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Brokers branching out and regaining business
With no recovery visible on the housing market horizon yet, from an industry point of view it’s always interesting to hear how individual mortgage brokers are coping with the current lack of lending.
As some choose to struggle on, or exit the sector completely, others are beginning to branch out from offering purely mortgages.
West-Yorkshire based mortgage broker Graham Swann became a franchise owner for debt management business, Pentagon, in August last year after mortgage business dried up and his profits started to suffer. Having retained his clients and remained in control of his company and commission levels, he has spoken out about becoming a franchisee.
“I was eager to find a way to recoup my profits and help people within my area and starting up a debt management business seemed like the right thing to do.” He said.
“Becoming a franchise owner made sense because I would have more time to focus on building up the client bases for both businesses. If I ran a debt management business completely on my own I would have the sole responsibility of organising the repayment plans and maintaining contact with my clients on a regular basis so would not have as much time to find new business.”
Launching his franchise last year, Mr Swann emphasized the support he received in starting up – from taking part in a five-day training course covering everything he needed to know in order to run a business effectively, to being assigned a mentor for ongoing advice.
“As I was used to selling and talking to clients about their financial concerns through my mortgage broker business I have not needed my mentor’s help that much, however it’s nice to know should a problem arise I have somebody to help me resolve it.
“Knowing I am now in a position to help people get out of financial difficulty is immensely satisfying especially when I have been able to prevent clients from losing everything.” Mr Swann concluded.
