Introducer Today

Lead Generation

Leading the way through the credit crunch

No financial sector has escaped the clutches of the credit crunch, and lead generation is no exception. Mortgages have become more and more difficult to obtain and it could be said that leads are an expense that brokers just can not afford. Paradoxically brokers own client base may be rapidly reducing and leads may be the only way to generate business.
Changes have certainly occurred within the sector and to analyse what these are and what effects they may have we interviewed Warren Pinner, Operations Manager at the lead generation company Mortgage Angels.

Do you feel that the quality and or quantity of leads has changed at all since last year? –
Users are using the internet more than ever to research products. This results in genuine users who are prepared to fill in forms to speak to advisers. Quality of leads have increased with some lead generators - this has been demanded by advisers who need better quality to be able to convert business with reduced lenders. Remortgageangels.co.uk is an example where more depth of information is provided .Overall lead volumes have reduced slightly.

Have you seen any change in the number of brokers looking to purchase leads?

Brokers still need leads more than ever. It could be argued they need more today as their own natural customer base reduces as customers are being enticed to go direct with the lenders. Today there are still the same amount of advisers buying leads although their purchase demands are changing


Do you envisage a change in the way brokers do business when the crunch subsides?

Absolutely - during this period advisers will have to train or retrain to sell other products to customers, Life, general insurance, bridging loans - Advisers should also look to take additional qualifications such as advanced ceMap which will enable them to advise on more products like equity relief that will be used more in the coming years

There will also be a large amount of consumer casualties resulting from this slow down -Debt management and IVA will become a more common consequence and advisers who wish to further their knowledge should look into this market

You launched a VQL service, has this achieved what you hoped?

VQL has been extremely successful - our only problem has been meeting the demands. The next phase of this products will be to move away from a mixed bag purchase solution to remortgages only

What changes are you making in order to survive the credit crunch?

Diversification - we have been busy building and launching remortgages sites to increase the % of leads in our mixed bag and to also promote remortgages as a stand alone product. We have recently launched our Google Map technology which enables us to plot mortgage leads on a Google map which makes it easier for advisers to buy and cherry pick leads. We will be launching version 2 in the next couple of months which will be revolutionary and will make Mortgage Angels a one stop shop fro advisers to buy leads

We are also mindful that this credit crunch will last for another year plus and therefore need to make sure we protect our own customer base - the adviser.

Finally, do you have any thoughts or predictions on the year ahead?

This year will see many lead generators reduce in number - maybe even mergers will happen.

Lucy Trueick