The Intermediary – August 2026 - Flipbook - Page 83
M E E T T H E B RO K E R
same is harder to say about financial
services. We wanted to recreate
enough of it that the transition to
advising clients felt less daunting.
PS: It also shapes how we support
clients. We are not interested in
using athletes to open doors or trade
on recognition. Historically, some
businesses have recruited athletes
because of their networks. That has
never been our approach.
We focus on the qualities athletes
bring like drive, resilience, ambition,
discipline, work ethic, and attention
to detail. Those qualities make good
advisers as much as sportspeople.
Clients want someone diligent yet
approachable. Someone who listens,
explains clearly, and is in their corner.
GT: Whether you are helping
someone buy a home, protect their
business, or plan for retirement, you
are adding value to people’s lives.
That is why many of our advisers are
at Gameplan.
What are the
opportunities for
brokers?
GT: Our focus has been growing the
team and becoming more effective at
client gathering.
The mainstream mortgage and
protection client is widely sought
after, so we have been thinking
carefully about where we can offer
something different.
Business protection has been
a positive avenue for us, as
have corporation tax planning
conversations, private medical
insurance, and equity release.
These areas can also act as a
gateway into broader advice, giving
us a reason to speak to clients
about something specific. From
there, we can understand the wider
picture and offer properly tailored
financial support.
Brokers who move beyond vanilla
conversations will find the strongest
opportunities. Clients aren’t always
looking for the same message from
every firm. Sometimes they need
a different route into advice and
a reason to engage. That is where
specialisms, and firms with a clear
identity and proposition, can be
especially valuable.
What are clients most
worried about?
PS: The wider world feels unsettled
and, even when nothing has changed
dramatically in a client’s own
circumstances, external events can
make people worry.
Our role is to provide reassurance.
Advisers have had more questions
from clients who want to know
whether they should be doing
something differently. In many
cases, the answer is to keep doing
the right things, make sure the right
protection is in place, keep planning
properly, and not panic.
Clients like to hear this from
trusted voices who can cut through
the noise and help them focus on
what matters to their household
or business.
How could lenders
and networks better
support brokers?
GT: Lenders and providers have
generally adapted well to the
instability we have seen this
year. There’s been more product
development, particularly in areas
such as equity release, where there
are more lenders active than there
used to be. Business protection
providers are also bringing more
options forward, helping advisers
have better client conversations.
PS: Networks have a different
role. They are there to interpret
regulation, provide structure, and
make sure firms grow in the right
way. From our perspective, the
greatest value is having compliance
support behind us. We are part of the
Primis network, which gives us peace
of mind that we can grow securely
with the right support in place,
while we focus on why we started
Gameplan in the first place, for our
advisers and their clients.
Are there any
developments in
the pipeline?
PS: A big focus is our digital
proposition. We have spent a long
time building an end-to-end digital
client acquisition model and the
processes behind it.
That includes a standalone private
medical insurance proposition
that’s fully digital, plus our own
marketing and lead nurturing
through the software we’ve built.
Like many firms, we realised early
that if you don’t manage clients and
opportunities properly, you leave a
lot on the table.
Much of the work over the past
few years has been about building
systems to capture and convert
leads more effectively. The next
stage is volume.
GT: At the same time, we continue
to speak with athletes, bring
advisers into the business, and grow
organically. Those conversations
with sportspeople from different
backgrounds remind us why we got
into this. They remain important.
PS: Lastly, we are building out our
wealth proposition. It had been
there for a few years, mainly as
a self-employed model handling
referrals, but over the past 18
months we have taken it much more
seriously and brought in our first
employed advisers.
Finally, what message
would you send to
other brokers?
PS: Put simply, advice is still about
people. Technology, systems, and
products all matter, but the real
value comes from understanding
clients properly and helping them
make sensible decisions when life
feels uncertain.
August 2026
| The Intermediary
81
