Retirement Advantage launches lead generation equity release workshops

The sessions, led by Retirement Advantage’s head of sales Les Pick and specialist account manager Vicky McDaid, are aimed at boosting equity release advisers’ engagement with the sector.

Retirement Advantage launches lead generation equity release workshops

Retirement income provider Retirement Advantage will launch a series of lead generation training workshops to help equity release advisers grow their businesses and tap into the fast-growing equity release market.

The sessions, led by Retirement Advantage’s head of sales Les Pick and specialist account manager Vicky McDaid, are aimed at boosting equity release advisers’ engagement with the sector.

The sessions will educate advisers on how to best market their equity release offering and make the most of connections to grow their business. With training on a broad range of later life products, participants will be able to credibly compete as experts on later life lending in their local areas.

Alice Watson, head of product and marketing at Retirement Advantage, said: “The rocketing consumer interest equity release has seen in the last couple of years represents an exceptionally exciting opportunity for advisers, and we’re keen to help them and their businesses tap into this fast-growing market.”

The workshops are also aimed at advisers who have come through its exam workshops or people who have the qualification but have lost touch with the market.

Watson added: “It’s pushing them to become the later life expert within their area so it’s talking to them on how to grow their business, set up marketing in a more tailored way, how to get referrals, for example, targeting local estate agents and solicitors because some have misconceptions about equity release.

“It’s to boost their confidence and make them, perhaps, to think a little differently because it is a different target audience.

“We’re seeing more and more clients consider their property wealth holistically as a potential they can draw on along other assets, such as their pensions, investments and savings.

“As a provider, we have a key role to play in helping mortgage advisers who already have equity release qualifications in their toolkit to become more proactive in this market – improving access for consumers, and helping advisers make the most of sales prospects near them.”

On the later life lending debate at FSE Manchester, Gary Webster, head of partnerships at Equity Release Supermarket,highlighted that in the future there will be a lack of advisers so more are needed now.

Watson said: “We’re always trying to grow the market and if you’re growing the market, you need to have more advisers come in, there is a real shortage.

"I think this is going to hopefully play a part in it but we can only help people who want to engage, so what we can do as a sector is show other advisers who are not engaging why they should be and what the benefits of doing so are.

“So we have to continue banging the drum and talking about the diverse uses of equity release. Attitude is definitely changing.

“We still do have a way to go as an industry but we do have advisers saying they don’t have to do as much lead chasing because people are coming to them for the first time ever. There is definitely a changing outlook and that’s fantastic.

“We just have to help to bring more advisers into the fold so this growing demand can be met because the existing advisers will become stretched.”

The initiative follows on from the success of the firm’s Equity Release Exam Workshops in March, which provided training for mortgage advisers to prepare them for exams qualifying them to offer equity release.

Retirement Advantage recently announced another round of dates across the UK for the exam workshops, after many missed out on the first round of workshops due to high demand.

The equity release lead generationworkshops will be hosted across the UK in June and July, with the first dates in London on 27/28 June and other workshops in Cambridge, Birmingham, Southampton, Bristol, Leeds and Scotland.

The UK equity release sector saw a record-breaking £3bn released in property value in 2017, up on the previous record £2bn lent in 2016.