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Brokers may experience challenges in increasing settlement volumes, improving business efficiency and management skills, growing their staff or diversifying their offering.
This is precisely where boutique aggregators can offer support and flexibility to a broker who needs to grow and strengthen their business.
Why? Because you are likely to mean more to a boutique aggregator.
Another great benefit of being with a boutique, from my perspective, is its ability to be flexible with its lender panel and easily add to its suite of lenders because of a lack of bureaucracy.
Every client is different and has their own specific needs and goals, so when it comes to lending panels it’s important to ensure that you have a diverse range of lenders to choose from in order to select the right one for your client.
Every aggregator needs to have first- and second-tier lenders as well as a diverse panel to suit its clients’ varying needs.
A boutique aggregator can be flexible and nimble when it comes to off-panel lenders so that it can support the growth and needs of its credit representatives. It can also be quick to investigate lenders and add them to its panel when the need can be seen for future lending relationships.
Build strong relationships
To be successful as a business consultant when working for any type of aggregator, you need broker engagement and strong relationships. At Centrepoint Alliance, our main focus is to help brokers grow their businesses through honesty, reliability and relationships.
I strive for my brokers to trust in the advice I am providing and immerse themselves in this journey. They need to know that I have their best interest at heart, and together we learn each other’s strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes.
We work as business partners; while under separate business names we are on the same roller-coaster ride to achieve common goals and dreams. We celebrate success and work through the pitfalls that come with our industry together.
When it comes to the little things a broker needs to help them through their day-to-day business struggles, a boutique can offer lots of flexibility too. This means commissions are paid promptly, for example the day after they are received by the bank, which could even equate to daily commission payments, depending on your spread of lenders.
Compliance support is another service boutique aggregators offer all brokers, both credit reps and Australian credit licence (ACL) holders (because ACL holders need compliance help too).
The customer relationship management (CRM) system can create a compliance document straight from your data entry and help with efficiencies through client management tools, which boutique aggregators can assist with.
Boutique aggregators can also help with audits, pre-vetting options and training. They can provide brokers with access through the CRM to bankstatements.com and Equifax without monthly subscriptions, as well as access to other providers through application program interfaces.
One size does not fit all
Being with a small group means you’re more than just a number; you are a very important number. Brokers who use boutique aggregators become part of a small group of like-minded people who all want to make changes to their day-to-day business operations to achieve success.
In a small group, you will be a face, a name and, most importantly, you will be part of a community.
When it comes to choosing the right aggregator, or changing aggregators, one size does not fit all.
Tracey Najjar
Business consultant, Centrepoint Alliance Lending
