Double-AMA winner Ruan Burger has built first-rate brokerages not once but twice. He gives MPA his tips for starting from scratch
Those taking the stage at this year’s Australian Mortgage Awards were mostly familiar faces. Indeed, we at MPA make it our job to know who’s likely to be gracing The Sydney Star every year, and who’s in the running for the fabled crystal trophies.
However, in the case of Time Home Loans, 2015 winner of both New Brokerage of the Year and Independent Brokerage of the Year (≤5 Staff), we were blindsided. Where had this brokerage come from, and how, after just two years in operation, had it clinched two trophies?
For those who have been in the industry a little longer, the name Ruan Burger will be more familiar. As head of Gladstone-based brokerage Home Loans Etc, he won MFAA Broker of the Year in 2013 and 2012, as well as numerous awards from his aggregators AFG. Yet at the start of 2013, after eight years building up the business in Gladstone, Burger and his family “walked away from it all”.
They left both their brokerage and their home, relocating to Brisbane 600km away. “Our little boy has quite a few medical issues with special needs,” explains Burger. “We had to come to a city, and Brisbane was it.”
Broking certainly didn’t factor into the equation, as for Burger family comes first: “If it’s purposeful then it’s not really a choice so to speak; it was done for the purpose of our family, so whatever challenges may have come from it, I was willing to face.”
Having upped sticks, sold Home Loans Etc, and also sold his trail book, it was about as close to a clean break as it’s possible to get in broking. Burger had no immediate plans to get back into the industry. “Knowing the challenges we were facing starting over, as a family not just a business, I thought first and foremost I wanted to get this family set up, and from there, focus on the next venture,” he says.
Nevertheless, “one thing led to another and before I knew it I was running a broking firm again”. In January 2013, Time Home Loans was born.
Time Home Loans
Given the awards achieved by both brokerages, the urge to compare Time Home Loans and its predecessor Home Loans Etc is irresistible. However, Burger insists there are significant differences: “I think it’s a different market, because it’s so much bigger. In Gladstone you had touchpoints on people more often, maybe through touch footy, or other events.” In Brisbane, on the other hand, “you’d be lucky to see people once a year, because people come from all different walks of life. So it was more concentrated in Gladstone, so at the end of the day, with marketing, you get more bang for your buck”.
Many of the approaches that worked for Burger in Gladstone didn’t work so well in Brisbane, Burger recalls. “I took some bold moves; I invested – and I’ll never forget this – $30,000 on being on the front page of the ‘Property Week’ section of the Gladstone Observer. I didn’t yet have the numbers to ustify making that investment, but I also knew that if I wanted this to work I really had to give it a go.”
In Brisbane, Burger originally had Time Home Loans sponsor local basketball and rugby union clubs, but this approach simply didn’t work as well as it had in Gladstone. Not only did Burger lack contacts in the local community but he was up against a number of successful brokerages, many of whom had long-term relationships with clients. It quickly became clear that Time Home Loans needed a different approach if it was to grow quickly.
AFG’S SMART SYSTEM
Now six years old, AFG’s SMART system is a CRM and marketing tool used by Time Home Loans. AFG says it:
• segments customer database based on risk of losing them
• sends out automated broker-branded communication to clients on loan anniversaries, etc
• runs a brokerage’s website and updates it
• provides business analytics
• offers residential and commercial variants
THE KAIZEN PROGRAM
Commonwealth Bank’s Kaizen Program is a five-day complete review of a brokerage’s processes, with the aim of increasing efficiency.
It looks at service flow and information flow, and develops a standardised process for new and existing staff to follow. AMA Broker of the Year 2014 Raymond Xue credits feedback from Kaizen reviewers for the restructuring of the way his staff handled loans, which contributed to his win.
The workshops are far from cheap, but general manager of broker sales Sam Boer told MPA they “are so transformational for a business that any costs incurred and the perceived lost time of the participants is paid back many times over”.
Developing advocates
Something that certainly connects the two brokerages – and is indeed key to Burger’s approach – is a focus on referral partners. “I’ve always been one to like dealing with real estate agents, because of my Gladstone days. Most of our business in Gladstone came from real estate agents, and I’ve always felt I’ve had a connection with how they do things.”
In fact, Burger aims not just for referral partners but also for advocates, and takes the difference seriously.
“To put it in simple terms, you get someone who refers you for business, and someone who refers you because it’s personal. An advocate is willing to refer you because it’s personal, because they truly believe in what you do,” he notes. Furthermore, an advocate isn’t just fixated on getting their client across the line. “They truly understand your business, and if it’s a deal that’s better to walk away from, they understand.”
Starting from scratch again has required him to adapt his approach to referral partners. Time Home Loans pays real estate agents referral fees, something Burger never did in Gladstone. Given that other brokers in the city pay fees, there was no way around the issue, Burger says. “I think it was difficult for me, coming here with no contacts, to do it any other way.”
Having real estate agents properly understand the broking business doesn’t just improve the quality of their leads, Burger explains, but also increases the number of clients being referred on for refinancing. His brokerage’s upstart status and reliance on referral partners has influenced its client base, he adds. “An investor tends to buy and sell twice a year, so they’ll have a more active relationship [with a broker], whereas a mum and dad don’t sell once or twice a year, instead perhaps every four years, so any relationship they may have had could fall by the wayside, and those are the ones we knew we could influence, and they’re a good client to have.”
Although Burger ultimately aims to develop quality advocates, he recognises that Time Home Loans’ requirement for leads early on necessitated building a range of referral relationships. “I’ve always taken the approach that beggars can’t be choosers at the start, and you’ve got to talk to an awful lot of referrers, and some are going to shut you down and others are going to give you a look.” Some relationships won’t work in the long term but should be taken on for immediate benefits, he advises brokers.
Honing processes
Burger is the first to admit that developing personal relationships requires a substantial investment of time. That’s why Time Home Loans’ other focus is on efficiency across all areas of the business. And that starts with client selection: “We concentrate on our own backyard, and the reason is that if I see a client we have a much better chance of getting that business. We want to meet up with clients; we want to build up relationships, because they become tomorrow’s referral partners.”
For follow-up services, Burger uses AFG’s SMART CRM system extensively to send out automated updates on current news, such as RBA rate changes, which he finds effective in pushing clients to get back in contact. However, he doesn’t off er gifts for clients who refer on. “As a business you have to stand for something, and we believe we give good service, and we expect them to refer to us, because this is what we do for them. We give them service, and in return we’d like them to give us business.”
As with estate agents, Burger has invested the time to develop relationships with lenders. “We made very sure very early that we knew which banks we’d need to take us to the next step,” he explains. “We invested in those relationships, travelled to see credit teams, because we needed to understand precisely how they’d deal with us … We’ve always taken the time to understand who our business partners are going to be and that they can put a face to the name and know who they’re dealing with.” Again, the reward is efficiency. Time Home Loans has fewer unsuccessful applications, and those they do put in match lenders’ requirements, making good relation-ships easier to maintain.
The year ahead
This year's AMAs are nine months away, and Burger is looking to make Time Home Loans even more efficient by that point. It’s taking part in Commonwealth Bank’s Kaizen Program, in which business experts assess a brokerage’s processes and suggest how they might be improved.
Burger welcomes the feedback: “I think you need to be open to criticism during that process; just because you’re passionate about what you do doesn’t mean you do it right.”
He’s more circumspect when it comes to expanding the brokerage, however. “You want to take your time bringing people in, making sure they’re not just good for the business but good for the people that have made the business,” he says. “In 2016 I am hoping to add another two brokers, but when you talk to other companies they’re talking about 15 or 20 new brokers; we’ve got no such aspirations.”
Having the right people is central to having the right referral relationships, Burger concludes. “As a small business the one thing that’s going for you is good staff morale and a great team spirit. You have to be very cautious that you’re not giving that up. Your clients can see it, your referral partners can see it; they want to deal with you because there’s that emotional attachment to your business.”
However, in the case of Time Home Loans, 2015 winner of both New Brokerage of the Year and Independent Brokerage of the Year (≤5 Staff), we were blindsided. Where had this brokerage come from, and how, after just two years in operation, had it clinched two trophies?
For those who have been in the industry a little longer, the name Ruan Burger will be more familiar. As head of Gladstone-based brokerage Home Loans Etc, he won MFAA Broker of the Year in 2013 and 2012, as well as numerous awards from his aggregators AFG. Yet at the start of 2013, after eight years building up the business in Gladstone, Burger and his family “walked away from it all”.
They left both their brokerage and their home, relocating to Brisbane 600km away. “Our little boy has quite a few medical issues with special needs,” explains Burger. “We had to come to a city, and Brisbane was it.”
Broking certainly didn’t factor into the equation, as for Burger family comes first: “If it’s purposeful then it’s not really a choice so to speak; it was done for the purpose of our family, so whatever challenges may have come from it, I was willing to face.”
Having upped sticks, sold Home Loans Etc, and also sold his trail book, it was about as close to a clean break as it’s possible to get in broking. Burger had no immediate plans to get back into the industry. “Knowing the challenges we were facing starting over, as a family not just a business, I thought first and foremost I wanted to get this family set up, and from there, focus on the next venture,” he says.
Nevertheless, “one thing led to another and before I knew it I was running a broking firm again”. In January 2013, Time Home Loans was born.
Time Home Loans
Given the awards achieved by both brokerages, the urge to compare Time Home Loans and its predecessor Home Loans Etc is irresistible. However, Burger insists there are significant differences: “I think it’s a different market, because it’s so much bigger. In Gladstone you had touchpoints on people more often, maybe through touch footy, or other events.” In Brisbane, on the other hand, “you’d be lucky to see people once a year, because people come from all different walks of life. So it was more concentrated in Gladstone, so at the end of the day, with marketing, you get more bang for your buck”.
Many of the approaches that worked for Burger in Gladstone didn’t work so well in Brisbane, Burger recalls. “I took some bold moves; I invested – and I’ll never forget this – $30,000 on being on the front page of the ‘Property Week’ section of the Gladstone Observer. I didn’t yet have the numbers to ustify making that investment, but I also knew that if I wanted this to work I really had to give it a go.”
In Brisbane, Burger originally had Time Home Loans sponsor local basketball and rugby union clubs, but this approach simply didn’t work as well as it had in Gladstone. Not only did Burger lack contacts in the local community but he was up against a number of successful brokerages, many of whom had long-term relationships with clients. It quickly became clear that Time Home Loans needed a different approach if it was to grow quickly.
AFG’S SMART SYSTEM
Now six years old, AFG’s SMART system is a CRM and marketing tool used by Time Home Loans. AFG says it:
• segments customer database based on risk of losing them
• sends out automated broker-branded communication to clients on loan anniversaries, etc
• runs a brokerage’s website and updates it
• provides business analytics
• offers residential and commercial variants
THE KAIZEN PROGRAM
Commonwealth Bank’s Kaizen Program is a five-day complete review of a brokerage’s processes, with the aim of increasing efficiency.
It looks at service flow and information flow, and develops a standardised process for new and existing staff to follow. AMA Broker of the Year 2014 Raymond Xue credits feedback from Kaizen reviewers for the restructuring of the way his staff handled loans, which contributed to his win.
The workshops are far from cheap, but general manager of broker sales Sam Boer told MPA they “are so transformational for a business that any costs incurred and the perceived lost time of the participants is paid back many times over”.
Developing advocates
Something that certainly connects the two brokerages – and is indeed key to Burger’s approach – is a focus on referral partners. “I’ve always been one to like dealing with real estate agents, because of my Gladstone days. Most of our business in Gladstone came from real estate agents, and I’ve always felt I’ve had a connection with how they do things.”
In fact, Burger aims not just for referral partners but also for advocates, and takes the difference seriously.
“To put it in simple terms, you get someone who refers you for business, and someone who refers you because it’s personal. An advocate is willing to refer you because it’s personal, because they truly believe in what you do,” he notes. Furthermore, an advocate isn’t just fixated on getting their client across the line. “They truly understand your business, and if it’s a deal that’s better to walk away from, they understand.”
Starting from scratch again has required him to adapt his approach to referral partners. Time Home Loans pays real estate agents referral fees, something Burger never did in Gladstone. Given that other brokers in the city pay fees, there was no way around the issue, Burger says. “I think it was difficult for me, coming here with no contacts, to do it any other way.”
Having real estate agents properly understand the broking business doesn’t just improve the quality of their leads, Burger explains, but also increases the number of clients being referred on for refinancing. His brokerage’s upstart status and reliance on referral partners has influenced its client base, he adds. “An investor tends to buy and sell twice a year, so they’ll have a more active relationship [with a broker], whereas a mum and dad don’t sell once or twice a year, instead perhaps every four years, so any relationship they may have had could fall by the wayside, and those are the ones we knew we could influence, and they’re a good client to have.”
Although Burger ultimately aims to develop quality advocates, he recognises that Time Home Loans’ requirement for leads early on necessitated building a range of referral relationships. “I’ve always taken the approach that beggars can’t be choosers at the start, and you’ve got to talk to an awful lot of referrers, and some are going to shut you down and others are going to give you a look.” Some relationships won’t work in the long term but should be taken on for immediate benefits, he advises brokers.
Honing processes
Burger is the first to admit that developing personal relationships requires a substantial investment of time. That’s why Time Home Loans’ other focus is on efficiency across all areas of the business. And that starts with client selection: “We concentrate on our own backyard, and the reason is that if I see a client we have a much better chance of getting that business. We want to meet up with clients; we want to build up relationships, because they become tomorrow’s referral partners.”
For follow-up services, Burger uses AFG’s SMART CRM system extensively to send out automated updates on current news, such as RBA rate changes, which he finds effective in pushing clients to get back in contact. However, he doesn’t off er gifts for clients who refer on. “As a business you have to stand for something, and we believe we give good service, and we expect them to refer to us, because this is what we do for them. We give them service, and in return we’d like them to give us business.”
As with estate agents, Burger has invested the time to develop relationships with lenders. “We made very sure very early that we knew which banks we’d need to take us to the next step,” he explains. “We invested in those relationships, travelled to see credit teams, because we needed to understand precisely how they’d deal with us … We’ve always taken the time to understand who our business partners are going to be and that they can put a face to the name and know who they’re dealing with.” Again, the reward is efficiency. Time Home Loans has fewer unsuccessful applications, and those they do put in match lenders’ requirements, making good relation-ships easier to maintain.
The year ahead
This year's AMAs are nine months away, and Burger is looking to make Time Home Loans even more efficient by that point. It’s taking part in Commonwealth Bank’s Kaizen Program, in which business experts assess a brokerage’s processes and suggest how they might be improved.
Burger welcomes the feedback: “I think you need to be open to criticism during that process; just because you’re passionate about what you do doesn’t mean you do it right.”
He’s more circumspect when it comes to expanding the brokerage, however. “You want to take your time bringing people in, making sure they’re not just good for the business but good for the people that have made the business,” he says. “In 2016 I am hoping to add another two brokers, but when you talk to other companies they’re talking about 15 or 20 new brokers; we’ve got no such aspirations.”
Having the right people is central to having the right referral relationships, Burger concludes. “As a small business the one thing that’s going for you is good staff morale and a great team spirit. You have to be very cautious that you’re not giving that up. Your clients can see it, your referral partners can see it; they want to deal with you because there’s that emotional attachment to your business.”
