What I learned from the SME Broker Bootcamp 2023

The time is now
Diversification to embrace small and medium-sized (SME) lending in broking has been a topic of discussion for several years, but it is very evident that the time is now!

The sheer number of brokers who were not only prepared to register and attend each of the days was overwhelming. It says to me that if you are not making moves to bring SME lending into your business as a broker, you could end up behind your competitors in just a few short years.

There is a whole industry that has your back
Jumping into something new is daunting and we asked the question at each event: “What stops you from starting in SME lending?” Overwhelmingly, the response is fear – fear of the unknown, fear they don’t have enough knowledge, or fear they don’t know as much as their clients.

To help brokers overcome this fear, there is a ready-made panel of lenders, aggregators, industry associations, and of course, us at Accendo Financial, who want you to succeed and are ready to take that fear away and answer all your questions.

Your SME clients have more choice than ever
SME lending has traditionally been viewed as the domain of traditional banks, but the emergence of niche lenders, technologies, and dynamic lending policies tells me that your clients are spoilt for choice when it comes to sourcing funding or capital for their business.

Your role as a broker has been assured into the future as the average business owner will need a good SME-focused broker to help them navigate this expanding world of options.

Starting small can lead to very big things
One of the common questions we got from brokers in each state is: “Where do I start?”

We have worked with several brokers now who have fully diversified their business to have a comprehensive SME finance offering for their clients. Their secret was starting small, just bringing in an additional product class such as asset finance allowed them to ask just one more question and grow revenue at the start. This gave them more confidence to continue working with their SME clients and with each interaction, the fear disappeared and opportunities grew.

We will be back!
The last two weeks have been amazing, with so many quality conversations with brokers, lenders, and industry partners. The SME Broker Bootcamp 2024 will build on this year’s success and we simply can’t wait.

You can register your interest for the next event here.

Those are just the top five things we took away; we could go on and on about the success of the SME Broker Bootcamp events! But like all the brokers attending, now is the time to go back and embed the learnings we made in our business.

Trent Carter is a commercial broker and partner of Accendo Financial, a broker education business focused on helping brokers learn more about SMEs and how to tackle SME business lending of all types.

You can find out more about Accendo Financial at www.accendofin.com.au