'We're dealing with people whose attention spans are shorter'

Hussain, who runs Harmony Financial Services, based in Nottingham, says the way advisers are trained is outdated, making them ill-equipped to deal with a new demographic of clients.

This is why he has adapted his practice, in particular cutting down the "boring" bits and offering clients a variety of ways to engage with him.

"I find whenever people are trained in our industry, they're usually trained by people who aren't really in touch with the demographics of today," he says.

"Generally people in the mid-60s, late-50s, who just think, effectively, people's buying habits are still the same as they were in the 80s.

"We're dealing with people whose attention spans are shorter. So I tend to break up the advice process now into mortgages and protection and not overload the client initially."

Harmony also uses technology to his advantage, for instance in the onboarding process, to avoid "boring" the client with gathering basic facts.

"So anything that's important to us as an adviser is done in less than 15 minutes," says Hussain. "And that way we're adding value to the client. Every other conversation we have now is all about you and questions you've got about your house purchase."

He explains: "That was a massive annoyance to me when I'd sit there with a client at my former employer for an hour and a half asking them basic information. [Also] picking up soft facts, but the soft facts are more picked up through conversations with the client, not by asking them their name and date of birth."

He says the purpose of his firm is to be a small boutique and to be approachable. Clients can contact him via multiple channels, from email to voice messages over Whatsapp, at all hours. He says this works well with the under-45s in particular.

A local business

Harmony Financial Services was set up in Nottingham in 2017 and consists of Hussain, along with a videographer for social media and a marketing person.

Hussain, a commercial media graduate, started recording his own videos during lockdown but found "they didn't look that great in regards to quality", so now he has a university graduate who helps out on an ad hoc basis, shooting content such as short videos in which Hussain answers mortgage and protection-related questions posed by people on social media.

He tries to upload a few videos per quarter, "just to keep us active and keep me comfortable in front of a camera". Although he adds: "Social media is great, but what we've always found is personal relationships are what drive our business more than anything."

The business has clients from around the country, something Hussain says is "bizarre" given that he no longer advertises.

He made a conscious decision to stop paid ads last year to save on costs, and instead relies on referrals and outreach via social media. He also tends to help other advisers with specialist cases and works with professional connections.

Hussain says clients appreciate his "non-salesy" approach, which consists of discussions about budgets and risks in house buying, as well as the risks of not taking out protection. Beyond that, he says he would not try to push clients into a purchase, preferring instead to let them make their own informed decision.

He says: "There's a big issue in the industry where protection is pitched as if it's being sold to a client.

"I will always mention it at the start of every conversation, because at the end of the day, if a client comes to us for advice or the service, there's no point giving them half a service. If all you're doing is the mortgage and not even discussing the protection I think effectively you're giving the clients a disservice."

Hussain says Harmony leverages on being a local business, because since lockdown "a lot of people prefer to work with local businesses because actually local businesses spend money in the local economy".

But he did not want the business to carry his name. "I just felt Harmony kind of sat well, just because it's not an aggressive name, it's quite a calm name.

"There's a lot of businesses called mortgage or something... I didn't want a family name or my own name, because... there's no longevity in that name. I could step away tomorrow and Harmony could effectively still exist."

Working on a basis of 'what if?'

The lockdown announcement in 2020 felt like a "horror movie", says Hussain, which culminated in a buying frenzy the effects of which are still being felt.

"People are concerned property prices are sliding now," says Hussain, "they are, but I think they're correcting more to where they should have been during those two years of lockdown."

He says a lot of properties are currently overpriced, sometimes by as much as £100,000, but at the same time people are paying more to borrow, so there is a disparity that needs to be ironed out.

"Anybody looking to sell now [needs] to get ahead of the market and price their property aggressively," he says. "And that way they may get offers above what they're asking, rather than starting high then trying to come down."

Hussain says it will take at least 12 months for rates to stabilise and level off. Summing up the current environment, he says: "Nothing is guaranteed until an application is in."

I love giving advice. Climbing the greasy pole of a corporate isn't for me

There has been growing unrest among brokers about lenders pulling deals at short notice, leaving brokers to scramble to get applications in before the deadline.

It has led to the launch of the Broker Collective, an organisation aiming to ensure clients and mortgage brokers are treated fairly by lenders, which has called on lenders to provide a minimum notice of 24 hours before discontinuing any mortgage product.

But Hussain says: "I think the workaround for lenders would be to just pull the rates first thing in the morning. That way the sourcing systems can update throughout the day and we know those deals have been pulled.

"It takes a bit of work from our trade bodies and lenders to get on board. I think that's what needs to happen."

For now, he says, he likes to work on a basis of "what if?", demonstrating to clients what it would cost if rates moved, rather than chasing rates.

"Rate shopping now is a pointless exercise because no one's guaranteed that rate until the full application is in," he says.

A good time to learn

In contrast to when he started out in 2014, today's market is characterised by a multiple hurdles, says Hussain, meaning borrowers are having many more considerations to deal with than they did back then.

"We've had cost of living, utilities going up, food's gone up, but we've also then had mortgage rates – whereas in 2014, the only thing that really changed was people now having to prove [via] their income that the mortgage was affordable."

Hussain entered financial services after a manager at his retail job suggested this as a suitable career option due to his love for working with people.

Following university he joined a corporate firm's trainee scheme, but soon realised a corporate environment was "not a place that you can stay forever". 

"I love giving advice. Climbing the greasy pole of a corporate isn't for me," he says.

He maintains it was the best training he could have had, but warns that the industry now has a problem attracting fresh talent.

This is partly because of the stresses that come with the job, especially in the current environment, but also because there's more money to be made in other industries.

"It's probably not the best time to enter now but if somebody is looking to enter the industry, it's probably a good time to learn things," he says.

Hussain says the next 12 months will remain challenging and that the mortgage broker trade body should step up to help brokers thrive.

"I'd love for our trade body to maybe speak to lenders and get procuration fees increased because it would help with remuneration for advisers, but my outlook on the market is that we'll still be needed. There is still a market, but it's not going to be as buoyant as it was during lockdown."

He also says there will be a correction in pricing as borrowers navigate higher interest rates.

"What we are going to see, I think, is a correction in pricing. How aggressive I'm not sure, but there is going to be a correction in pricing because if buyers aren't buying and sellers need to sell there needs to be a middle ground where they meet."

carmen.reichman@ft.com