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As we are dealing with clients, it’s fair to say that an office is not needed to enable you to assist a client with finance. You can see them at their house or at a coffee shop to do the loan application and signing up loan documents at a later stage.
In saying that, it’s important to have a good process in place to ensure you get the necessary information in a timely manner so these client meetings are merely for signing documents and explaining the choice of loan, the structure and anything else relating to the loan.
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It is fair to say that an office is not needed. However, I can also highlight just as many reasons why an office would make conducting your business a lot easier.
Having a client come to see you shows commitment and gives you the opportunity to have their full attention. If a client wants to quickly drop in to give you documents and you have another appointment, an office atmosphere would make this a convenient process as your staff can assist accordingly.
The other great benefit is time. Not having to travel saves a lot of time that could be used otherwise. If someone cancels on you, you have not spent the time driving somewhere just to find out on short notice that they can’t attend and you are not stuck in traffic, which is the one thing we cannot control.
The above highlights the fact that there is no right or wrong in having an office space versus working from home.
In my humble opinion, I believe an office does confirm your capacity as a professional broker and a professional business.
We live daily to ensure our clients view us in the same light as an accountant or another professional, and I believe that an office premises helps you move in that direction.
However, I also believe that every client is different, and as a business, common sense has to prevail. Having an office does not mean that I would dictate to a good client where he or she should see me until a great relationship has formed.
As a broker and as a business, you always need to grow. Growing from working at home to working from an office shop-front is natural business progression. Therefore, it could be fair to say that it is not a process of comparing working from home versus an office shop-front, but comparing natural progression.
Ruan Burger, managing director, TIME Home Loans
Ruan Burger has been in the mortgage broking business for nearly a decade, starting out in the booming town of Gladstone after working in the banking industry for many years. He formed Time Home Loans early in 2013 after moving to Brisbane and the business has grown significantly since then.
Ruan is a nationally recognised member of the MFAA. During his career as a mortgage broker, Ruan has won – and been a finalist in – several awards. He won the MFAA Mortgage Broker of the Year award in 2012 and 2013 as well as the MFAA’s Award of Distinction in 2012 and was a finalist for the MFAA’s Credit Adviser award in 2014.
Ruan believes it is his ‘love of the game’, his strategic alliances and colleague morale that promote his business as a leader in the field.
