Streamlined processes are the foundation of a successful brokerage, says a Sydney broker.
Shore Financial senior credit adviser Christian Stevens (pictured) said he realised early in his career that breaking down processes and allocating them across two teams, front-end and back-end support, were key.
“The front-end team comprises credit analysists who focus on the initial query including completing the detailed proposal with funding position and product comparison reports,” Stevens said.
“They are able to turn this around for our clients within 48 hours regardless of the complexity of the scenario.”
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Stevens said once the most suitable lender for the client was selected, that was when the back-end support team could step in.
“The back-end team can produce compliance documents and lodge the application to the lender within 24 hours,” he said.
“They take care of everything up until settlement. At Shore Financial, we also have a post-settlement officer who regularly follows up with each client to ensure there are no issues and new accounts that need to be set up.”
Stevens said communication was crucial when working with a large number of clients.
“We have a daily management meeting and the whole team meets monthly to review the data collated and understand how we can evolve and make the process better,” he noted. “This involves documenting the steps from first contact all the way through to settlement.”
Stevens said he was always looking for new ways to optimise the business.
“A platform such as Quickli is great as it can help speed up proposals or marketing initiatives to drive additional business from existing clients,” he said. “It is a lot easier to do a client’s second deal and my goal is to be their broker for life.”
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For the month of May, Stevens closed out $124 million in settlements.
“The two main factors that resulted in this achievement would be the continuous improvement of my process and the expansion into commercial finance,” he said.
“Ever since starting as a mortgage broker, I had the goal of settling $100m in a single month – something I was told many times would be impossible. I am proud to have settled more than $124m in May 2022.”
Stevens said the best part of being a broker was the rewards for effort on offer.
“There are not many jobs that you can make your own hours and help so many people at the same time,” he said. “I genuinely love supporting so many first home buyers get into the market, investors restructure their portfolios and families build wealth through property.”
