‘Lazy’ brokers can’t complain about the industry bodies if they’re not prepared to get involved with them, say ex and current presidents of the FBAA and MFAA.
‘Lazy’ brokers can’t complain about the industry bodies if they’re not prepared to get involved with them, say ex and current presidents of the FBAA and MFAA.
Both the main industry bodies are crying out for more engagement and feedback from their members, and all they’re getting is criticism, says FBAA president Peter White.
“It’s easy to sit back and criticise, but unless you’re participating and helping, put up or shut up. I’m not being nasty but it’s very easy to point the finger and the reality is we’ve only got a certain amount of heads and hands to do things, but the more we have, the more we can do and the quicker we can do it, and it means we have a much larger voice.”
The wider broker population are brilliant, says White, but a few “lazy” brokers continue to critique the bodies while refusing to put in the effort to make a change.
“We want more councillors in certain states, but trying to get people involved you feel like you’re asking to cut their head off, but then they’re happy to say you’re not doing a good enough job. If you think we’re not, get on board, be part of solution. That’s what I’d love to see.”
White understands that brokers “have a lot on their plates”, but being a part of an industry body doesn’t necessarily take a lot of commitment.
“It’s not a huge amount of time. There are no real barriers to helping out. There’s one meeting every couple of months for council, maybe up to three events a year… It’s not a huge thing to ask. Especially if you think you have a voice that needs to be heard.”
MFAA president Phil Naylor agrees, and says the organisation is always looking for “new blood and fresh ideas” at state council and board level.
The MFAA also encourages feedback through its weekly newsletters and LinkedIn forums.
“I understand and respect the fact that being, in the main, one person businesses it’s not always easy for brokers to get involved in councils, forums etc. That is why we provide the options of online involvement through our LinkedIn forums.”
But ex-FBAA president Graham Reibelt argues that neither industry body offers a strong enough value proposition to its members to encourage involvement, and suggests the best way to change this would be to make membership entirely optional.
If aggregators and lenders were to remove requirements for brokers to be a part of an industry body, the organisations would be forced to increase their desirability to brokers.
Optional memberships would also help to combat the difficulties of engaging members, says Reibelt.
"There would be an argument to say that the best way to encourage engagement would be for members to become more involved and thereby be able to direct a better value proposition internally. But right now, they don’t have to. They can just carry on doing what they’re doing.
"I think it would encourage them to say 'We now have to give members what they want', and make membership something special."
While the MFAA’s most recent member engagement survey showed just over half were “completely” or “somewhat” satisfied with the industry body, Naylor says feedback from members has always been very positive.
“No one’s membership is taken for granted. The value proposition that MFAA has of increasing and maintaining high professional standards, lobbying on behalf of members and consumer and media awareness, has shown to be an attractive proposition to the majority of our members.”
White feels that the FBAA has been proactive with regards to feedback, but admits that he doesn’t “have the intellectual property on know-it-all”, which is why he encourages brokers to “be a part of the solution, rather than posting anonymous negative comments on blog sites or off the back of editorials”.
“My advice to everyone is to get involved at committee level, or if you’re really passionate about doing something good for the industry, do what I did. We don’t care who it is, but get involved with someone so you can have your voice heard in a more succinct and a more profound fashion.”
