User:Kenocallaghan/sandbox

= HLPartnership = HL Partnership (HLP) is the natural home for mortgage and protection professionals. Their dedication to providing the best technology, products, compliance support and services in the market allows businesses to grow, safe in the knowledge that they have a partner that understands their needs.

Founded in 2001, HLP was one of the first networks dedicated to the mortgage and protection adviser. With offices in Leicester and Chichester, HLP is now the largest privately-owned network in the UK, with well over 700 advisers and just under 400 firms.

Their goal is to continue to be the best home for mortgage advisers, protection specialists, equity release experts and general insurance professionals, whatever their size or location.

1.Successfully Merged 2 Networks
In 2019, the business was running two Networks, HLP & MSN. Whilst both groups of advisers had similar cultures and structures, it was clear bringing the two Networks together would deliver clear business efficiencies. In January 2020, the Network completed the integration of over 100 MSN members into HLP whilst maintaining service levels to existing HLP firms.

During the transition HLPartnership completed research to see how the membership were feeling about the Network and were delighted to see that our Net Promoter Score was 61 suggesting satisfaction is strong and loyalty is high. Over 86% of respondents confirmed that Network Culture was a key driver for their choice of HLP with technology and support in second place.

2. Increased insurance sales
In 2019, HLP elected to reduce its GI Panel and give greater focus on meeting the protection needs of customers. A number of initiatives were launched including work with SolutionBuilder, Ipipeline’s innovative research tool, to integrate it into the CRM system, consumer marketing campaigns to give advisers the communications to use with their customers, and more training especially for those firms whose mortgage to insurance penetration levels were poor. At its conference in January, the Network launched the “Get Protection Done” campaign which highlighted the moral obligations on firms to talk about Life, CIC and IP with their customers, giving them the materials and education to deliver good customer outcomes. The campaign was well received and had immediate impact on the number of applications into insurers increasing sales by 25% albeit dampened in the past 3 months. The campaign for 2020 continues.

3. Increased the adoption of technology
Throughout 2019 and 2020, the Network has consistently delivered enhancements to its CRM system, alongside new integrations and partnerships such as affordability modeller, Mortgage Broker Tools. The impact of lockdown has seen the use of the technology solutions surge significantly which has helped many firms trade through the pandemic. In conjunction with 360Dotnet there have been a series of training webinars to upskill advisers with over 250 of them attending one or all of the sessions. As an example of the impact of members becoming more comfortable with technology, we have seen the use of the online fact-find, (advisers send a link to a customer and text a code which then allows customers to complete the fact find and upload documents), has increased by over 50% since its previous record earlier this year. Induction courses to the Network are now run on-line as are Compliance Reviews with members and fortnightly updates from the Director Team.

Technology for Mortgage Advisers
HLPartnership is known for the technology solutions that they provide to mortgage & protection advisers. By working closely with a wide range of technology partners, the network brings together the brightest minds in the industry. Members benefit from increased business efficiency and are able to deliver enhanced customer service whilst mitigating risk. Technology partners are not limited to but include:


 * 360 Dotnet
 * Twenty7Tec
 * Ipipeline
 * ULS Technology
 * Air Sourcing

It’s also clear that the Technology the Network uses itself needs to reflect the level of investment it is making in its membership. HLPartnership understands the power of data and what it can do, not only to help members identify clients who need advice, but also to control risk for the Network’s business partners. For example during lockdown HLP was able to send lists of customers due for a product transfer on their mortgage, campaigns were created for those customers with mortgages and families but no protection, whilst using clawback analysis HLP was able to check cash-flow for many of its members to reduce risk.

To end up at a point which HLP encompasses many of the “most wanted” features requested by a professional mortgage and protection adviser is not just luck, it is by design and the result of constant review of what is available in the market, identifying how best to bring in technology to complement the sales process, maximising good customer outcomes. An eNewsletter is a simple form of communication but to send it out to eighty thousand customers on behalf of 200 firms, in their livery and with the firm’s contact details, demonstrates how HLP’s understanding of the power of data has helped firms in the past 3 months.

For most advisers they now have a truly end to end system for meeting the mortgage and protection needs of their customers. There are tools for lead management and appointment booking supported by text, on-line fact finds and secure client portals for data capture, and then integrated research tools that mean less re-keying. This is supported by affordability modelling, criteria searching and risk reports for insurance. Suitability letters are driven by data in the fact find and workflow management tools deliver a great customer experience allowing firms to maintain service levels. Finally, members can pre-populate Insurer websites removing the need to re-key data and we expect to see the first stages of a similar feature for the more mainstream Lenders being delivered in the not too distant future.

Training & Development
In keeping with their strategy of investment in technology, the Network has run comprehensive sessions on 360dotnet, Twenty7Tec, Ipipeline and digital marketing, all designed to future proof our firm’s businesses going forward, in the face of stiff competition from market disruptors.

Face to face training plans for 2020 have been put on hold to be replaced by a comprehensive on-line training programme. Plans were well advanced to cover Later Life Lending, Specialist Lending sessions split between residential and buy to let, protection, marketing and technology. To replace these events, a learning centre has been created where recordings of webinars and interesting material is stored for future viewing and help. It was also clear early in the pandemic that customer communication was going to be key and that, for many of our firms, marketing of their business especially via Social Media channels was not a key skill. The Marketing Team reacted positively and early to give members the material and knowledge, which has reaped real benefits for all. Indeed one session run by the team trained over 150 advisers in using google to promote their business on-line. This activity complimented a daily feed and a marketing website packed with ideas designed to educate and communicate.