CTT Group: Reflecting on 20 Years of Innovation

Since our inception in 2003, innovation has always been the driving force behind CTT Group. We represent a unique offering within the estate planning and financial sector, leading the way towards a more progressive future for both the industry and our clients.

Inspired beginnings

When our founder members Bob Massey and Clive Ponder decided to pool their collective expertise, they couldn’t have imagined the impact their unique vision to improve estate planning and financial services would have on the industry.

At the time, Bob was working as an Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) and Clive was working for a company taking instructions for wills and associated documents. But having seen a demand from clients for a combined service that offers both financial and estate planning advice, the two innovators (and rugby chums) put their heads together and came up with a solution.

A new legal service

In 2003, Countrywide Legal Services was born, a legal company offering clients advice in all aspects of estate planning and asset protection. Success followed, and soon, our team at Abbotsfield House, Kenilworth, had expanded to 90 staff. Among them was Spencer Tattam, CTT’s Technical Director, who joined us in 2005 as a part-time probate advisor.

With 17 years of service now under his belt, Spencer is one of our longest-standing team members. His career trajectory within CTT Group is a prime example of our commitment to nurturing our trainees and supporting their personal growth, something Spencer himself is now a key part of.

In 2020, we relocated from Kenilworth to Gables House in Royal Leamington Spa, a spectacular Edwardian manor house in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside (complete with resident ghost!).

Along with the move came our new offering when we established CTT Group as a separate business-to-business support mechanism. A brand-new website and a restructuring of our services have since made CTT Group even more accessible to professionals in the industry.

A unique offering

Our proposition has always been unique in the field of estate planning and financial services. As a multi-disciplinary support for the UK’s Professional Advisor community, CTT’s collective of exceptional in-house specialists have a wealth of expertise across areas of law, estate planning, finance and tax matters – from will writing, conveyancing, and executor services to tax planning.

Whether helping new advisors extend the services they can offer their clients, or assisting large businesses with support and guidance on complex matters, we have the resources, software, training, and expertise to ensure our member-advisors can provide an exceptional level of service to their clients throughout every stage of their life.

In-house training is central to what we do. Our comprehensive foundation courses in estate planning and will writing are open to anyone, regardless of previous qualifications or experience, while our more advanced courses help our member-advisors specialise and expand their client services.

Support and development

Key to our one-of-a-kind advisor training and support service is CTT’s innovative approach to software development. In 2022, we launched our Legacy software, an easy-to-use digital platform that gives our professional member-advisors access to a plethora of time-and-cost-saving tools, including document management and drafting resources.

Legacy’s various software packages are customisable, so users can tailor the service to suit their needs. Further to its secure, cloud-based document handling, which has taken the industry into the digital age (a far cry from posting hardcopies and awaiting signatures!), Legacy also enables better communication between our member-advisors and their clients.

This is thanks to the client portal facility, which allows for secure messaging between client and advisor as well as the safe transfer of sensitive documents including those required for ID checks. With its instant updates and notifications on the status of client orders, as well as its process tracking systems, Legacy works hard to facilitate efficient, best practice for our member-advisors and their clients.

24/7 assistance

Alongside our Legacy software, we continue to uphold CTT’s commitment to supporting our members with our chatbot facility.

Preloaded with over 900 commonly asked questions and expert answers, CTT’s Adviser Chat is accessible 24/7 and has proven to be an invaluable training aid for new practitioners in the industry. For those new or complex questions, Adviser Chat has a live chat feature where our in-house specialists typically reply to enquires within minutes, or offer a call-back service when out-of-hours.

The CTT Group chatbot goes beyond answering technical queries and provides different types of information across all areas of our expertise. It is, in essence, an extension of our training offering, making communication faster, easier and more accurate – further testament to CTT’s drive to take the industry forward.

The next step

We are marking our twentieth anniversary with six months of celebrations, culminating in CTT being the headline sponsor of a national awards ceremony in October: the British Wills & Probate Awards.

With all that CTT has accomplished over the last 20 years, it would be easy for us to rest on our laurels. But that just isn’t the CTT Group ethos. Ever dedicated to devising new technologies and implementing new approaches to take the industry and our client services to the next level, we are planning a new CTT product launch this year.

Although strictly under wraps, we can reveal it will be another innovative software platform, this time aimed at changing the way our member-advisors recommend their services to clients. The new software will launch mid-2023, and with our Legacy and chatbot facilities as a benchmark, we’re excited to show the industry yet more great things from CTT Group.

This article was submitted to be published by CTT Group as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Wills and Probate. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Wills and Probate.