Despite September’s net lending figures from the Bank of England and the Building Societies Association showing a welcomed rise, the housing market remains depressed with overall mortgage lending figures still some way down on last year and the mortgage market unlikely to see any immediate recovery.
TMA believes that, whilst the figures do show a flicker of confidence coming back to the market, in difficult times intermediaries must continue adapting and evaluate how they are structuring their advice and sales processes. The mortgage club also stressed the need to make the most of existing client bases and revisiting simple, effective fundamentals of the sales process will ensure that firms are maximising efficiency. Thoroughly working databases could also open up the potential for existing clients to become new clients in different market areas.
Phil Whitehouse, Head of TMA, commented: “Current market conditions demand that maximising earnings from each and every client meeting should be a priority and having fully qualified, highly skilled and motivated staff will certainly help to achieve this.
“In a tightening market it would be remiss of all intermediary firms not to look at their business from all angles, including overheads. Getting back to basics by re-evaluating sales processes is just one way of improving efficiency but it is an important step to take.
“Firms should ask themselves the questions that don’t necessary provide the easy answers. It is not enough just to look at the immediate issues regarding staffing levels but also longer term issues such as the location of a business, assessing staff development procedures and ensuring robust sales / referral procedures are primary concerns.
“Intermediaries across all sectors of the market need to be in a position to offer a real sense of added value and in these uncertain times this reassurance and confidence could prove the difference between survival and success.”
