Of all the challenges brokers face across the life of their business, perhaps the hardest is scaling: how do you bottle what made the business successful and replicate it at scale while preserving systems and structures painstakingly built over time?
And how do you achieve that growth sustainably, without disrupting the existing business?
For Adam Brown, NAB executive of broker distribution, these questions reflect the evolving nature of the broker role.
“As customer expectations continue to evolve, brokers are increasingly being called on to provide more than just access to finance,” he said.
“Customers are more proactive and looking for greater guidance, reassurance and structure, elevating the broker’s role as a trusted partner.
“It’s about meeting customers where they are and supporting them through each stage of the cycle – focusing on the moments that matter to build trust, deliver tailored support, and help customers move forward with confidence.”
How brokers can scale decisively
Darren Little, general manager of Smartmove – Professional Mortgage Advisors, part of Viridian Financial Group, is part of the team that built one of Australia’s top independent brokerages through automation, efficient workflows, and strategic scaling.
At the Better Business Summit 2026, held in partnership with National Australia Bank (NAB), he shared some of the principles that have helped drive the organisation’s expansion.
“When you have a large number of people working across multiple countries, you have to have a really clear focus. That’s what we’re trying to do,” he said.
“It comes back to this consistent process. What we want to do is future-proof our business and make sure that our brokerage can withstand change.”
Little is well-placed to advise on the mechanics of scaling a brokerage. During his time at Smartmove, the brokerage has transformed from a boutique operation on Sydney’s lower North Shore into one of Australia’s largest independent groups, repeatedly crowned a Top 25 Brokerage in the country and named Australia’s Major Independent Brokerage of the Year at the Australian Broking Awards last year.
One of the keys to their success, according to Little, has been developing processes and policies designed to support a growing team, with systems built for scalability from the outset. “We challenge all of that thinking – will our process handle 100 brokers?” he said.
“If you’re developing a process that only works for one broker, it’s not scalable.”
The Smartmove team is now 100-strong, including dedicated support staff working across offshore branches in the Philippines and Nepal.
To support that growth, Little said the business has invested heavily in building a clear and effective onboarding process.
“All our training gets done consistently.
It’s all repeatable,” he said.
“We use a lot of video content. We use a lot of tools. We also use a product called Litmos, which is a learning and development program to do all of our training.
“That way, when we are onboarding team members, they get that consistent experience. That is exactly what we’re looking to provide for our clients – that consistent experience.”
Little admitted that scaling internationally introduced complexity to the business and its day-to-day operations but said strong processes and operational guardrails have helped position the team for success.
“Having guardrails on that process has been really critical but also having local leadership, whether it’s in the Philippines or Nepal,” he said.
“That’s been really strong to ensure, from a cultural point of view, we’ve got those guardrails.”
Little also touched on the importance of building a team culture capable of supporting long-term expansion.
One example has been the business’ commitment to integrating its offshore team into the wider company culture, including regularly bringing staff to Australia for 90-day periods.
“And what the opportunity was not just to come down for a holiday and work in our office every day, but it was really to create that emotional connection,” he said.
“We wanted our team from the Philippines at the time to actually learn and see that emotional connection.
Go to an open inspection, go to an auction, go to a real estate sales meeting.
“So, they actually got to understand what our clients were going through.”
According to Little, this strategic thinking and discipline helped position Smartmove to unlock further scale through its integration with Viridian Financial Group in 2023.
“What we’ve tried to do is to move to a model where we could have a national footprint. The tactical rationale was really clear,” he said.
“At the moment, we have now 16,000 clients across the group, and that was to then broaden the proposition with our clients. We wanted to create new revenue streams.”
The broker–customer relationship
One of the biggest challenges of scaling a brokerage is ensuring the business does not lose sight of what matters most: the relationship between a broker and their clients.
Introducing new technology into the business is one area where striking the right balance becomes critical, according to Little.
While technology has helped Smartmove drive greater efficiencies across the business, Little said there has also been a conscious effort to ensure the focus remains firmly on delivering a consistent and personalised client experience.
“What we realised really quickly is that we were a broker business, not a tech business, and the technology space was moving so fast,” he said.
However, Little said scale for the sake of growth is not the answer and reiterated the importance of ensuring the broker–client relationship is never compromised. “There’s a lot of merger work happening around town at the moment. There are a lot of people exploring and expanding. And that’s something I really encourage,” he said.
“But if you are looking at it, don’t look at it as purely just a merger. Look at it as a real strategic lean back for growth. And that was absolutely our focus when merging.
In a more competitive market, the brokers who will stand out are those who can scale strategically and work smarter, not just harder
– Adam Brown, executive for broker distribution, NAB
“Our merger enabled Smartmove to transform from that traditional brokerage, to be a lot more holistic with our clients. Our clients are now benefiting from that.”
NAB’s Brown also said a strategic mindset will be important for brokers considering scaling.
“In a more competitive market, the brokers who will stand out are those who can scale strategically and work smarter, not just harder,” he said.
“This means being deliberate about how they grow and where they invest, whether that’s expanding into areas like commercial broking or adopting tools like AI in a way that genuinely improves productivity and customer outcomes.”
