Choosing a name for a business is never easy – especially in financial services where you’re looking to impart values such as trust, stability, efficiency as well as putting the clients needs first. So why do business owners choose particular names? Emma Jones of ‘When the bank says no’ says that her 15-year daughter came up with the name for her company. Free PR platform, Newspage, asked a selection of brokers if they have an interesting backstory to their company’s name and have shared their tales with IFA Magazine.
Emma Jones, Managing Director at Whenthebanksaysno.co.uk: “We were fed up of hearing all the bad news from clients that had bad advice when their situation was more complex than the high street bank would allow. We had the tagline, ‘When The Bank Says No’, but never thought of using this as the brand itself. It took weeks trying to figure out what name we would use that wouldn’t be as boring as EJ Mortgage Services! It was my 15-year-old daughter that overheard these conversations and said: “Why don’t you just call it ‘When The Bank Says No’? That way, mum, people know what you are on about, without confusing them.” And so here we are today.”
Ian Hewett, Founder at The Bearded Mortgage Broker: “I was looking at ways to build a personal brand after watching Ash Borland talk about it on his YouTube channel. I lurked around on LinkedIn looking at other prominent social media accounts and found that I needed something that would help me stand out amongst the gluttony of other great mortgage brokers and some less good ones. I thought of the bald broker, the fat broker and other similar names, I went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror and staring me in the face was the opportunity I was looking for: THE BEARDED MORTGAGE BROKER! So, here it was born, ready to unleash on the unsuspecting public. It then became an award-winning beard, beating such luminaries as Rhys Schofield and Lewis Shaw. Now my facial fungus gets me recognised at corporate events, I have found underground clubs and societies that embrace the beard. #LLTB”
Riz Malik, Director at R3 Mortgages: “I came up with the name R3 because it took my wife 3 attempts to propose to me before I accepted.”
Gary Boakes, Director at Verve Financial: “The name come from my love of music. However, I knew my wife would not be keen on me naming the company after one of my favourite bands. Luckily Verve also means vigour and enthusiasm so I sold the name to her on the basis that we were enthusiastic about people’s finances. She decided it was a good idea. Asking for lyrics to be used on the website and our hold music to be Bitter Sweet Symphony was apparently going too far, though I did manage to get a cheeky poster in the meeting room, though.”
Rhys Schofield, Managing Director at Peak Mortgages and Protection: “I recently found my little black book from when I was getting ready to launch, which had some truly cringeworthy ideas, my favourite being ‘Valhalla Mortgages’ as I was watching a lot of Vikings at the time. I settled on Peak, though, seeing as we’re based in the Peak District and because the Urban dictionary defines Peak as ‘Peaked’, which means ‘to be your best self; the time in your life when you are at your best, most successful, funniest, coolest, most popular.”
Gary Bush, Financial Adviser at MortgageShop.com: “Our reason for the name choice was simple: we took over a shop on the High Street and sold mortgages, so the Mortgage Shop ticked all the boxes. I suppose, nowadays, we should be called the Mortgage Server due to our lovely tech offering!”
Elliott Benson, Owner and Mortgage Broker at Sett Mortgages: “Sett Mortgages came about as a way of making mortgage advice a bit more laid back and friendly. It doesn’t have to be corporate and stuffy or even scary and that is what we wanted to get across. Also, it helps when working with our core clientele, which is first-time buyers, getting people “sett” to buy their first home!”
Sabrina Hall, Mortgage Adviser & Protection Adviser at Kind Financial Services: “I work at Kind Financial Services and I like the assumption that it’s called this because I offer advice in a kind manner. However, in reality, it is the last name of the principal of the firm, Matt Kind. I prefer the first interpretation, though.”
Austyn Johnson, Founder at Mortgages For Actors: “Mortgages For Actors was born due to getting a random lead once that referred to their contacts about 50 times. Since then, it’s been nice to get referrals from those referrals, and so on and so on. The name states exactly what we do, namely we look after actors but we also look after anyone in the entertainment and film industry.”
Mark Stallard, Director and Advisor at House and Holiday Home Mortgages: “House and Holiday Home Mortgages was created in 2015 and the name of the business has been a blessing and a curse ever since! I was fortunate to inherit a great book of clients from an old boss, with a strong holiday let tilt. I also wanted to emphasise that we did standard mortgages too. Stuart Broad happened to be bowling a particularly hostile spell when Mortgage Intelligence’s sales manager came to complete their application form with me. I’d given no thought to the business name, so after a very distracted conversation, we came up with “House and Holiday Home Mortgages”. A clumsy name that I’ve found over the years has caused many people to think we can’t help with their residential mortgage. I thought the “House” covered that! Specialising in the holiday let world has been fantastic though.”
Matthew Tristram, Co-Founder at Loans Warehouse: “We went for Loans Warehouse for two reasons. Firstly and possibly most importantly, the domain name was available, but it was also influenced by the Ronseal adverts back in the 90s, as we wanted something that ‘Does exactly what it says on the tin’.”
