Working smarter, not harder

In The Adviser’s podcasts, we frequently hear that it’s only by taking on additional resourcing that brokers are able to take their businesses to the next level. But how do they do it?

For many, it’s about outsourcing the lower-value jobs to ensure that the broker can focus on dollar productive activities, such as prioritising client relationships and bringing in new business.

Making the most of your time

Ross Le Quesne, a former Aussie broker and founder of broker coaching business Billion Dollar Broker, suggests that it’s only by prioritising activities that generate revenue that brokers maximise their productivity and ultimately increase their profitability.

Speaking at The Adviser’s New Broker Academy, partnered by NextGen, Mr Le Quesne explains: “Scaling a mortgage broking business isn’t about doing more, it’s actually about doing less. Working smarter, not harder.”

Mr Le Quesne says that brokers often get caught up in administrative tasks and processes, which hinders their ability to focus on income-generating activities.

As such, instead of being stuck in the administrative work, he suggests building systems and processes that allow brokers to focus on generating income and revenue for their businesses.

For example, in a booming refinancing environment, having someone dedicated to contacting a broker’s back book and checking in with them could pay dividends. He explains: “If someone sits down and calls a broker’s existing client base, they may make 20 calls in an hour and get through to seven or eight clients. Two of those people may be interested in doing something.

“If you look at it, that could mean $1.5 million worth of business out of that hour. From a commissions perspective, that’s going to be close to $10,000 just for that hour of time spent.”

But having a dedicated staff member to focus on one particular area, like post-settlement services, doesn’t necessarily need to be in-house.

By delegating certain duties to external providers, brokers have been able to allocate more resources towards enhancing their core services and increasing overall profitability.

For many, outsourcing enables the business to achieve two objectives simultaneously: making better use of resources by having a dedicated person/process for a specific part of the loan writing process and reallocating the resulting savings to improve services. As a result, higher sales and increased return on investment (ROI) have become tangible outcomes for these brokers.

Christian Stevens from Shore Financial elaborates: “By outsourcing parts of my business, I’ve been able to focus on what I do best: client relationships and new business opportunities.”

With the support of his offshore team handling credit analysis, broker support, and post-settlement work, he has been able to achieve substantial reductions in turnaround times, notable increases in conversion rates, significant reductions in run-off, and a remarkable doubling of his business each year.

While there are myriad processes that can be outsourced, such as lead generation, loan packaging, lodgement, tracking, post-settlement, and social media activity, Mr Stevens recommends keeping core activities that require detailed knowledge of the business and local market in-house to maintain strong customer relationships.

“Customers always like to talk to the broker and it’s important for repeat business,” Mr Stevens says.

“[However], done right, [outsourcing] will free up 80 per cent of your time to focus on what truly matters — helping your clients navigate the complex world of mortgages.

“I have built the best team in the industry, that allows me to focus 100 per cent of my time on the front-end new business.

“It also helps me keep my operating costs manageable, since outsourcing is generally more cost-effective than hiring additional in-house staff.”

Offshoring

Likewise, Paul Williams, broker principal at Mortgage Choice South Melbourne, found that striking the right balance between in-house operations and outsourcing was instrumental in his business’s growth and success.

After meeting with outsourcing provider Loanworks, who helped identify suitable candidates for his business, he decided to outsource certain duties.

Mr Williams now has a diversified team structure consisting of three brokers: a person who runs the file from submission to settlement; a staff member dedicated to post-settlement reviews; and a credit analyst as well as three packagers and processes in Manila and an outsourced marketing consultant.

According to the Victoria-based broker, the outsourcing journey has been a delightful exercise and he’s tried to make the outsourced staff members feel part of the team by bringing them out to Australia, introducing them to his family, friends, and Australian culture.

Over the course of five years, these team members have become an integral part of his operation, delivering exceptional results, he says.

“We love them and they’re doing a really terrific job, as I’m sure many brokers can attest to,” he says.

However, the Mortgage Choice broker highlights the importance of creating an environment that promotes open dialogue and feedback, so that brokers can benefit from their offshore team’s insights, ensuring optimal outcomes.

“We’ve given them open licence to challenge us if they feel that we’ve chosen the wrong lender or missed a particular policy niche or aspect … because it helps us all in the end,” he says.

For some brokers, offshoring may be an unattractive option as training someone overseas requires greater oversight and time.

Matthew Posselt, mortgage broker at Elite Finance Australia, decided to bring his administrative processing back onshore after finding that it was taking longer to double-check the work of offshore staff.

Outsourcing to tech tools

Outsourcing can also extend to administrative tasks, with many technology platforms being adopted for appointment scheduling, data entry, repricing, and customer marketing.

Suvidh Arora, the chief executive of Victoria-based brokerage Cinch Loans, has recognised the importance of harnessing the power of new technology for his business’s success, utilising tools like Quickli to expedite serviceability checks and Maestro to predict behaviors and ensure compliance and competitiveness.

Additionally, he’s adopted Salestrekker and Effi Technologies to streamline the brokerage’s operations, Confluence for streamlined data collection and collaboration, and has even developed the brokerage’s own enterprise CRM, in collaboration with Effi, to create an ecosystem where all client information is consolidated and accessible via their own app.

To further enhance their services, Cinch Loans has recently brought on board Loanoptions.ai and is in discussions with Stride and Joust, exploring additional tech solutions to augment their offerings.

Identifying what to outsource

For brokers looking to free themselves from the shackles of administrative tasks and outsource lower-value jobs, the first step is identifying who is accountable for what.

Anthony Landahl, managing director at Equilibria Finance, says he recently shifted his brokerage “from being a sole practitioner to a practice” by identifying who was accountable for the different functions of the business and what roles were needed to deliver good outcomes for clients.

By starting from lead generation and tracking all the jobs through to post-settlement, Mr Landahl said he was able to see where additional resourcing was needed.

He says: “We’re filling each of those roles as the business grows. But right now we’re a team of 11: four brokers, four admin, a credit analyst, a full time post-settlement care member, and marketing support.

“Businesses are going to have to wrestle with whether they keep doing everything themselves (and work longer hours) or start building out.

“By doing that, whether it’s in-house or outsourced, hopefully they can also get back some time, energy, and space for personal time.”