"Despite that fact that brokers are notionally in competition with each they are willing to take time out of their busy schedules to provide advice and support to one another."
- Donna Hopton, director at cherry
How to make the most out of Google’s pay-per-click advertising was a much-discussed topic on the cherry industry forum last month, as was the subject of product transfers for relatively small sums.
One recent thread – “Google results” – covered what could be deemed to be a suitable conversion rate from a particular number of clicks and impressions.
It garnered a number of positive responses and advice from fellow brokers, including keyword strategy, how to measure ‘success’, and in what ways one’s own website could be improved to make the most of traffic delivered by Google ads and keywords.
Another popular topic related to product transfers, and in particular those for relatively small amounts, such as £20,000. The broker who started the thread was interested to know whether others would treat it in the same way as they would for a much larger remortgage, for instance.
It generated an interesting conversation over whether the large amount of paperwork involved in also advising for a remortgage (despite the fact this option wouldn’t be taken by the client) would be necessary, as well as how ARs and DAs might deal differently with such cases.
Several brokers stated that they would do the case despite the nominal procuration fee as it was good for client retention and reputation within the client’s wider network of family and friends.
Donna Hopton, director at cherry, said: "Every day I’m reminded that cherry attracts a wonderful mix of people from our industry and despite that fact that brokers are notionally in competition with each they are willing to take time out of their busy schedules to provide advice and support to one another.
“Of course, it’s also a place for lively debate and there’s not total agreement over every issue, but it would be boring, not so challenging and ultimately less helpful a forum if everyone had the same opinion all of the time.
“The fact that cherry is still seeing year-on-year growth in activity highlights its usefulness to the financial services community and the value the user base places in it. The range of people from all types of FS businesses joining the cherry community is diverse, hence - there's something for everyone.”
