communicate with you and find out more about you and the platform?
Speaker 2:Well, connect with me on LinkedIn. It's probably the best place to get me. Send me an email at joanne, at brokeriqcouk. You can go to the website and put an inquiry in through the website. We are currently working on our website. That will be part of our rebound. Um, that's coming out. So, uh, yeah, you can go to the website, but we are working on our website at the moment. Um, and yeah, linkedin or email.
Speaker 1:Fine, I'll put the links in the the show notes, so don't worry about that. That's Joanne. Thank you so much for your time. Thanks for agreeing to come back on, and I'm looking forward to sort of it's been great to sort of see the journey so far and where you are now and catch up. And then also as well, when I asked you the question about what's the future, look like you've got a big smile on your face which says a lot to me in terms of where the future is going with regards to what you so much for agreeing to come back on, and thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Craig. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Thanks, joanne, thanks for agreeing to come back onto the podcast and being a retained guest. Really appreciate it. It was good to catch up, good to understand where BrokerIQ is now, how it's developed over the last 18 months, how it's helping brokers, clients, helping the industry in general with regards to post-sale and client retention and a lot of other things besides. And if you are thinking about becoming a self-employed mortgage broker or looking to start your own business and brand, or just looking to accelerate the growth of your existing business, see my website, craigskeltoncouk book. In a call, just whatsapp me. Let's just have a chat about how I can help and support you achieve your goals for 2025. And, as always, please don't forget to run your own race.