Brightstar Financial has introduced an education programme for brokers.

The distributor will, over the coming weeks and months, send out a series of short educational videos that each break down the complexities of a different area of specialist lending to help brokers identify new opportunities to diversify their offering and help more clients.

These videos will be supported with more in-depth information for those brokers who want to further develop their knowledge.

Brightstar is also offering brokers the opportunity to book a 15-minute one-to-one video call with one of its specialists who will aim to help to open up brand new revenue streams and opportunities. These one-to-one video calls will cover areas including commercial mortgages and cash-flow solutions, short-term finance, development finance, complex buy-to-let, second charge mortgages, later life lending and specialist residential mortgages.

Michelle Westley (pictured), head of marketing at Brightstar Financial, said: “The specialist lending market is growing, and becoming increasingly more complex. No broker is, or can be, an expert in every part of the market and so there is a high chance that you will have some cases that are slightly different to your usual cases, that will require more effort to research, place and administer. That’s where we come in, with our ‘made easy’ ethos and a choice of services that include a simple client referral.

“Amazingly, we still hear that many brokers are choosing to turn away clients with more complex requirements because they say they don’t have the time or the expertise to identify an appropriate solution.  It’s also common to hear comments like ‘I don’t get commercial lending enquiries’ from brokers who regularly help many business owners with their residential mortgage. It’s in these circumstances that a couple of extra questions during the fact find stage could open up many possibilities, and, if you are able to dig a bit deeper into their circumstances, you could identify additional opportunities.

“It’s much easier to work an existing client bank a little harder than to fish from new ponds.  The net result can only lead to better client retention, more referrals, and in some cases, truly incremental income with minimal effort.  If a broker chooses to just do residential mortgages and not commercial finance, for example, then they’re at a high risk of losing the client to a broker who does take a holistic approach.

“We’ve put this information together in a way that will help brokers understand the essentials, so that they can identify opportunities to help more clients and grow their business.”