Any answer is opinion-based, of course, but nonetheless, it created a compelling talking point and, hopefully, the feedback will be beneficial to many mortgage brokers. 

Here at Together, we believe – as we expressed during this particular panel debate – that in order to stand out in 2017, brokers need to do two things: diversify and embrace digital. 

A common way in which we see our broker partners successfully diversifying is by aligning themselves with others – such as packagers – to allow them to easily expand their product offering for clients. These types of partnership can be an effective way to expand your client base in 2017. 

Similarly, others stressed the importance of brokers diversifying, specifically by looking at different customer bases, giving as an example the increased numbers of divorcees and the market that this creates for brokers, as given the applications are likely to be more complex, these are niches where the advisory services of a broker can be particularly useful. It’s worthwhile for brokers to identify specialist markets like this that might work well for them and then actively target them to help broaden their customer base.

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Further advice for brokers came first-hand from the team at Brightstar, who recommended that fellow brokers could increase their efforts in the product transfer market, an industry currently worth a reported £100bn. They argued that product transfers are predominantly done though lenders, with brokers needing to return to their customers to assist in securing them new products when fixed terms are ending.  

In addition to diversifying and expanding, the other main theme of the debate was digital. We are living in a digital age and nearly all of us – in every industry – need to advance technologically if we don’t want to be left behind, brokers included. Customers today expect to be able to contact a service provider 24/7, simply via their mobile or an app and providers that perfect this digital process tend to win more business as a result. So, if your website or social media aren’t up to scratch, this could be an area of improvement to focus on this year.

As a lender, we’re investing heavily in our digital platforms as we move forward, although we’re also proud of the personal service we offer with a broad geographical network of business development managers, who aim to blend the immediate availability that’s expected in today’s digital age with the traditional customer service and relationship building that yields long-term results on both sides. As ever, it’s about striking the right balance.