Brokers at the top of their game exhibit a number of qualities in common including their eagerness to embrace change, attention to customer needs, and building the right relationships.
These themes were highlighted at
Connective’s latest national conference where the aggregator’s broker champions spoke to the audience about establishing and running a successful brokerage in today’s highly competitive industry.
“[The best brokers] have the courage to confront the change and the change opportunity. They’re used to be adaptive and making the most of those opportunities,” Mark Haron, director of Connective, told
Australian Broker at the aggregator’s NSW conference.
Haron said a great example of a broker adapting to change was Jeremy Fisher, Director and Founder of 1st Street Home Loans, who spoke as the NSW Connective Champion at the conference in the Hunter Valley.
“He’s really embraced the compliance and regulatory requirements that are coming into the market.
ANZ used him and his business as a ‘test and learn’ environment to see how the further oversight and documentation of customer outcomes from a loan process are being implemented.”
The top brokers also displayed high attention to detail with their customers, putting them at the centre of everything they do, he said. The same care and attention also applies to the employees of these top brokerages.
“They genuinely care about their staff as well. They support and they work very closely with their staff and develop their staff. In each of those businesses – the Connective Champions – they don’t go looking for staff, people come and find them and want to work with them because that attitude and that caring is very obvious.”
Later on, Fisher conducted an on-stage interview with Haron in front of the 180-odd brokers in attendance. During this interview, he listed some top tips for anyone seeking the same level of success as 1st Street Home Loans.
Respecting the staff at the bank you’re dealing and building relationships with BDMs and credit assessors is highly important, he said.
“If there’s no respect from our side to theirs, they’re not going to look after you.”
The quality of the applications is crucial to building this level of respect, Haron added.
Fisher also noted that it was better to talk to the client about more than the interest rate to ensure the longevity of the broker-client relationship.
“I don’t want to talk about rate,” he said. “If a client’s coming to you and chasing rate the very first time when they speak to you, they’re going to be out the door six months later when they get a better rate.”
There was also the need to hide the complexity of the home loan process for the client, making it as simple as possible. 1st Street has done this by adapting its enquiry forms, fact finds, etc.
“I know that what is being imposed on us as brokers is now a lot more work for every single deal but I do my best to not make the client feel that.”
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