Mortgage brokerage
Smartline Personal Mortgage Advisers has been recognised as the second best franchise in Australia at this year’s Topfranchise Awards.
The achievement marks the ninth year in a row that Smartline has featured in these awards. This is the first time in second spot however, with the firm taking first place in the eight years prior to this.
In an interview with
Australian Broker, Ian Winn, CEO of Smartline, spoke on why the firm had been recognised once more this year.
“Smartline really is all about people both from a client perspective and a franchisee perspective. Fundamentally, our vision and mantra is to provide the best opportunities for our franchisees and our clients. That’s why we continue to do pretty well.”
Within the awards, the franchise came first in the marketing category.
“We’ve had a couple of troubles with marketing over the last few years, so we were particularly happy about that result. It’s certainly a reflection on the strong marketing team we now have in place and the work that they’re doing.”
Smartline’s marketing efforts have put in place a number of consistent programs that add value to franchisees’ businesses, Winn said.
The franchise also came out on top in the passion category which reflected well on the total business as a whole, he added.
“The franchisees feel that we are passionate about the business. We do everything with a lot of enthusiasm and desire for success.”
Finally, Smartline did well in both the lifestyle and expansion categories, Winn said.
“In the mortgage broking industry, you can provide quite a good work/life balance because mortgage brokers don’t need to be sitting in an office all the time. They can manage their time around their clients’ requirements.
“From our perspective, we put a lot of thought into the systems we provide. We want the most efficient systems available so that franchisees spend more of their time talking to clients as opposed to doing admin work or processing.”
Despite not gaining the top spot this year, Winn said he was still pleased that Smartline’s overall rating had improved. He noted that there were still some areas for improvement however.
“We just probably need to focus on those areas a little more. But we’re not going to try and change the world. This is certainly a good reflection on our business but I think if we continue to do what we’re doing now, then I suspect we’re going to be first or second next year.”
Smartline continues to dominate in the franchise space over other larger mortgage franchises because of its flexibility, Winn said.
“We allow people to develop their own business models to suit them at their own pace. That’s not always simple because that can possibly lead to people doing different things but I feel that just from a culture perspective, franchisees are mindful of doing the right thing. We trust them, they trust us.”
This means that while one franchisee has a staff of 10 people in a large office, another can just work from home.
“The key for us is as long as the franchisees are writing great client service, then how they manage their business is really up to them. That’s what separates us from the larger franchise systems which are a little bit rigid around the way that franchisees are allowed to operate.”
Smartline currently has 310 franchisees nationwide. Over the last year, the firm added around 30 new franchisees with about 10 either choosing to retire or move on – leading to a net growth of 20 franchisees across the country.
Related stories:
Franchise to double loan writing team
Regional brokerage sets up Tassie office
“It’s better with a broker”: Aussie
.jpg)
