MPA finds out how to make the most of your aggregator partnership manager – with Choice Aggregation
MPA finds out how to make the most of your aggregator partnership manager – with Choice Aggregation
Whether you're a new broker or growing your business, well established or exiting the industry, making the most of your partnership manager’s expertise can pay off no matter what stage you are at in your business. MPA teamed up with Choice Aggregation to take a look at what its partnership managers can do for you and your brokerage.
Choice Aggregation also recently took part in an online series with MPA, looking into how partnership managers can help brokers. The series delved into how, as brokers, you can grow business volumes, recruit and expand your teams, maximise peer-to-peer learning, market your businesses, navigate compliance and regulatory change, build strong networks and utilise the aggregator’s strong relationships with lenders. (See page 45 for the web link to the series.)
Knowing the value
Tim Schneider is a Choice partnership manager for Victoria/Tasmania and says every day presents a new challenge. “Probably the most fascinating part of my role is that on any given day you are supporting a different person about a different need,” Schneider says. “Our role as a partnership manager is to be anything from a psychiatrist to a business coach to everything in between.
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“It’s really important that we make sure [brokers] foster very healthy relationships with lenders – no one sits above anyone in the pecking order. The broker’s no more important than the lender, the lender’s no more important than the aggregator, the aggregator’s no more important than the broker – it’s all a partnership.”
Choice Aggregation Services CEO Stephen Moore adds that brokers should make the most of peer-to-peer learning and business development days.
“With a culture of knowledge sharing and tailored support, our experienced team brings a strong track record of working closely with brokers throughout a range of market cycles,” Moore says. “We believe in working as a team to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes, collaborating with our members to improve each other’s businesses.”
Help at any stage
Moore encourages brokers to seek out help from partnership managers, regardless of which stage of growth their business is at. “We are an inclusive aggregator, supporting both experienced and new-to-industry brokers. No matter their stage of business maturity, our partnership managers work closely with members to grow their businesses.
“A customised approach for success is one of the most important features an aggregator can offer brokers in today’s changing market. Choice prides itself on being flexible in its relationships and listening to brokers’ individual needs, to help them achieve their growth aspirations.”
Schneider explains that challenges change as a broking business grows, andit’s important for brokers to know that they do not need to face them alone. “So many businesses, especially established ones, think, and rightfully so as they’ve built successful businesses: ‘I won’t bother someone, I can sort this out myself ’. But they’ve got to understand that our role is to support them – that is why we’re here. So the most important thing is for them to understand to reach out.”
For new brokers starting out, partnership managers can support them in lodging deals, learning to use software, managing compliance and doing their NCCP, and by introducing them to key stakeholders and lender BDMs. As brokers move into the growth phase and get busier, they may need help with time management, increasing capacity and making sure they are still balancing work and home life in a healthy way.
Then once the business matures, it becomes more about increasing efficiency and adding support, such as administrative assistants, or bringing on their first loan writer. “How do we support you to earn the same money you’re earning, write the same volume you’re writing, but do it in half a day less?” Schneider says. “And it’s all around
efficiency.”
He adds that a particular challenge for established businesses is to continue to make time to work on the business as opposed to in the business.
Finally, when a broker is exiting the industry they may be looking for advice on how to sell their business and to whom. But they may also be well established and simply want to cut down on workload. “Some of them don’t want to grow any more. In fact some of them want to start writing 10% less every year, and that’s fine too,” Schneider says. “And if that’s the case, we just work with our brokers to run their businesses the best way, the most efficient way, so that way they’re achieving their goals, because not every broker’s goal is financial – a lot of brokers come in with the goal of lifestyle.”
Case Study: Boosting Capacity
Choice Aggregation partnership manager Tim Schneider recalls a story of a broker who went from a one-man band to leading a team of 10 loan writers. Although this commercial broker was well established, with expansive networks and writing $50m per year, he found he had hit his capacity in volume and was unable to write more on his own. So he sought out help from his partnership manager. Schneider could see that this broker’s own brand name was limiting him, and so he suggested moving into another brand and leveraging it to recruit brokers. Within 18 months he had doubled his volume. This story exemplifies that brokers can seekuseful help from a partnership manager at any point in their business life cycle
Maximising the partnership
The most successful aggregators act as business partners to brokers, Moore believes. “Our partnership managers are specialist business coaches who drive collaboration and shared learning across our network.”
For brokers to get the most from their partnership, Schneider says, it’s important to set aside time for meeting their partnership manager instead of contact being reactive. “It’s really important for thebroker and the aggregator to work together and have a plan,” he says, but it’s up to the broker to make it happen. “If the broker doesn’t set aside the time, whether it’s once a week, once a month, once a fortnight, even if it is for a call just to check in or for a two-hour business plan quarterly, then it won’t happen.
“To get the most out of your aggregator, be open to participation when it comes to business development days and peer-to-peer sessions,” he says. “Be open to attending, open to providing your experiences, and open to listening and learning – that one is critical to our business model and our culture.”
You can view Choice Aggregation’s online series on Partnership Managers with MPA at: http://www.mpamagazine.com.au/
Tim Schneider is a Choice partnership manager for Victoria/Tasmania and says every day presents a new challenge. “Probably the most fascinating part of my role is that on any given day you are supporting a different person about a different need,” Schneider says. “Our role as a partnership manager is to be anything from a psychiatrist to a business coach to everything in between.
“It’s really important that we make sure [brokers] foster very healthy relationships with lenders – no one sits above anyone in the pecking order. The broker’s no more important than the lender, the lender’s no more important than the aggregator, the aggregator’s no more important than the broker – it’s all a partnership.”Choice Aggregation Services CEO Stephen Moore adds that brokers should make the most of peer-to-peer learning and business development days.
“With a culture of knowledge sharing and tailored support, our experienced team brings a strong track record of working closely with brokers throughout a range of market cycles,” Moore says. “We believe in working as a team to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes, collaborating with our members to improve each other’s businesses.”
Help at any stage
Moore encourages brokers to seek out help from partnership managers, regardless of which stage of growth their business is at. “We are an inclusive aggregator, supporting both experienced and new-to-industry brokers. No matter their stage of business maturity, our partnership managers work closely with members to grow their businesses.
“A customised approach for success is one of the most important features an aggregator can offer brokers in today’s changing market. Choice prides itself on being flexible in its relationships and listening to brokers’ individual needs, to help them achieve their growth aspirations.”
Schneider explains that challenges change as a broking business grows, andit’s important for brokers to know that they do not need to face them alone. “So many businesses, especially established ones, think, and rightfully so as they’ve built successful businesses: ‘I won’t bother someone, I can sort this out myself ’. But they’ve got to understand that our role is to support them – that is why we’re here. So the most important thing is for them to understand to reach out.”
For new brokers starting out, partnership managers can support them in lodging deals, learning to use software, managing compliance and doing their NCCP, and by introducing them to key stakeholders and lender BDMs. As brokers move into the growth phase and get busier, they may need help with time management, increasing capacity and making sure they are still balancing work and home life in a healthy way.
Then once the business matures, it becomes more about increasing efficiency and adding support, such as administrative assistants, or bringing on their first loan writer. “How do we support you to earn the same money you’re earning, write the same volume you’re writing, but do it in half a day less?” Schneider says. “And it’s all around
efficiency.”
He adds that a particular challenge for established businesses is to continue to make time to work on the business as opposed to in the business.
Finally, when a broker is exiting the industry they may be looking for advice on how to sell their business and to whom. But they may also be well established and simply want to cut down on workload. “Some of them don’t want to grow any more. In fact some of them want to start writing 10% less every year, and that’s fine too,” Schneider says. “And if that’s the case, we just work with our brokers to run their businesses the best way, the most efficient way, so that way they’re achieving their goals, because not every broker’s goal is financial – a lot of brokers come in with the goal of lifestyle.”
Case Study: Boosting CapacityChoice Aggregation partnership manager Tim Schneider recalls a story of a broker who went from a one-man band to leading a team of 10 loan writers. Although this commercial broker was well established, with expansive networks and writing $50m per year, he found he had hit his capacity in volume and was unable to write more on his own. So he sought out help from his partnership manager. Schneider could see that this broker’s own brand name was limiting him, and so he suggested moving into another brand and leveraging it to recruit brokers. Within 18 months he had doubled his volume. This story exemplifies that brokers can seekuseful help from a partnership manager at any point in their business life cycle
Maximising the partnership
The most successful aggregators act as business partners to brokers, Moore believes. “Our partnership managers are specialist business coaches who drive collaboration and shared learning across our network.”
For brokers to get the most from their partnership, Schneider says, it’s important to set aside time for meeting their partnership manager instead of contact being reactive. “It’s really important for thebroker and the aggregator to work together and have a plan,” he says, but it’s up to the broker to make it happen. “If the broker doesn’t set aside the time, whether it’s once a week, once a month, once a fortnight, even if it is for a call just to check in or for a two-hour business plan quarterly, then it won’t happen.
“To get the most out of your aggregator, be open to participation when it comes to business development days and peer-to-peer sessions,” he says. “Be open to attending, open to providing your experiences, and open to listening and learning – that one is critical to our business model and our culture.”
You can view Choice Aggregation’s online series on Partnership Managers with MPA at: http://www.mpamagazine.com.au/
