TOP TIPS - This Works For Me

The Adviser asks the nation’s elite business writers for their top tips on everything from what they call themselves to how to use referral partners

DOES WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN

By ‘branding’ herself as a Personal Mortgage Adviser, Sally Richards has turned her everyday customers into clients for life

BROKERS ARE shifting, more and more, towards explicitly advice-based broking.

Getting the bigger financial picture is now a requirement under the NCCP and so when a broker makes their clients feel ‘protected’ – the ‘P’ in ‘NCCP’ – they are more likely to stay for the long haul.

It was this logic that helped Sally Richards appreciate the benefits of promoting herself as a ‘Personal Mortgage Adviser’ rather than as a mortgage broker.

“When you first meet a client, it’s important you make them aware that you are not just there for the transaction, that you’re actually there as an adviser," she says.

“That is why we [at Smartline] refer to ourselves as Personal Mortgage Advisers”

The client can then understand that Ms Richards is actually offering an advice-based service, she explains.

This ‘minor’ detail has been a major benefit for Ms Richards’ client retention rate and more effective than the traditional touch points used by most brokers.

“You can use newsletter marketing and things like that, but more importantly the client needs to know that they can call us whenever they need that advice,” she says.

“If something changes on a client’s home loan statement or their personal banking statement they can call us up and know that we are there to give advice if they need us to.”

SALLY RICHARDS, Smartline

CHOOSE YOUR REFERRALS WISELY

Understanding the role of referral partners has helped Anita Marshall find a happy medium in her professional relationships

FOR MANY brokers looking to diversify, the first step is finding trusted referral sources.

While some have made the leap into financial planning and offer insurance in-house, the use of referrers is most common.

But should a broker be paying these partners? Anita Marshall doesn’t think so.

“Be very wary of paying referrers,” she says. “Brokers don’t get much of a percentage from lenders and you need your commission to operate a successful business.”

If a broker feels undervalued by their referral partner or the relationship is unfairly weighted, get out or find a solution by refocussing on your service offering.

“Make the value proposition the service you are giving,” Ms Marshall says. “Explain the value in the fact that you have access to a large panel of lenders.”

Quality is better than quantity when it comes to referral partners and while a top quality referrer can significantly improve a broker’s business a bad referrer can be toxic.

“You need to make sure your referrers are quality referrers and will refer quality clients,” Ms Marshall says. “Getting caught up with an ongoing database of poor quality referrals is not good for business.”

ANITA MARSHALL, Advanced Finance Solutions

THE BABY SHOWER

Making your clients happy with gifts is a sure way to get them talking about your business, says Haley North

MARKETING YOUR business in a competitive industry can be tough. Finding new and innovative strategies to attract new business does not always come easy.

For Haley North, a simple approach with a personal touch works best.

“I once read about a top car salesman who built a chain of dealerships,” she says. “He spent hours every week writing personal notes to his clients on their achievements and milestones as well as those of their children.”

He would contact them for birthdays, when they changed jobs or when their children won a sports event and would scour the local papers to stay in touch with his community and their lives.

If this sort of contact comes from a sincere and genuine place of interest, I feel it can really help build and strengthen your relationship with your clients, Ms North says.

“This story had an impact on me and I feel I manage my own client, industry and personal relationships in a similar way.”

Ms North does not advertise at all but instead generates all of her business through word of mouth referrals. Personal touches and congratulatory gifts remind her clients that they are cared for by their broker.

Ms North has found this extra service to be far more effective as happy clients are more willing to spread the good word.

“For the birth of a child, for example, I find a useful, long-lasting gift such as towels embroidered with the child’s name are well received; or chocolate-covered fruit sent to the offices of a couple who have just got engaged,” she says.

HALEY NORTH, Smartmove