Redom what is the address of your office and what's your landline number?
My understanding is you've been a broker for less than 12 months. Like most brokers starting out you're probably working out of the spare room at home. This generally makes home visits a necessity. I've been there and honestly home visits are not the best outcome for either party.
I'd strongly suggest that as soon as your business is able, you do invest in an office. Here's just some of the benefits of this from a clients perspective:
* We get straight down to business. Most people like to get straight into it. There's less time wasted waiting for everyone to come to the table, dealing with putting kids to bed, clearing the dishes. Clients bring their kids to the office who love playing with the Lego and other toys (we cater for kids aged 2-70 and there's a comfortable private place for Mums to breastfeed those under 2).
* Clearer communications. Clients see my presentation on a HUGE 70 inch screen, not a 10 inch laptop. It's instantly clear what's going on, they can see the information I'm working with.
* Resources are in the office. There's no chance I didn't bring a particular document. I can get clear copies of clients documentation rather than relying on a home printer that sometimes doesn't work. No chance of internet outage due to poor reception.
* More time is spent working for the client, not driving a car. I actually enjoy travelling because it's a chance to listen to audio books; I wish I did more of it. However it's in the clients interest to spend more time on getting the problem solved and the loan approved.
* People often don't like having a stranger in their house at dinner time. It's actually kind of creepy when you think about it.
* Frankly people don't want to deal with amateurs. A mobile phone, home office and working extreme hours isn't professional. People do recognise that others need work life balance as well.
The benefits to the broker are clear. More efficient, less stress, better resources at your fingertips, better quality clients, more time spent with family. I think you'll also find that once your business is more established, you spend more and more time on client maintenance. It's necessary but doesn't make you any more money. Being more efficient is critical both from a cost and time perspective. The same can be said for any other profession.
I certainly agree that face to face meetings are the best outcome for clients where possible, but I'd also prefer to put my faith in someone who's been publically posting their experiences for years, rather than someone picked at random with no history that I can access. Sometimes working over the phone can be tricky, but usually it's fairly straight forward. Sometimes putting things in writing also clarifies things for everyone involved as well (operating via email can sometimes make things clearer than a conversation).
You've implied that other brokers are breaking the law by not meeting clients fact to face, this is not true. There's more than one way to legally identify people you don't meet and most lenders will make exceptions to face to face requirements if you can address their risk. If this wasn't possible, online lenders such as UBank wouldn't be in business. This really isn't a big deal once you've got the experience and networks to deal with it.
