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With less than three months to go until National Finance Brokers Day (NFBD) organisers are pushing out information to consumers.
Founder Dino Pacella has given five tips to picking a good broker, stressing the importance of building a good relationship.
Now in its third year, NFBD will take place on 15 August in Sydney. The aim of the day is not only to promote the benefits of using a broker, but also the human element between a broker and a consumer.
The “The 5 secrets to finding a great Finance Broker” list focuses heavily on the relationship brokers build.
Speaking to Australian Broker, Pacella said that brokers need to make sure their clients feel confident at such an important time.
The first item on the list encourages customers to seek recommendations and look at social media for more information.
Pacella said, “It’s critical for a broker to build the business on that basis. If brokers go and potentially build that relationship and have the ability and skill level to ask for a referral based on the service they provided, it gives them another touch point to contact the client.”
The second point tells consumers to ask questions like: what is the broker’s specialty? What lenders do they like using and why? What’s their number one tip on helping you repay your loan fastest?
Pacella added, “It’s important for the customer to get that level of confidence on who they’re going to be doing business with and let’s face it doing this lending it’s a serious transaction, so the customer wants to feel they’re in capable and trustworthy hands.
“So from a broker’s perspective, it’s I want to show you that I am an expert in that field and you’ve come to the right person to be able to assist in what you need to get done and cross it over the line.”
Thirdly, Pacella tells customers to really consider how invested their broker is. He tells brokers it’s not just about sending a simple happy birthday text anymore.
“It’s about knowing the customer and knowing everything about the customer beyond just what they want on that application,” he added.
“It’s knowing the customer wants to buy their first home, that they’re planning to have a family in the next 12 months, one applicant might be up for a promotion and when he gets that promotion they might be looking at getting an investment property . It gets you into their lives, so whenever they do one of those things they say I’ve already spoken to my broker about that, he or she already knows what I want to do, I’ll give them a call and we’ll just run with the discussion.
“You’re becoming part of their life, not just a part of their transaction.”
He also tells them to be diligent and to make sure their broker is licenced and part of an industry body, as well as ask about their latest success.
He said, “Again it’s their level of confidence, to make sure that broker’s licenced, that the stuff they’ve researched up on, that that broker can do that and can deliver it. Particularly around ethical standards they want to ensure that the broker they’re doing business with on that serious transaction has all the qualifications and has ticked all the boxes and that they can actually do business as they say they would.
“I don’t think brokers take out their certificates, but it’s about that level of confidence that they’re dealing with an industry professional.”
Lastly, he tells the customer to “go with your gut”, saying there needs to be a rapport and they should feel that the broker can answer all their concerns.
To brokers he said, “It’s ensuring everything you do you’re transparent with the customer, so if you’ve gone out and you’ve spoken to 10 BDMs to get the right response, let your customer know that. Don’t be afraid to inform them about the amount of work that you’ve done and tell them you’re doing that because you’re placing them at the centre of everything you do.
“Brokers need to have a clear outline in regards to a communication strategy with their clients from start to finish and beyond. So it’s not just off the whim there are consistent updates with what is happening with their application and then there’s a consistent play or strategy that they use post settlement.
“It’s a confidence equals trust thing. Without that trust you’re not going to do business with the person, you’re not going to click with that person and you’re not going to have that level of confidence that allows you to move forward.”
You can view the original list here.
