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If on the odd chance you haven’t already, you are going to come across that one transaction where you feel your commission wasn’t high enough to justify all your hard work.
Or you’ll experience a situation where all your gold-class service gets punished with a clawback because four months later the client refinances with an internet-based lender that is offering a 0.5 per cent lower rate.
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That begs the question: why should the fate of our income be so out of our control?
We are working hard to be regarded as finance ‘professionals’, but no other professional I know risks working for nothing like this. It’s no secret we get paid a commission from our lender partners, as do a lot of sales people in the financial services game – but we are legally required to fully disclose those figures, which keeps the customer fully informed, and I value this transparency.
That begs another question: have you ever tried to charge a fee for your service? Do you believe you add enough value to your customers to justify it? Do you aid them in achieving their financial goals and help them on their path to greater wealth? Of course you do! So why wouldn’t you be comfortable in asking them for some recognition for your hard work?
Right from the moment I started broking and working a few tricky deals, I identified a disconnect between the work that goes into obtaining results for my clients and how I am remunerated. I think a lot of brokers must be out there working for less than they should be. They should be confident in opening a dialogue about fee-for-service if they are truly providing their clients with a quality ongoing service. They could even tell their clients that the second visit is free.
You have to be able to show them that your service is worth paying for. Your clients need to be satisfied – but if they are, I bet you will find you win just as many deals and you’ll have just as many happy clients referring their friends and family. If they aren’t willing to pay for your professional advice, then you know you aren’t providing what they need.
Sean Murphy, senior credit adviser, My Mortgage Freedom
Starting his finance career at Liberty Financial in 2007, Sean developed a passion for specialist lending and the challenge of finding a solution for every client.
Having been a BDM at Liberty for almost three years, Sean decided it was time to move on and joined My Mortgage Freedom in the beginning of 2014. Sean's background in SMSF lending and non-conforming residential and commercial mortgages gives the team great scope when dealing with their clients.
Sean's objective is to work with a range of clients in different situations to assist them no matter how challenging the transaction might be.
