Last week Mortgage Solutions polled brokers on how they manage their clients and tasks during the summer holiday season, with 30.8% saying they prefer to be covered by their colleagues, 30% saying they can work from a sun lounger, whilst 27.5% said they don’t have cover.
Only 11.7% of brokers pay an administrator to cover administration day-to-day.
Combination of colleagues and a paid administrator
Peter Bartlett, business manager at Capital Fortune, pointed out the importance of having some time off from work.
He added: “Due to the different nature of the tasks, I prefer to delegate some tasks to my colleagues and others to a paid administrator. Before going away, it’s important to make sure you do not leave any problems behind to avoid nasty surprises.
“If you offer your colleagues a handover and information in advance, they will have respect and in turn, expect you do the same when they are away.”
Delegation is more viable in bigger firms
Jonathan Harris, director of Anderson Harris, said: “Working from the sun lounger has long been the norm for mortgage brokers. Such is the technical and emotional complexity of many mortgage cases, it is very difficult to pass a case on and have no day to day involvement for a couple of weeks. Brokers tend to live and breathe each case and clients rely on the relationship that they built with their broker.
“The viability for delegating is even more challenging for the self-employed with the broker not having any support resource and having to put in the extra hours to ensure successful outcomes for both client and broker.
“Delegation is more viable in bigger firms where they are better resourced with a team of administrators and like for like colleagues. Buddying up with a colleague is good way to support and learn from each other and share fees on cases where support is provided.”
Regular meetings
John Coffield, partner and head of Paradigm Mortgage Services, said: “If I am on annual leave I do not work and I prefer to delegate my job internally.
“It’s essential to sit down with your colleagues on a regular basis before you go away, in order to make sure there is no problem left behind.”
It is important to keep in touch
However, Ray Boulger, senior mortgage technical manager at John Charcol, said he prefers to not delegate his own enquiries even if he is on annual leave.
“This is my choice. I can take phone calls as it’s important to keep in touch with your clients, but if I get long enquiries, I generally forward them to others.
“I keep tasks that harness my expertise, but my colleagues may be better on other tasks. In this respect, if I get enquiries I can’t deal with, I pass them on, independently whether I am on holiday or not.”
