Time for the three o'clock parade!

The correct answer to “What time is the three o’clock parade?” is something like:

“It passes right by where we are now at ten past three. If you want the best view, try over there by the Teacups ride. Take water for the kids – it will be going by for quite a while and you won’t want to leave your spot.”
And so on.

If you simply answer, “Three o’clock, stupid,” you’re not going to win any friends and they might even boot you out of your big-eared, overheated costume.

So that’s my advice to brokers looking to improve still further the service they offer. This isn’t about the qualifications and professional development that we ask all our members to take. Instead, it’s about hearing all the questions within a question, and answering them before they’re asked.

Often this can be the way to make more commission – for instance, if you spot that a premises would work more efficiently if extended, or that running two vans instead of one would offer big gains to the company.

Remember that you’re still a useful ally to the client even if you don’t personally offer finance in the field that it’s needed in. So long as you hold full consumer credit permission, it’s fine to pass a lead on to another broker, which is likely to earn you brownie points, and a longer and better relationship, with the client.

In our experience, based on those SMEs who approach us, many of them don’t know about peer-to-peer funding works, or that pension-led funding even exists, or the differences between factoring and invoice discounting. As a broker, you know the answers to questions they haven’t asked yet.

So if they ask, “What time is our three o’clock meeting?” just think beyond the obvious answer. When you look at every aspect of a client’s business, you’re likely to find a service, or a funding opportunity, that hasn’t occurred to the client. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking your inspiration from a businessman who bought 43 square miles of central Florida for just US$5 million.

“Mickey Mouse” is a term often used to describe things that shouldn’t be taken seriously … maybe that needs rethinking.