How to manage a growing business

A growing business is in a tricky situation – as you grow you need to employ more staff, but it’s also essential to ensure that such employment can be sustained should the growth become slower. At the end of the day, you need to have some trust in the business and its ability to keep growing so that when you take on someone new their employment can continue in the long term. One of the best ways to do this is to have a sound business plan that spells out how growth will be firstly triggered, and then sustained.

Ideally, the people you employ will not only be able to help you cope with the growth that has already occurred, but will also be able to help with the growth of your book going forward by bringing business in, and consequently they’ll make their own employment sustainable.

The problem is, however, finding someone that can do just that can be difficult. You’ll rarely find good staff simply waiting at your door, especially at the time you actually need them.

I’ve found one of the best ways to bring someone into your business is to hire a client manager on a two-year traineeship. This helps them to learn the ropes at a very basic level and then go on to become a sustainable broker. It also often means they’re more likely to be loyal to you as you have given them an opportunity and taken the time to teach them, and they learn to appreciate and respect both the process and your business.

The two things I value the most from employees are loyalty and commitment, so if someone comes to me with no training but they have those key attributes I’ll be more obliged to consider hiring them. Having the right job experience can also of course be helpful, but these are things that can be trained, and loyalty and commitment can’t.

 One of the other beneficial ways to recruit is to go to banks and find out if they know anyone who’s interested in an opportunity, or even to approach someone you have worked with in the past. In that situation you know they can do a good job because you’ve seen their work, or similarly someone can vouch for them. Of course, advertising is always a good option too, and can result in finding someone very well suited to the position you have available.

At the end of the day, whoever is working in your business should be working together to reach the same common goal, and for me that’s ensuring the client has a good experience. Some brokers will simply talk about what they made in one deal with a client, but I see clients as a door to more opportunity – if they appreciated the service they’ve received then the opportunity is there to gain more business in the future. And I want my staff to have the same values and philosophy I do when it comes to this.

Ruan Burger, managing director, TIME Home Loans

Ruan Burger has been in the mortgage broking business for nearly a decade, starting out in the booming town of Gladstone after working in the banking industry for many years. He formed Time Home Loans early in 2013 after moving to Brisbane and the business has grown significantly since then.

Ruan is a nationally recognised member of the MFAA. During his career as a mortgage broker, Ruan has won – and been a finalist in – several awards. He won the MFAA Mortgage Broker of the Year award in 2012 and 2013 as well as the MFAA’s Award of Distinction in 2012 and was a finalist for the MFAA’s Credit Adviser award in 2014.

Ruan believes it is his ‘love of the game’, his strategic alliances and colleague morale that promote his business as a leader in the field.