Of independent means

That record, however, certainly makes him a star of sorts in the broking world.

Mr Pibworth trained in acting in the United Kingdom and went on to secure a few television roles, including an appearance on EastEnders, a BBC soap opera which has clocked up more than 4,000 episodes since it started in 1985.

He concedes that the programme is not big in Australia, but in the UK, making it onto EastEnders and standing next to Desune ‘Des’ Coleman is an enviable feat for a budding actor.

Aside from its high ratings and frequently controversial storylines, the program has seen a fair few murders. Mr Pibworth, however, survived and has gone on to front one of Australia’s rising brokerages.

Since its inception, Independent Home Loans has helped about 800 borrowers and is now aiming to employ 20 brokers by the end of December 2012.

Mr Pibworth explains to The Adviser how his business has been able to grow so quickly.

Dedicated to diversification
“We really, really embrace diversification,” he says. “In fact, I’d go as far as saying that you really can’t operate as a broker now unless you are diversifying and offering other products.”

In addition to Independent Home Loans, Mr Pibworth also owns Turnkey Financial, which focuses on financial planning.

His dedication to diversification is such that Independent Home Loans refers 72 per cent of the company’s business to the financial planning department.

This, he says, has four primary benefits for broker, business and borrower.

“The first thing is that we’re doing the right thing by the client,” he explains. “They’re coming in and borrowing money and we know that no matter what happens, they’re protected.

“If the worst happens, we can sleep at night.”

A second key benefit for brokers is that diversification helps them meet their NCCP obligations.

Third, diversification can turn borrowers into clients for life – “Diversification is a form of client retention, and too many brokers forget that,” Mr Pibworth says.

Finally, diversification can potentially increase broker productivity, with significant benefits for the business’ growth and bottom line.

“Diversification helps with income generated per head,” he says. “It takes it from an average of around $900 gross income to around $2,900.”

Not surprisingly then, Mr Pibworth’s advice to new brokers who want to grow their bottom line is to focus on service and diversification.

“It’s not about volume of clients,” he says, “it’s about volume per head.

“A lot of brokers are spending far too much time trying to spread themselves too thin and secure too many referral sources. If they just offer a really, really good service with a solid product range, that’s more important.”

Diversification, according to Mr Pibworth, is more than a business strategy; it’s the key to survival in the industry.

“Whether you refer clients or handle them yourself, it doesn’t really matter,” he says. “You need to be offering a diversified product range in some way, shape or form.”

Challenges and opportunities
Many brokers and other industry stakeholders have been critical of the NCCP requirements, claiming they are too onerous and an unnecessary burden.

However, according to Mr Pibworth – who previously worked in the UK, where regulation of the industry is well established – the criticisms are “absolute rubbish”.

“I haven’t worked as a mortgage broker without regulation, apart from the year or two I did here in Australia when we were waiting for it to come in,” he says. “I don’t see it as an issue.

“We’ve integrated NCCP into our CRM system – it was a seamless effort.

“Those who really embrace [their NCCP obligations] and put them into their sales process will not have any issues with it. Everyone will get used to it.”

The greatest challenge that the broking industry faces, according to Mr Pibworth, is not NCCP but the time required to achieve good volumes.

“[It’s] the amount of hours you have to put in to do the job properly – to hit the volumes you want to hit,” he says.

“Some people think broking is a cushy job, where you can pop in and pop out, get a few clients, write them up, give them to someone else to lodge and you’re all done.

“But our guys work very, very long hours – they’re very conscientious. They all settle $3 million to $5 million a month; they don’t have any compliance issues; they’re a dream to manage.”

With these high standards established, it’s clear that Mr Pibworth himself won’t settle for mediocre staff. Recruitment and retention are, however, two issues with which the industry continues to grapple.

“I think you’ve got to go outside the industry now to get quality,” he says. “Most of my brokers were landscape gardeners or carpenters and we’ve trained them the way we want to train them.

“We need a lot of young, energetic blood coming into the industry.”

Aiming high
Aside from increasing the company’s broker base, Mr Pibworth has some clear goals in mind for the future of Independent Home Loans.

“We’re looking to hit $250 million next calendar year and we’re aiming to refer 75 per cent of that business to our financial planning department,” he says.  

This strategy reflects his strong belief that the number of Australians using brokers will continue to increase.

“I think we may even see parity very, very shortly,” Mr Pibworth says.