Facing into the worries and challenges of repeated lockdowns, the Loan Market Geelong team have continued their mission to put their clients first, says franchise owner Sarah Thomson
With Victoria as their base, the Loan Market Geelong team have had to deal with some tough challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. But despite the worry and stress about their own situation, franchise owner Sarah Thomson says they have always put their clients first.
After starting out around 18 years ago as a solo broker working out of her own home, Thomson moved into a real estate agent’s office as she got busier, then to a shared office with other brokers, then to an office on her own, and now works in a large office with her team.
As Victoria faced into heavy restrictions and lockdowns over the past year and a half – more so than any other part of Australia –the Loan Market Geelong team prioritised focusing on their existing clients. Despite not being at the office, they made sure that when a client called they were attended to very quickly, understanding that clients were stressed and needed answers fast.
Thomson also brought on new staff to look after the brokerage’s back book and arranged the teams to allow clients to be looked after at each stage of the settlement journey. She says finding a connection with the borrower is really important.
“If they don’t have a connection with the broker, they’ll go on to find someone they do have a connection with,” Thomson says.
“It’s really about finding common ground and listening to our clients and to what their needs are, and then fulfilling those needs. Probably one of the biggest things is reassurance; clients want to be reassured they’re doing the right thing.”
Reassurance has definitely been important over the past 18 months. Not only were clients uncertain and worried, but brokers also had to keep learning about changes in the lending space and then passing the right information on to them.
Thomson says this was one of the biggest challenges of the past year as changes came into play every week and new borrower incentives were released.
“The biggest thing has been trying to explain it all to first home buyers. We’re having to explain so many acronyms – FHLDS, LMI – and build grants that can’t be contributed towards the purchase, their eyes just glaze over. There are so many options and entitlements for consumers, it can be overwhelming,” she says.
In addition to first home buyers, the brokerage welcomes customers with a wide range of borrowing needs. It does not market to any specific segment, as most clients come through word of mouth.
Thomson says it really depends on the market cycle at the time, but there are currently a lot of construction borrowers coming to the brokerage for solutions. However, she believes it’s important to have a holistic offering for clients.
“We want to have that diversity of being across all those areas: first home buyers, construction, investors,” she says.
“It gives you a bigger clientele that will come to you. First home buyers are people that have never done this before; if they’re constructing as well, we can help them as they buy land and do the construction. They deal with us for a long time, and the majority of those will come back to us when they’re looking at investing or referring other friends.”
The overwhelming nature of the last year and the push to support clients has meant the team at Loan Market Geelong have had to work long hours. With employees not being able to go out because of the lockdowns, and having to work into the evenings and through weekends, Thomson says her main focus for the next year is to look after both their wealth and health.
This will include making sure her team finish work on time and can tune out when they leave the office, as well as introducing team-building events.
Despite the long hours and complex environment, Thomson says the culture of the brokerage is “awesome”, and everyone supports each other and loves what they do.
“Every single person working here at the moment absolutely loves what they do and enjoys coming to work each day,” she says. “We don’t feel it’s like work. I would say they’re pretty happy faces every day, which is brilliant.”
