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Mark Davis from The Australian Lending & Investment Centre took home the prestigious Australian Broker of the Year title at last year's Australian Mortgage Awards. He says a focus on client opportunities, rather than loan writing, is the key to his success.
AB: Your business is one of the more unique ones in the industry – what is it that sets it apart from other broking businesses out there?
MD: It’s very investment driven, it’s around creating opportunities for clients, opening doors for them, creating net wealth for them, really just improving our clients’ circumstances and doing the right thing every time. We don’t believe in loan writing, we don’t believe in selling products. We believe in seriously looking after clients the way you’re supposed to.
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AB: So you’re going for a holistic outlook as far as their financial well-being is concerned?
MD: Very much so. We don’t advertise, we don’t market, we have a very limited web page, it’s very much about clients finding us, clients who know what we do walking in the door. They’re quite focused and they know what they’re coming in for which means you’ve got them half way there, so from there moving forward it’s just a matter of service and having a great investment knowledge behind you to be able to really progress them and take them where you need to.
AB: It seems like you guys are absolutely laser focused on doing what you do and doing it well, and staying focused on that niche that you’ve carved out. Do you think that sometimes people can get a bit muddled when they try and take on too many things?
MD: Definitely. I believe in specialty, in being great at what you do, knowing what your limits are and bringing in specialists around you. You’ve just got to be the greatest lender – the best lender out there – that’s all we focus on. We could make more money by cross selling and doing different things but it’s not the space we want to paint.
AB: You guys came out of the gate really strongly last year when you showed up on everybody’s radar. Even bigger this year. What are we looking to for the year ahead?
MD: I want to take it three in a row and we’ll see where we go from there but we’re already 4 months into the year already so well underway – we want to keep winning, keep putting the brand out there, changing the way that brokering is done to a degree and hopefully we do our little bit to change the industry a little.
AB: What do you think about the AMAs?
MD: Fantastic event. It’s the most prestigious. We don’t even enter MFAA - AMAs are where it is. So we’re extremely happy and love to be a part of it.
