Brokers plead for better BDM service

Another 18 per cent voted for product and policy knowledge; a further 18 per cent chose business support; and 2 per cent selected handling objections.

Equity Resource director Dave Fleming said he valued responsiveness in BDMs and was more likely to use lenders when they had better relationship managers.

“You can be communicating with a prospect and all of a sudden you get a curly one and don’t know the answer or there’s a policy issue you need to have clarified,” he told The Adviser.

“When you’re dealing with the customer, they want the answer now, so being able to get a hold of a BDM quickly is a big plus.”

Principal of Century 21 Home Loans WA, Ken Crawford, said BDMs need to offer product knowledge, problem solving and scenario planning.

“What it does is it gives us the confidence to lodge the loan with that lender,” he said.

Mr Crawford said one bank provided such poor support that he was forced to explain its failings to his clients and advise them to use other lenders.

Mortgage Broker Melbourne director Marc Barlow said lenders didn’t seem to realise the damage they caused themselves by employing non-responsive relationship managers.

“When you ring a BDM, you really need them to ring back, because you’re only ringing them because it’s an emergency,” he told The Adviser.

Peach Home Loans general manager Andrew Hunter said product knowledge was the most important part of a BDM’s role.

“It’s so important for us to be able to ring somebody who knows what they’re talking about. If only these people realised the damage they cause us by giving us incorrect information,” he said.

“First and foremost, give us support with policy and product knowledge, keep us up to date, keep us informed particularly about the point of difference, because we want to know why we should be peddling their product instead of somebody else’s.”

Darwin Mortgage Broker principal Chris Blyth said a relationship manager’s main function was to get deals processed, especially complex ones.

“I get sick of ringing BDM’s numbers and getting their messages and not having calls returned,” he told The Adviser.

“You can’t get things escalated and you can’t get things looked at differently, because you can’t get hold of the people you need.”

Some of the excellent BDMs that brokers nominated included Mark Smith from Bank of Queensland, Huia Manuel from BankSA, Sarah Craft from BankWest, Leon Braley and Michael Silla from Commonwealth Bank, Peter Luck from Heritage Bank, and Nick Green and Robert Tassone from ING Direct.