I was chatting to a friend yesterday about the increasing amount of enquiries that we receive where we are “competing” against another broker (which in many cases can act against the best interests of the prospect) and he told me of a case that he was aware of where the company had approached at least half a dozen brokers earlier this week and each one having ascertained which factoring companies he had already spoken to, put in someone else.

This cannot be in the best interests of the client as the brokers further down the food chain will be desperately punting around for a company that they haven’t already spoken to in order that they can earn from the deal, which could end up with the company tying up a facility with the least appropriate factoring company.

Interestingly enough it only took one guess at the identity of this prospect and Factoring Solutions was one of the brokers that he had approached. Having discussed his requirements we nominated one particular factoring company as probably the best for his needs to be told that he was already in contact with them.

We take our responsibilities as a broker seriously so declined to put forward an alternative. We won’t earn from this particular company but still hope that his rather unusual approach won’t backfire on him.