Focusing on customer outcomes as the heart of long term success for the mortgage broking industry was a key theme at a recent aggregator conference.
The 2018 PLAN Australia National Conference was held in Fremantle and included a range of speakers including three-time Australian Paralympic Gold Medalist Kurt Fearnley and demographer Mark McCrindle.
CEO of the group, Anja Pannek, said brokers came from across the country for this year’s conference, which provided them with information, tools and guidance.
Brokers were also given the opportunity to take part in workshops covering practical approaches to productivity, compliance fundamentals and business planning.
Pannek said, “We were deliberate in our approach to focus on customers this year who are and will always be at the heart of long-term success for the mortgage broking industry.
“We all want to be successful in our businesses: it’s what drives us, it’s what makes us better professionals and even more successful in working with customers. Success is about setting goals and achieving them, but it’s also about constantly challenging ourselves to raise the bar.”
Pannek said PLAN Australia is in a strong position to talk on success, with 2018 set to be a record year.
“We recorded lending settlements of $18billion and $1.9billion for commercial settlements in the 2017/18 financial year,” she added.
“In June and July 2018 we had two record settlement months, not just for the year but in our history. This success all comes down to our members and our relentless focus on knowledge sharing, training and education.”
Highlighting its focus on broker education, last year PLAN partnered with Stanford Graduate School of Business to offer its brokers the opportunity to expand their skills during a six-month strategic leadership program.
As part of the course, 13 brokers attended workshops at the university’s campus in California for a week in January 2018.
Throughout the year, PLAN Australia also conducted a broad spectrum of face-to-face and digital events and activities.
Pannek said, “We achieved record attendance at our residential and commercial Digital Professional Development days, produced a broad range of webinars viewed by thousands of members and launched our first 100/100 Boardroom Series bringing together growth oriented brokers at our national series.
“This program focussed on assisting brokers to build a customer value proposition, enhance productivity in their businesses, and ways to grow their team.
“We understand our members’ time is precious, so our focus for 2018 has been on providing educational experiences which deliver tangible insights that members can embed back into their businesses.”
Pannek said that PLAN would continue to build on its award-winning training and development program in 2019.
That includes continuing its Digital PD Day agenda, conducting a face-to-face commercial broking series across the country and building on the success of its first 100/100 Boardroom Series.
The conference also included a gala awards dinner where PLAN held its Excellence in Business Awards.
Peter Clark of Beckmitch Consulting won the 2018 CEO Achievement award in recognition for his contribution to the industry, and PLAN Australia.
WA broking firm Launch Finance won in the Diversification category.
Wealthfolio from Queensland picked up the Customer Service category.
The Local Loan Company won the Community category.
Nectar Mortgages took out The Business of the Year award.
“We congratulate all our winners, who have demonstrated and delivered excellent outcomes for their clients against a complex regulatory backdrop. I am incredibly optimistic about where we are headed as an industry both now and in the future,” Pannek said.
