An introduction is a client's request for you, held by Sussed until you accept it. This page follows one from the moment it arrives to the moment you close it: what you see, the deadline, what accepting does, the check-in with the client, and how you record the way it ended.
How a request reaches you
A client picks you from your profile or from the results, answers a few questions, and sends the request. A request goes to one adviser at a time, never to several at once. If they chose you, you are first. If you decline or don't answer in time, it moves to the next adviser and the client is told.
Some requests come to you without the client choosing you. Someone asked Sussed to match them, or their first choice couldn't take it, and you're a verified adviser who takes new clients and covers their district, or, failing that, their region.
No request reaches you while you've paused introductions, none for a loan below the smallest you take, and none while you already have five open. That holds whether the client picked you or we routed it: a client who picks you while you're paused is matched with someone else and told, and one who names a smaller loan is told at the loan question and offered a match.
What you see before you accept
The email and the card on your dashboard show what the client needs, their district, the size of the loan, and the fee if they go on to sign a loan offer. Their name and contact details are not shown yet. The card carries a deadline: you have 24 hours from the offer to accept or decline.
Accepting or declining
Accepting costs nothing. Their name, email and phone appear on the card, and the client is emailed that you've accepted, with the phone, email and booking link from your profile, and told you'll be in touch within one working day.
Declining costs nothing either, and doesn't count against you in the results. You can give a reason (too far away, the loan is too small, not your kind of work, too busy right now) and it is never shown to the client. The request goes to the next adviser, and the client is told.
If you do nothing for 24 hours, the same happens, and the introduction shows as "Not answered in time" on your past list. Offers you let run out count against you in the results.
The check-in after two working days
Two working days after you accept, we email the client one question: has your adviser been in touch? If they say no, the introduction closes as "Contact not made", nothing is owed, and their request is offered to another adviser straight away. We email you to say so. A first "Contact not made" costs you a little in the results, since it may be a wrong number or a missed email; each one after that costs a lot. If you tried and couldn't reach them, use "Couldn't reach them" on the card before then; it works the other way round, as described below.
Notes
Every introduction, open or past, takes private notes with a timestamp: called Tuesday, meeting Friday. Only you see them.
Closing an introduction
Every accepted introduction ends with you marking how it went. Press "Update status" on the card and choose one of three:
- They signed a loan offer. Add the date if you have it. We invoice the fee shown on the card. What you pay sets out the fee and the invoice.
- Didn't go ahead. Add a reason if you like; it is never shown to the client. Nothing is owed.
- Couldn't reach them. Available for seven days after you accept. Nothing is owed. We email the client the phone number and email address we hold, with one link to confirm or correct them. If they do, within 14 days, the request comes back to you as a new 24-hour offer with a note to try again. If they don't, it stays closed.
Until you mark it, the introduction stays open and counts towards your five. A client who withdraws their request closes it for you, as didn't go ahead.
Later check-ins
About six weeks and four months after you accept, we ask the client whether they went ahead. If they answer before you've marked the introduction, the card shows their answer and asks you to confirm or close it. A client who says they signed a loan offer starts a 14-day clock for you to confirm or dispute it; What you pay explains what happens either way. A client who says they signed, or didn't go ahead, is also offered a review form.
Open introductions and your dashboard
You can have five open introductions at once: offers still within their 24 hours, plus accepted ones you haven't closed. At five, your dashboard shows "Full book" and no new requests come through until you close one. A client who picks you while your book is full is offered a verified adviser nearby and told why.
To stop new introductions for a while, pause them in your settings. Your profile stays up, marked "Not taking new clients", and visitors are offered a match with another adviser instead. Settings has the details.