Company ownership will always shape the service its broker customers receive, which is why true independence guarantees a firm can deliver the best service and outcomes.
Financial independence gives a business both freedom and the ability to do what it wants in a way that works for its clients. That’s why start-ups and privately-owned businesses can be among the most creative, interesting businesses to work with because they offer customers a service without compromise.
An independently owned panel manager like Conveybuddy isn’t under pressure to hit a set of growth metrics to satisfy corporate owners, for example. This means it can set and hold its fees at a level that offers far better value to customers. With far fewer overheads to pay, firms like Conveybuddy can stay in full control of pricing and can charge fees at a fairer rate.
HOLDING A NEUTRAL POSITION
In a competitive industry with margins as slim as conveyancing, the fight for customers and broker attention is intense. For brokers looking for the best service to recommend to their clients or if you’re a legal firm looking for a panel which treats it fairly, it’s critical to understand ownership and how that firm allocates work.
Since launch in September, Conveybuddy passed the 1,000 broker firm registration mark three months later in December. We’ve been humbled by our success and are very much still in entry mode. We’re listening closely to our panel of solicitors and our broker clients and above all, we know we have to keep a keen focus on service.
Service is everything to the brokers who have recommended one of our panel to their clients and the customer at this critical juncture in their lives. That’s why we let the broker choose the panel conveyancing firm for their clients without trying to manipulate that choice. We are not owned by any of our panel conveyancing firms, nor are we part of a larger group that includes panel firms.
We have no allegiance to one legal firm over another. That’s important because our independence means we are not tested by our owners to favour one firm over another. As the market ebbs and flows, we also see the same with transaction levels. When the market slows as it did during the pandemic or after the Prime Minister Liz Truss’ Budget in 2023, the market dried up to a trickle of cases. If you’re independent you don’t have to promote one firm over another to save it in a tough business climate, regardless of service metrics or quality. Instead you can assure brokers that any recommendations are based on suitability and service standards.
SMALL, BUT PERFECTLY FORMED
It’s a truism, but size isn’t everything. In fact, a small panel of well-known reliable conveyancing firms are far more straightforward to monitor and work closely with. This helps produce the right result for the broker and his or her clients. If you know the firms personally and have direct contact through longstanding relationships, it’s always easier to understand the dynamics at that firm and use that to manage the referral relationship.
Also, if you understand the business levels the firm is handling you can help the conveyancing firm manage its own pipeline. As a conveyancing panel, we’d never take on so many firms it’s impossible to offer sufficient business to keep the relationship robust. For example, if a conveyancing firm is not ranking in say the top five for price on some of the bigger panels it may get very little business. This in turn strains the referral relationship, because if a panel manager offers little work, they become a lower priority for the servicing firm.
NO CHERRY PICKING
Any broker and conveyancer will know not all cases are created equal. Some take a lot more time and energy than others, like shared home ownership or leasehold cases.
It’s really important for workflow and fair dealing to share out the leasehold cases – which make up roughly 20% of transactions for example – equally across a conveyancing panel. Keeping independence alive on a conveyancing panel is about distributing work completely fairly. If that is the norm, firms have no need to put their fees up to try to avoid cases they would prefer not to take.
This goes the other way as well. As an independent conveyancing panel, we never have to recommend a firm that is underperforming just because they are on our panel.
The fact is, independence leads to freedom and the ability to demonstrate your own business ethics and serve your customers in the best way possible.
