Mortgage broker referral request template

Clients recommend brokers all the time, usually badly. Somebody at a barbecue says they are dreading finding a mortgage, your former client says "oh, we used someone, he was good, I'll dig out his details", and then does not.

A referral request is an attempt to make that moment less dependent on chance. The templates below are wording you can adapt: what to say on a call, what to send afterwards, what to give a client that they can forward without editing, and how to ask a professional contact. They are deliberately plain, because anything that sounds like marketing gets ignored by the very people most likely to help you.

What the request has to overcome

Three things stop a happy client referring you. They do not think of you at the right moment. They are not sure whether you want the work or whether you only do a particular kind. And they do not want to be responsible if it goes badly for their friend.

Every good referral request addresses at least one of those. Naming the kind of person you can help solves the second. Making it easy to pass on a name solves the first. Being modest about what you promise solves the third.

When to ask a client

Ask once the outcome is known and good, and before the relationship cools. The natural point is the conversation where you tell them the case is done, or shortly after they have moved in.

Do not ask while a case is live. A client with an application in progress cannot say no comfortably, and a request made then carries an implication you did not intend.

Do not ask somebody whose case did not complete, unless they volunteer that they would recommend you anyway, in which case take them at their word.

The conversation template

Keep it to four sentences and say it as yourself.

• "Before I let you go, can I ask you something, and do say no if it's not for you."
• "Most of our work comes from people passing our name on rather than from advertising."
• "If anyone you know is buying, or has a fixed rate ending, I'd be glad to have a chat with them, even if all they need is a steer."
• "I'll send you something you can just forward on, so you don't have to explain anything."

That last line does more work than the rest combined. It converts a favour into a two-second action.

The message you send afterwards

Send it the same day, in the channel you already use with that client. Keep it short and make the forwardable part obvious.

• "Thanks again, and congratulations on the flat. As promised, here's something you can pass on if anyone you know is at the same stage. No pressure at all, and it won't offend me if it never comes up. If it's easier, they can just have my number: 0113 496 0000."

Do not attach a brochure. Do not include four social media links. One paragraph and a phone number is the version that gets forwarded.

The forwardable note

This is the piece the client actually sends on, so it has to make sense to a stranger who has never heard of you. Write it as if from the client's friend's point of view.

• "Hi, my friend suggested I get in touch. I'm a mortgage adviser based in Leeds and I mostly work with first-time buyers and self-employed clients. Happy to have a fifteen-minute conversation about where you're up to and what your options look like, at no cost and with no obligation. If it's useful after that, I'll explain how I'm paid before we go any further. My number is 0113 496 0000 and my email is tom at northgatemortgages dot co dot uk."

Keep the description of what you do accurate and unembellished. Anything you write here is a communication promoting a regulated service, so it needs to be fair, clear and not misleading in exactly the same way an advert would, and it should not suggest an outcome you cannot control.

Asking a professional contact

The wording for an accountant, a conveyancer or a planner is different, because the request has to survive being weighed professionally. Lead with what their client gets and be specific about scope.

• "I wanted to ask whether you'd be comfortable mentioning us to clients who need mortgage advice. To be concrete about what we do: we work mainly with company directors and contractors, and we're used to the way accounts are usually presented for tax rather than for lending."
• "If it's helpful, I'd rather your clients came to me with questions than got a flat no from a bank. I'm happy for you to give out my details, or I can call them, whichever you prefer."
• "Anything with our name on it that goes to your clients, I'd want to write, so that it's accurate and we're covering our own regulatory obligations. And I'd want to agree with you how their details reach us and what they're told about it."

That last point is not politeness. Passing a client's contact details between two firms is a transfer of personal data, and the client needs to know it is happening.

What to do when a referral arrives

The referral is not the end of the process. What happens next decides whether there is a second one.

Thank the referrer the same day. Tell them you have made contact, without disclosing anything about the conversation or the person's circumstances beyond what you are permitted to say. When the case completes, tell them that too, if the client is content for you to.

Handle the referred client better than anyone else in your pipeline that week. Their opinion of you goes back to somebody whose recommendation you have just borrowed.

On paying for referrals

Paying a client for sending you business changes what their recommendation is. It stops being an unpaid opinion and becomes a promotion with a financial interest behind it, and the person receiving it deserves to know that.

If you run any kind of reward arrangement, get it agreed with your compliance function or your network first, disclose it to the referred client, and think hard about whether it creates any pressure to recommend you to somebody you are not suited to advise. Many firms conclude that a decent thank-you note and doing an excellent job is a better system, and they are usually right.

Turning it into a habit

Add the referral conversation to your case checklist at the point where the outcome is confirmed, so nobody has to remember it. Keep a simple count of how many clients you asked and how many referrals arrived. Then leave it alone. Referrals accumulate quietly over years and the firms that get them are the ones that ask, once, every time.