This week Mortgage Solutions polled brokers on their satisfaction with their current CRM system, and the factors holding them back from updating their software.
Less than one in five (18.5%) said they are entirely happy with the CRM system they use at the moment, though almost a third said that upgrading their CRM was simply too expensive. Around 20% said that upgrading their system would be too time-consuming, while another 17% said they were held back by their own lack of tech-savvy.
David Sheppard, managing director of Perception Finance, said that there are a number of existing software packages available at the moment, and selecting the right one for your business takes time, which for smaller businesses in particular might otherwise be spent writing business.
Nonetheless, he argued that good CRM software is vital for intermediaries, offering an excellent way to store all client documents, manage next contact dates, and keep all notes about the client in one place.
He continued: “In an ideal world I think most brokers would like to have their own tailored product built but that is costly and ultimately not possible both in terms of the financial outlay but also the time taken to do so. For those that do though it allows them to have something that best reflects the way they do business but also allows them to change things when the market changes. An off-the-shelf package often does not allow for that.”
Time is money
Alan Lakey, director at Highclere Financial Services, said that he had not used a CRM system until very recently, noting that inputting historic info was time consuming and therefore costly.
He added that his staff were full of praise for the CRM system they now use, concluding: “Given that time is money then any firm doing a reasonable amount of business will find it beneficial.”
The issue for ARs
In our poll, 13% of respondents said they would like to upgrade their CRM but were required to use the system provided by their networks. Sheppard pointed out that it was extremely important for AR firms to choose their network carefully if software is part of the deal: “The rest of the network proposition may be excellent but if it means having to use a slow or poor CRM system then all the other positives can be negated.
He added: “There are some networks that still allow their brokers to pick their own software, but that can mean more time needs to be set aside when the network wants to do a compliance check on a client file as they are not working on a single platform which allows the network to look at client files remotely.”
