Broker Q & A: Why I switched aggregators

There were a number of reasons why I decided to go across. Midlast year, I decided that I wanted to write more business, but I was hampered by my aggregator’s software. It was a good platform, but it was too time consuming. I was looking for a software package that alleviated time stresses and gave me solutions quickly.

I looked at three or four different aggregator groups, but when Liberty came along they showed me their software and I was impressed. It’s a good system. It’s quick. It allows you to be compliant. It allows you to
get quick solutions for a client to meet their needs.

The software package is appealing because it gives me more time to get out there and write more business.

What was the hardest thing about switching?

Probably complacency – I was comfortable with my previous aggregator. You get used to the people that you know and you get used to their systems.

Making the decision to switch can be hard. But I made the decision last year to move and then it was just a matter of finding the right one to go with.

What is the most important thing that aggregators can offer brokers?

I really think that technology is now paramount in making the whole process of getting an application and managing that application with a lender as seamless as possible.

I have a PA who works for me, and I don’t want to be paying her full-time wages to do paperwork that I can do myself while I’m with a client.

Liberty’s software allows me to keep my costs down because I don’t have to pay someone to do that work. It’s met all of my expectations.

What has been the greatest reward from switching?

Liberty is a much smaller aggregator than some of the others out there and therefore their cost per adviser is quite high. Their view is that they have to make us successful to warrant that cost. They’re quite prepared to put in a serious amount of advertising and support to assist their local advisers.

They don’t believe in having a huge amount of advisers on board in the hope that some of them will write good business. Other aggregators have gone that way – where they just look purely at numbers – but
Liberty has done the reverse. They have a limited number of advisers and therefore they really want to make those advisers successful.

It’s quite refreshing.