JMSE Newsletter October 2022

Just

Welcome to the

Just Mortgages Newsletter!

The last 3 months have certainly been a busy time here at Just Mortgages! We have been hard at work getting prepared for the roll out of ConcertHub for our advisors. By the time you read this some of you will already be live on the system.

As we have said at the Roadshows and at various points, this is just the start of a multi million pound multiyear investment that will see further enhancements and releases made to the system which is all designed to make your lives easier. The market conditions have continued to be kind over the past quarter but pipeline turn which is an industry wide issue continues to prove challenging. several economic challenges ahead and we are forecasting a dampening of demand in the purchase market in Q4 and beyond. Key to this expected drop in purchase activity will be “balancing the books” with increased Remortgage activity.

Your Area Directors have all being supplied with a full list of your Remortgages for 2023 that will be shared with you. With lenders contacting their customers earlier than ever it is crucial you have a robust contact plan. With many lenders having 6 month validity on offers and an ever increasing number of lenders allowing 6 month product transfers, what better opportunity to lock your customer in early and “beat” their existing lender or another broker to the business.

Your Area Directors have also been working with brokers to establish an “Economic Plan” against a backdrop of lower purchase business. If you are yet to take advantage of one of these meetings to help your business, do reach out to your Area Director to take advantage.

Upcoming Improvements

Updating you on improvements to our offering, we can announce that we are rolling out new and enhanced commission tiers to our highest performing brokers in Q4 and even if your business is not in this group yet we will discuss how we can help your business reach these levels. We are also now able to offer Principal Brokers a commission advance to support their members in the first 3 months whilst they are building pipeline. We have also enhanced our commission advance scheme for new brokers banking £100k+ in offering a much extended repayment period.

We continue to listen to you our customers and further enhancements from your feedback are planned to our proposition over the coming months, watch this space!

I would like to wish all of you a very successful and productive final quarter of 2022.

Your Wellbeing Matters

This month marks the one year anniversary since we launched our Individual Assistance Program, and we thought we would remind you of all the wellbeing support you have in place for you and your business. So here is an update from Sian Musial on how far we have come.

Individual Assistance Program

The Individual Assistance Program is a confidential benefit package designed to help you deal with personal and professional problems that could be affecting your home life or work life, health, and general wellbeing.

Our IAP service provides a complete support network that offers expert advice and compassionate guidance 24/7, covering a wide range of issues. We strongly believe in providing an IAP service that offers not only reactive support when someone needs it but also proactive and preventative support to deliver the best possible outcomes.

You and your immediate family have access to support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Through a variety of methods including a helpline, app, structured counselling sessions via an online portal.

Workshops

We run a range of workshops, here are a few examples:

Supporting your Team Mental Health

Poor mental health is now the number one reason for staff absence. This workshop provides information about mental health, ways to manage mental health and wellbeing for employers. It is aimed at managers and business principals.

Stress Management

This workshop looks at Stress, the impact, the stages and the science behind it. It will enable participants to consider the management of workplace stress at an individual and business level, and will help participants develop and implement effective strategies to prevent and manage stress at work. This workshop is suitable for everyone, and is a recommended module for all.

Please talk to your Area Director if this is something you are interested in.

E-Learning Modules

National Director

Iamdelightedthatwecontinueto

My Learning Space has a Wellbeing library shelf full of resources with many topics including Stress, Depression and even how to use the Individual Assistance Programme.

ConcertHub

By now you will be familiar with the new Point of Sale and CRM system ConcertHub which is designed to help mortgage advisers like yourselves deliver nothing short of exceptional service to clients.

The training team have been working tirelessly to deliver training sessions across the country for the new sales system ConcertHub.

Rodney Sloan has provided an insight on how the initial stages of the training programme has progressed over the last few weeks!

The brief sounded quite straightforward – deliver training on a new point of sales system. On the face of it, a walk in the park. However, once the detail starts coming together including those who needed training advisers, managers, Compliance, administrators added to the geographical spread of our business and just the logistics appeared daunting.

One of the biggest factors that also needed considering was the requirement for a minimum disruption to our business. Training was to be concise to minimise time away from the office but at the same time detailed enough to ensure everyone was adequately prepared. I’m not at this stage going to even touch upon the technical issues that we had to overcome!

So, the upshot is a training programme stretching over several months. The emphasis is on slow and steady. I want to get everyone trained and then rest assured that the follow up support is robust enough to cope and won’t fall down if there is a demand.

It would be tempting to try it all remote but bitter experience shows that up to 20 people learning technology by Zoom or Webex is a recipe for pain. So for those not yet trained then your time will look like this, one day face to face and then the following day remote to help embed the knowledge. You will be allowed to keep hold of the training log ins for two weeks to continue to practice before OWS is turned off for new clients.

To date, the vast majority who have been trained have welcomed the new system with its greater functionalities and slicker process. Recognising that behind the new layout the flow is very similar to the existing OWS helps breed confidence.

Undoubtedly introducing a new system was always going to be one of our biggest challenges this year but I am confident if we keep going at this steady pace, everybody maintains the same patience and focus then we can integrate ConcertHub into our businesses with a minimum of disruption. For those who have already been through the training, I thank you all for your time and those yet to come, the Learning & Development team look forward to seeing you!

A ConcertHub Update from Central Operations

Jessica Brome, Head of Central Operations along with her team has played a vital role in the launch of ConcertHub from the very beginning, from the roadmap of ConcertHub to the logistics of the roll out Here is what Jess has to say!

“I have been involved in all aspects of ConcertHub from day one. The main driver was to provide a system that would enhance not only our client engagements but also our adviser experience. This has meant weekly (sometimes daily) meetings with Openwork to ensure the roadmap for delivery and continued development meets the requirements of Just Mortgages.

Concert Hub is designed to be an all round system that advisers can use from their first interaction with a client and continue to use throughout the client journey and beyond. We are currently in Phase 1 but as the system develops you will see updates and new features that will enhance your business. OWS was purely a standalone submissions system whereas the vision for ConcertHub is to become a complete point of sales and client management system.

Knowing that JM has a fantastic and very capable Learning and Development team meant that the delivery of the training wasn’t going to be an issue, but the logistics involved weren’t quite so straight forward! The planning and implementation was a huge task involving a number of factors, as Rodney says ‘like playing 3d chess’! But with the amazing support from Ellie Bredin and Chris Pavlou we got there in the end, a challenge rather than an obstacle.

It’s great to see that despite the inevitable teething troubles of adopting a new system so many advisers have embraced the change and are successfully using ConcertHub with clients on a daily basis. Navigating a new system can be very daunting for some but I can see that teams have set up WhatsApp groups and Webex chats to share best practices and help to support each other through the change curve.

Digital Marketing Package Update

We are now approaching 1 year on from when we relaunched the Digital Marketing package and we wanted to give some more shout outs to our top performers for this quarter.

As many of you will already know, obtaining reviews and maintaining an online presence has never been more important due to the rise of social media users and the ease of shopping and appointments being at the click of a button.

This gives your clients the perfect opportunity to leave a fantastic review of your services and encourage others to get in touch.

We now have over 160 advisers on the Digital Marketing Package with a further 46 taking advantage of our additional posting assistance meaning their social media content is taken care of and they can focus on what they do best..mortgages!

Digital Marketing Package Shout Outs

Most Viewed Broker Finder Pages from 1st June – 30st September 2022:

1st Place – Sam Hyslop - 198 page views

2nd Place – Ekua Woode – 178 page views

3rd Place – Donna O’Brien – 124 page views

Most Google Reviews from 1st June – 30th September 2022:

Graeme Kendell – 33 Google Reviews

Most Facebook Reviews from 1st June – 30th September 2022:

Thomas Mawdsley – 7- Facebook Reviews

Congratulations to all, it is great to see some new names achieving great success through the use of your digital marketing package!

Your Social Media

Content Calendar

We understand thinking about what to post can be the first road block when it comes to maintaining an online presence. So we thought it might be useful for many of you to bring the content ideas to you!

All of the below content can be found on SPOS and for those of you on the Digital Marketing Package, you can schedule these out on Yext.

October Post

1st October International Coffee Day

5th October National Teachers Day

7th October World Mental Health day

24th October Diwali

31st October

Halloween

November Post

5th November

Bonfire Night/Fireworks night

11th November Remembrance day

13th November Remembrance Sunday

24th November Thanksgiving

30th November St Andrew’s Day

December Post

4th December

National Sock Day

11th December Christmas Jumper Day

21st December Winter Solstice

25th December Christmas Day

26th December

Boxing Day

31st December New Year’s Eve

Your Success Stories

As we head into the final quarter of 2022, we want to share a recent success story with you all.

Equity Release

Just Mortgages Equity Release brokers have paid out almost £5k in referral commission to their lead sources in the 1st 6 months of this year, there is still another £105k of ER business in the pipeline on which more referral fees are still to come.

I had a couple and Mrs had just found out she had terminal cancer and she had always looked after the money. They were on an interest only mortgage and amongst all the mess, Mr had stopped paying all the bills as he also had cancer but it was treatable.

They asked me to get involved as they were on the cusp of repossession as they had no plan for their interest only mortgage repayment at the end of the term.

Mr was on the brink of Bankruptcy. She didn’t wish to die to leave him and family in a mess so we did an ER case to clear down mortgage and their other debts meaning they could continue with no debt monthly repayments at all.

We managed to get it through 3 days before she passed and she told me it gave her peace of mind now that she knew he would be ok.

Just Wealth

We were referred to a client’s daughter who was receiving an inheritance from her Grandparents. This was passed on from a broker within our JM Employed division who had dealt with the clients and let them know that she worked with our in house wealth advisor. The client appreciated this, as it built on the trust and relationship they had with their JM broker.

After a number of meetings, the daughter invested her full inheritance with via Just Wealth, resulting in £275,000 being placed into strong performing investments and a £1000 referral payment back to the broker!

cent protection enquiry from a self employed broker has been dealt with by our Just Wealth advisor Reza Khouzestani. A complex case, however, the client has now completed and been accepted on the policy resulting in over £16000 in commissions and a £3000 payment due to the mortgage broker.

A fantastic team effort here leading to a great outcome.

Carol Smith

Getting behind the camera

The Digital Marketing team have been assisting a number of advisers with video content for social media. It has been great to see a few advisers getting behind the camera to engage with their followingon social media whist sending out an educational message. We understand getting behind the camera for the first time can be daunting, so David Shuck has kindly offered some tips and tricks on how to get started!

“I started doing videos formy social media over the past couple of months as I wanted to add something else to my marketing on top of the support provided via the DMP. I figured that video would be great for me and my business I also thought that it allows potential clients to see me and already build trust in me before speaking to me.

Making videos for social media is a new thing to me so I was hesitant at first However, I have seen other businesses use videos, so I knew I needed a ‘just do it’ attitude. When I made my first videos, I just treated as if I am speaking to one person instead of an audience and I found this helped me to speak in front of the camera. My advice would be just be you, don’t worry about it being a highly polished video: you, your phone and your message is all you need!

Brainstorming ideas is often easier than you think when I first started, I used to struggle with ideas, but I remembered that I became a self employed advisor to help people, so providing answers to their questions is best. I use a notepad to jot down my ideas and the inspiration from meetings with clients, conversations with potential leads, or something I’ve read in the media. I also try to keep my videos less than 1 minute long if I’m speaking about a particular topic to keep it short and concise.

The support from the Digital Marketing team has been fantastic and in terms of approval, it is simple to do. Once I’ve created my videos, I’ll write up the accompanying message for the post and save them as draft posts on my social media. Once I’ve done that, I’ll send them over to the Digital & Approval teams for review and they normally come back to me within a few days to confirm if they’re approved, need tweaks or further approval from Openwork. My last tip, which came from the Digital team, is if you can keep the messages as information only, the approval turnaround times are much quicker compared to a call to action video (which I now try to avoid).”

Own Brand Digital Marketing

Since our last edition we have been busy holding initial consultations with a number of own brand advisers discussing all things own brand.

We have been able to design bespoke packages in order to streamline adviser’s digital marketing and generally take away that strain!

The team have been busy creating new trading style logo’s, branded stationary, social media imagery and videos alongside supporting advisers with website hosting, SEO and maintenance.

We are super excited to share that we now have 5 trading styles up and running with their in house package and almost 20 others in various stages of the process and are looking forward to supporting them moving forward and watching the growth of their business increase!

Our own brand offering allows advisers to pick and choose from a variety of services ranging from a full website build, a bespoke social media library, a digital dashboard, and additional technical support and training.

Don’t forget we are continuously adding to our library of Own Brand pre-approved content on the Spicerhaart Print Ordering Service (SPOS) which allows those with their own trading style to create their own branded content in a matter of minutes!

If you would like to discuss your own brand options with the JM Digital Marketing team please email digital@justmortgages.co.uk to arrange your initial consultation.

We look forward to speaking with you!

This has been faultless so far and has been a very pleasurable experience. I chose to work with the JM digital marketing team due to having a poor service with my previous hosting company. The main benefits of the JM digital marketing team are that they do what they say they will, when they say they will do it. For any busy business owner this is vital to ensure the smooth operation of the business. I would recommend the JM digital marketing team to all of my colleagues without hesitance.

I would like to personally thank Emily Bickers and Jodie Andrews who have both gone above and beyond for me, and I hope they continue to do so

Steve Hendriks, Hendriks Financial Solutions

Referral Reminders

Just a reminder on how you can earn yourself £1000!

Do you know a mortgage adviser that would be a great addition to the Just Mortgages family?

If you refer a broker you will receive £1000!

Scan the QR code and earn your referral fee now!

£500paiduponauthorisation,£500after6months.

Just Wealth referrals

Did you know you can refer your friends to Just Wealth too?

Do you know someone who would make a great addition to the Just Wealth team?

Help us help you!

Scan the QR code to refer someone to Just Wealth and you will receive £1000*

Just Mortgages Focus Group

We are excited to announce the launch of our adviser focus groups!

This is a fantastic opportunity for us to understand your needs as mortgage advisers and provide further support in different subject areas.

The aim of these sessions is to discuss ideas, experiences and topics with other brokers from different areas of the UK bringing different client scenarios into the mix to not only share knowledge and expertise but help support one another.

The Digital Marketing team recently sat down with a group of advisers to help us streamline not only our support for advisers but also our marketing and content creation towards what is actually on topic within the industry!

Aside from the help and support this focus group offers, it is also great to be able to gather a group of advisers in a face to face discussion (albeit through webex) especially from around the UK to mix with advisers that usually wouldn’t cross paths.

We are looking forward to welcoming the next group of advisers to our upcoming focus group to discuss new ideas, experiences and hot industry topics!

Armed Forces

National Operations Director

Oneofthemostimportant aspectsoftheseforumsisthatit isnotahollowechochamberbut willactuallydriveactivityand tangibleoutcomesintheformof productliterature,marketing collateralandstrategiesfor brokerstoincreasetheir businessesusingrealexamples andcasestudies.

Thisisanexcitinginitiativeand we’rethrilledthatplacesare massivelyoversubscribedwith brokerswishingtogetinvolved.

Just Mortgages are proud to be signed up to the Armed Forces Covenant and we hold a Bronze Award in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme. We are actively supporting those who protect our nation with honour, courage and commitment. Find out more about the Armed Forces Covenant and our pledge here: https://bit.ly/3Rau8GW

Admin Pilot Update

Here is the latest update on the recent Admin Pilot trial

In phase 2 of the launch of the Admin Pilot, we saw an increase in advisers taking advantage of the scheme due to industry wide challenges with pipeline conversion. Having an administrator available to keep the conversions higher has now led to doubling previous conversion rates

This also allows the perfect opportunity for brokers to switch off during their time off knowing that things are left in hand for when they return.

Just a reminder of how you could benefit:

• Increase Google reviews – (Admin will request reviews & send a link to clients)

• Will chase from application to completion

• Chase Solicitors, Estate agents, lenders and clients

• Less time spent on hold,

• Abort cases on OWS/ConcertHub

• Add notes and documents onto OWS/ConcertHub after case submitted

• Broker fee to be taken and can send link to clients

• Stress free holidays or if off sick as they can deal with your clients

• Contact point for clients when you are not available

• Chase weekly or more often based on client / advisor requirements

• Weekly Email with Update Tracker

• They will put protection policies on risk

• OWS/ConcertHub dates added to help with exchange / completion

What our advisers have to say:

IfindSarahtobeextremelythoroughandefficientin thewayshelooksaftermypipelineandupdatesmy productenddates.Sheliaiseswithmyclientsand solicitorsandupdatestheclientsonceaweek.Ifindthis tobeaveryprofessionalserviceandonethatIwasn’t abletoofferduetotimeconstraints.

Sarahalsosendsmeanupdateonallofmyclientsweekly soIknowwhatishappeningandIamkeptuptospeed. OverallIthinkitisaveryworthwhileservicetobeable tooffermyclientsandsomethingthatwillensurethose 5*reviewskeeponcomingin.

Andrew Davidson

As my business has grown, I needed someone with expertise to handle the process of liaising with solicitors and providing my clients with regular updates. When I started working with Sarah and Lydia, I got so much more! They are fast, efficient and their attention to detail is like no other. Now I have the time to focus my efforts on the creative end of my job and dealing with the applications with my clients. I feel Sarah and Lydia have enhanced my business and they are a great USP to my business.

Richard Thompson

Conveyancing Update

In May we launched a second conveyancing proposition offering, adding Smoove to the existing choice of Spicerhaart Conveyancing.

We didn’t stop there, adding an electronic instruction facility to Spicerhaart’s proposition and the ability to get online and live updates via any of the Simplify group of conveyancers.

Smoove have announced very recently a further enhancement, with a FREE replacement local search being available if:

• Lender’s valuation is down valued by 10% or greater

• Seller Withdraws

• An adverse survey or information about the property is reported (where it is reasonable grounds for withdrawing)

Both Smoove and the refreshed offering from Spicerhaart have proved very popular with ever increasing numbers of brokers referring!

If you are yet to explore either, take a look at the key features of both below…why not instruct your next case?

How do they compare?

Feedback from advisers about Smoove Conveyancing

“IhavetosayIwasreally

clientreceiveregularupdates,if anythingit’sthesolicitors chasingmeandtheclientfor thingswhichissorefreshing

“Ihavefoundtheprocessreally straightforwardsofar,Ireallylikethefact youcanpickthefirmonpriceandlatest feedback!Itgivesmealotmorecontrol managingtheprocessfullyfromstartto finishandhavefoundboththefirmsIhave usedsofartobereallyaccommodatingand helpfulwithupdates.Myfirstcasehasjust completedlastweekandonlytook8 weeks!”

Barbour

“IhavefoundusingOpenwork

processofquotingandflexibilityaround thissohandyandallofmycustomers thathaveusedthemsofararevery happy.Iwouldrecommendusingthemto otherJMbrokersandwon’tbelookingat usinganyoneelsemyselfgoingforward.”



JustWealth Update

“The demand for advice remains strong.” It’s sometimes too easy to lose sight of this when we have negative economic headlines arriving each week, largely focussed on the cost of fuel, inflation and rising interest rates. In July Inflation was tipping at 10.1% with a marginal drop to 9.9% in August. We heard about turbulent stock markets and the constant worry of increasing fuel costs knocking at the door and of course interest rates continue to rise.

It’s important that we learn from past experiences, when we have an economic climate full of uncertainty and worry, one of the most important lessons is to communicate more than ever with your clients, something that you can be assured we are focussed on at Just Wealth.

Our focus points with clients are:

Let clients know you are there, be visible



Provide relevant information for potential new clients linking to the fundamentals of inflation versus cash and the long term value in equities

We now have over 23 advisors recruited nationally

We have more than £2.6m of client’s pensions and savings now invested professionally for them.

Our Fast Track Academy launched to support Level 4 financial professionals move into a financial advisory role.

Referrals and partnerships with Just Mortgage brokers and Principles continues to grow.



Spiralling inflation should be one of your most important tools in drawing clients to look at alternatives to cash use a Gross, Net, Net approach. (Gross interest on cash, less tax, less inflation to give them their real return right now)



Remember the tax relief of pension’s savings outperforms inflation so an immediate guaranteed real return.

 Link to client objectives, what are they trying to achieve and why, show that doing nothing is not an option in fulfilling goals!

Huge opportunities exist right now:



The FCA predict that over 8m people in the UK have more than £10k in cash holdings. 4M of these have combined cash savings of more than £17bn. This is cash, not their investments!



Last year we saw an increase of 300,000 people entering the higher rate tax band, taking the number of higher rate taxpayers to a staggering 4.6m people. This figure is predicted to further increase this year.



Between now and 2027 there is forecast to be over £1 trillion intergenerational wealth transfer happening…in other words inherited money.

Your customers want your service

TOP TIPS

Did you know that investing in a pension is guaranteed to overcome inflation? This is because pension contributions attract tax relief.

• Basic rate taxpayers get 20% pension tax relief

• Higher rate taxpayers can claim 40% pension tax relief

• Additional rate taxpayers can claim 45% pension tax relief

This easily beats the 10% inflation rate and making clients’ money work harder for them.

Consumers have adapted to remote living and remote advice. They want a seamless, frictionless experience. You now can offer this full end to end service for them. Taking care of not only your customer’s mortgage and protection needs but now providing for them through Just Wealth a full Financial Advice service.

We are here as financial advisors to help your customers more than ever right now. Working together we can support them when they really need our full services.

Just Wealth would like to thank all Just Mortgages brokers for their ongoing support and we look forward to announcing some exciting news on how we aim to improve our referral payments in the near future!