Organisation and good administration are the hallmarks of a successful mortgage broking business. In addition to your knowledge and experience of the market, and your relationships with lenders, you also need to be on top of increasing amounts of paperwork, and provide excellent customer service to your clients. Efficiency is what your reputation is built on, and it’s efficiency that will bring repeat business and referrals. That’s why outsourcing to virtual assistant staff can help you become more efficient and contribute to your firm’s growth.
Everyday tasks you could outsource
Of course, the essential expertise of mortgage broking can’t be outsourced: it’s regulated and requires the right qualifications and knowledge. But the essence of your business is in increasing the number of customers you serve, and that’s hard to do if you’re constantly at your desk managing paperwork, organising your diary, raising your firm’s profile and emailing your clients.
These are all activities that you can outsource to a virtual assistant. Data entry, appointment setting, paperwork, bookkeeping and CRM entry can be taken off your desk, leaving you free to focus on getting the best deal for your clients, and developing your business.
Paperwork: Whilst you may need to manage certain paperwork yourself, much of the administration of a mortgage or re-mortgage application can be managed by a trusted staff member. This includes letters and emails to clients and lenders, collecting and uploading supporting documents. Liaising with clients about additional lender requirements and managing client files.
Bookkeeping: It’s important that you carefully manage your accounts. You may be working on fee or commission basis – or both. Invoicing your clients, collecting money from any suppliers, and managing commission payments helps to keep your cash flow moving, and will also make your tax filing easier. Virtual staff can handle all this financial administration for you, leaving you to concentrate on getting the best deal for your clients.
Marketing: Your business grows because people are aware of you, and have seen enough to want to make an enquiry. That means you need a profile with your target customers, and that means you need to invest in some marketing. Social media is a great way to raise your profile and connect with potential clients, but it can take time to set up and manage. That’s why many financial firms choose to outsource this sales and marketing activity to specialist social media services for small business. In addition to social media, they can help with email marketing, advertising and ongoing client contact, keeping your name in front of the clients that matter.
Customer Care: Your reputation is built not just on the deals you can get for clients, but the way you treat them during the process. A mortgage is typically the biggest debt your clients will ever have, and it can be daunting. So it’s important that your customers are kept informed and that their questions are answered quickly. Having a dedicated virtual mortgage completions team will help to build good relationships with your clients, which in turn will keep their process moving and result in positive reviews and referrals.
Instead of struggling with admin, marketing and CRM databases, why not consider outsourcing some of these tasks to free up the hours in your day, allowing you to expand your client base? If you’re short on time and would like to talk about how virtual assistant staff can help, feel free to call us on 0800 994 9016 or use our contact form in the menu above.