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Brokers have been planning scenarios and gaining insight from industry specialists at a conference held by a leading aggregator.
Now in its sixth year, the FAST Business Excellence Conference included workshops and discussions to show brokers how to make customers feel understood.
CEO of FAST, Brendan Wright, said taking a ‘know and show’ approach to clients and more proactive steps around creating a sustainable business culture were among some of the key themes addressed at the conference.
He said, “Being able to clearly show that you know your clients, and fully understand their financial situation, objectives and needs is crucial.
“Brokers who can clearly demonstrate they are putting client needs first, and make that their sole purpose, will give their business an edge and a differentiation now and into the future.”
Wright said there was a clear opportunity for brokers to differentiate their service offering through culture, and potentially meet a broader set of client needs.
He said, “When you are leading or managing the business quite often you feel like you have to come up with all the answers. Creating a culture that enables different thinking, knowledge and capability across the team can really help your business to differentiate and stand out in a service-lead industry.”
The conference agenda showcased a diverse range of speakers including futurist Steve Sammartino; executive general manager of NAB broker partnerships Anthony Waldron; NAB general manager for performance and operations, Nicole Devine and former Facebook CEO for Australia and New Zealand and founder of global advisory, The Digital CEO.
Devine said that driving the right business culture ‘doesn’t just happen’ and requires a sustained effort.
She added, “When thinking about culture you have to be proactive about how you want it to look and how you are going to build it.
“Most brokers would say they have a customer-centric culture, but how do you show it? And how often do you think about it? This is where compliance frameworks and asking the right questions to fully understand a client’s situation come in to play.”
