Broker creates a different "Happy Café" experience

Just as a plane needs resistance in order to fly, the idea of All R Loans director and 2017 MPA Top 100 Brokers finalist Rooma Nanda to start Happy Café Hours in big corporate coffee houses across Sydney was met with discouragement.

Brewing in Nanda’s mind since 2011, Happy Café Hours would gather a small group of invited potential clients and receive free coffee and financial advice from the All R Loans team which is operated mostly by women.

Speaking to MPA, Nanda said despite being repeatedly told that coffee shops have rules against such activities, she mustered the courage to walk into 1 Ferrer Place, entered a café and spoke to its owner who immediately gave her the green light to set up Happy Café Hours.

The café owner turned out to be the “loveliest person” I have ever met, Nanda said. The owner eventually became an All R Loans client. 

Nanda’s once doubted idea has come a long way, so much so that her team had to stop doing Happy Café Hours in 2015 because they had to attend to the stream of referrals coming from satisfied customers. We were still “reaping the fruits” of our activity, she said. Even today, All R Loans lodges applications that come from leads from Happy Café Hour events that happened over three years ago.

In 2016, Nanda decided to make the Happy Café Hours a one-day, one-hour a week gig at two coffee spots. She used to bring just one broker, but now she involves two students to help with promotion. Nanda even has a placard that says, “All R Loans sponsors Happy Café Hour with a free home loan health check.”

Although there are a few people who attend just for the free coffee, the number of sincere ones who give All R Loans genuine business is incomparable. In 2016 alone, Nanda’s team received almost 400 valid leads which they are still converting up to this day.  

“We started to get two or three leads a week from this process. They are now part of our database and we are still reaping the fruits,” Nanda said.