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The importance of client retention

Paragon’s Oliver Thompson, Relationship Director – Development Finance, discusses the importance of retaining clients...

"As a lender, client retention is essential in both growing and maintaining a successful business. With many new competitors joining our marketplace in recent years, providing top quality service and delivery is a minimum standard in order to remain competitive.

Repeat business has always formed a good proportion of our loan book and was core to our business model throughout Titlestone, continuing since we were acquired by Paragon last summer. As an example, over 70% of the 22 new projects funded in just one portfolio during the last twelve months have been for existing clients.

A few key areas which help Paragon to achieve this are as follows:

  • An in-house credit process and straightforward documentation. This enables fast decision making in relation to the credit approval and due diligence for new deals, as well as ensuring most build drawdowns are funded within 24 hours of receipt.
  • A single point of contact (Relationship Director and Portfolio Manager team) from initial enquiry through to loan repayment. This means the inevitable changes inherent with development projects are managed by individuals with a deep understanding of the client and the transaction.
  • Employing and maintaining a reliable panel of professionals who understand the ethos of the business. Lenders rely on a variety of professionals before, during and after each project and the quality of the firms they use is key to the client experience.
  • Consistent communication throughout every stage of a transaction. Much of the positive feedback received from our longstanding clients is simply focussed on being easy to get hold of and doing what we say we will do.

While these form the values of the business, competitive pricing and product range are just as important in attracting and retaining clients. At Paragon we have built a suite of bespoke products depending on the gearing needed and project type (residential development, student development, pre-planning, marketing and bridging).

From acquisition, to obtaining planning, developing, and then marketing facilities, Paragon is able to support developers throughout the entire journey of a project, further enhancing the service and delivery and leading ultimately to better client retention".

Paragon Bank PLC is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Registered in England number 05390593. Registered office 51 Homer Road, Solihull, West Midlands B91 3QJ. Paragon Bank PLC is registered on the Financial Services Register under the firm reference number 604551