As a new to industry broker, Lauren Hall has had to consistently stay on top of changing policies and regulation
One of the most difficult things for new-to-industry brokers over the past couple of years has been keeping on top of changing policies and regulation; firstly from the Royal Commission and now from the Coronavirus pandemic.
For 2020 Young Gun Lauren Hall, while this process can be tiring, knowing she is helping her customers makes it all worthwhile.
MPA spoke with the Southport-based Loan Market broker about why she loves the profession and how she is overcoming the current challenges to continue “creating futures” for her clients.
Helping clients with ongoing support.
With COVID-19 coming out of nowhere to thwart the financial plans of people across the world, there has never been a more challenging time for home owners and business owners to stay on top of their commitments.
Having built her career on developing long term relationships with clients, Hall says she is happy to help. But, seeing her clients in a state of worry can be upsetting.
“It’s been a pretty stressful few weeks.”
“Having to help clients who have only recently settled into new properties after the hard work that they’ve done to save and budget, and now are feeling stressed about meeting commitments – that’s really hard,” she says, explaining that she becomes emotionally invested in her clients’ journeys.
She says while it is upsetting to see what so many people are going through at the moment, being able to help clients when they need it makes the job really rewarding.
The vision she works towards in customer service is that of “creating futures” and she says it gives her great satisfaction to be able to help clients achieve their goals as part of a long-term relationship.
Navigating an industry of constant change.
For Hall, understanding the everchanging policies of lenders due to the Royal Commission and COVID-19 requires agility and plenty of energy.
“Out of the 40 or 50 banks that the Loan Market group have on our panel, I would use 15 to 20 of them quite regularly because our client base is really diverse.”
“So, there is a lot of time that goes into understanding that bank’s policy, building the relationship with that team, preparing a client and getting them ready for that.”
She says when policies change it can take quite a lot of time and hard work to stay in the know.
On having a great mentor and team.
Having learned much from Managing Director and former MPA Young Gun Phil Rogers, Hall attributes much of her success to having a good support team and mentor, as well as the ability to adapt to change.
“I’ve moved into different parts of the business over the time to get a bit of an understanding of how the rest of my team work.”
“There’s been great positives in that. I’m a better broker today because I’ve been open-minded and prepared to shift in the business as we’ve needed to.”
She says she was attracted to the family concept of Loan Market when offered the role and found the team’s reputation was really positive.
“I was really impressed with their values.”
“They do a lot for their people and their team.”
“If you can get into a new business as a broker with a great mentor, a great team and you’re prepared to put the time and the effort in, I think you’ll do really well.”
