The Intermediary –- May 2026 - Flipbook - Page 93
M E E T T H E B RO K E R
the world without genuinely
understanding financial services,
mortgage advice, or the regulatory
environment we work in.
You’ll often see a certain type of
marketer – maybe a 19-year-old on
social media – who decides that this
week, their niche is financial services
leads. Next week it might be leads
for PCP car finance, and the week
after that it will be solar panels. They
bounce from one industry to another
without any real grasp of what
the professionals in those sectors
actually need.
The difference with what we’re
doing is that I am an active broker
and I run my own mortgage
firm – albeit a small one. I’ve
lived the challenges of trying to
grow a business and I know the
pain that comes with paying for
poor-quality leads.
That’s especially true for brokers
who are going self-employed or
firms that want to scale. There’s
only so far you can go relying on
friends, family and existing contacts.
You can certainly build something
slowly through referrals, but with
the number of brokers in the market
now, it’s incredibly hard to stand out.
Even firms that have been around
for 15 or 20 years often still buy leads
and the current lead environment
doesn’t support them as it should.
What opportunities are
there for brokers?
There are huge opportunities in
the market for brokers, particularly
for good, experienced brokers who
genuinely look after their clients.
There are always going to be cases
that some advisers might say can’t
be done, perhaps through lack of
experience or knowledge of lender
criteria, but those with deeper
expertise will know that these cases
can, in fact, be placed.
I think the single biggest
opportunity lies in building real,
long-term relationships. If you do
that well, those relationships can
last 20 or 30 years. You’ll be there
to handle their first purchase, their
remortgages, their move up the
ladder, and, eventually, you may well
be arranging mortgages for their
children too. That kind of continuity
and trust is incredibly valuable.
Networks have made it relatively
straightforward for brokers to go
self-employed, which is positive.
However, some networks could do
more in terms of practical support.
In a competitive landscape, brokers
need more structured help – support
with marketing, with generating
quality appointments, and with the
tools to grow sustainably.
That’s where what we’re doing ties
in: we want to help brokers access
real, pre-booked conversations with
people who actually want advice.
How important is tech for
the mortgage industry?
Technology is absolutely crucial, and
artificial intelligence (AI) in particular
is mega important, provided it’s used
properly. GDPR and data protection
are, of course, fundamental.
Everything we do has to be fully
compliant, and we can’t allow
systems to do whatever they want.
That said, when AI is implemented
carefully, it can be powerful. In our
business, we use AI primarily for
communication tasks, such as emails
and text messages.
For example, if a client doesn’t
turn up for an appointment, AIdriven messages can be triggered
to remind them, encourage them to
rebook or ask for feedback. Used in
this structured, controlled way, AI
can add a lot of value to brokers and
to the wider industry. The key is to
make sure it doesn’t have free rein
over conversations or advice.
What are your ambitions
for the rest of this year?
The main ambition for this year is
to continue building a trusted lead
generation firm for everyday brokers.
Brokers don’t want to be tied into
long contracts or to pay substantial
monthly fees simply for access
to a platform. What they want is
transparency – clarity over how the
system works and what they can
expect from each appointment.
That’s what we’re aiming to deliver.
We have MortgagesBooked live now,
and in the background we’re working
on additional offerings.
One of the big developments
is ‘ProtectionBooked’, which will
provide appointments for clients
seeking advice on life insurance,
critical illness cover, income
protection and business protection,
ProtectionBooked is due for launch
around May 2026.
It’s important to stress that we’re
still very young – our first Mortgage
Brokers came on at the start of
February currently have over 75
brokers on the platform.
We don’t have any external
backing; we’re not funded by a
network or an investor. It’s my idea
and concept, and I’ve got one partner
who focuses on the IT side.
Together, we believe that, in
time, we can become the go-to lead
provider in the market, precisely
because we focus on pre-booked
appointments rather than handing
brokers a list of cold leads to chase.
Do you have a message
you would like to send to
other brokers?
The core message I’d like to share is
that we are trying to build the best
lead platform for brokers – one they
can genuinely trust.
As a broker myself, I feel I
understand what brokers want
and what they don’t want. They
don’t want to waste hours calling
people who never really expected
a conversation in the first place.
They don’t want to feel like they’re
running a call centre rather than an
advice business.
What we’re offering is something
much simpler and more efficient.
That simplicity and flexibility,
combined with our own experience
as brokers, is at the heart of what
MortgagesBooked and it’s soon to be
other brands is all about.
May 2026 | The Intermediary
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