'We have many family-run businesses within the network who have an affinity with our values'
In the latest edition of MPA’s long-running Spotlight series, Damien Muir discusses his role as the Loan Market’s state director, Western Australia. Muir brings four decades of financial industry experience to Loan Market, making him an invaluable font of knowledge for thousands of business owners as they seek to diversify in the constantly evolving broking industry.
- Full name: Damien Muir
- Job title: State director WA
- Company: Loan Market
- Number of years in the industry: 40 (finance), 26 dealing with brokers
- Location: Perth, WA
When and how did you join the finance industry?
I grew up in Tasmania. When I finished school in 1984, I was considering studying economics and then I came across a newspaper advertisement for an entry-level program at the Commonwealth Bank. Forty years later, I’m still in the finance industry.
In the 1990s, the role of brokers was gaining momentum in the industry and I had the opportunity to relocate the family to Newcastle.
Over the next 18 years, while working with a few different lenders, I really enjoyed working with, and building, strong relationships with brokers in Sydney, Newcastle, and regional NSW and helping them to grow their businesses.
My time in Newcastle took me up to 2015, when I was offered the chance to move interstate again. I took up the role of CBA state manager, third party banking in Perth and three years ago I joined Loan Market as state director WA.
What does your current role involve?
I manage a team of specialists working alongside our brokers and business partners to support them and deliver across our key promises: save them time, keep them safe, help them diversify for new revenue streams, find and keep clients and grow their businesses.
We help our businesses leverage these promises to unlock productivity, develop clarity around their operations and what’s needed to achieve their business goals.
It’s also a real thrill introducing our proposition to new recruits: they’re surprised at the level of support and the partnership we commit to, with accountability on both sides.
How do you assist brokers to grow their business?
We offer high-touch support to business owners in several ways:
- Business Builder sessions: These are monthly catch-ups with business owners to focus on compliance measures, lead generation, digital marketing results, loan application processes and any bottlenecks, team management and more. The Business Builder program is instrumental in helping Loan Market businesses enhance their performance and grow at scale. There’s a high level of accountability from both the businesses and the state support team. We don’t have a “one-size fits all” approach – it’s all about understanding what each business wants to achieve and Loan Market devising a plan to achieve that through process mapping and Kaizen workshops.
- Kaizen workshops and process mapping sessions: We help teams refine their processes to not only become more efficient and strip-out double-handling and other wasted activities, but to also home-in on what activities are really going to add value to the experience of their customers. The end goal is to enable our businesses to process more loans in less time, cementing Loan Market brokers as the most productive in the industry.
- Helping business owners diversify: We have very strong commercial and asset finance offerings within Loan Market. We train brokers to write commercial and asset finance loans themselves or connect them with others in the network who are leaders in these specialisations, allowing them to tap into the expertise of their network peers while maintaining the client relationship themselves.
- Small group sessions: Loan Market is a community and our business owners lean on each other. We bring together like-minded business owners for small group sessions where they can share their journeys together.
- Brokerversity: Our digital learning and development platform is a game-changer in training the brokers of tomorrow and upskilling experienced individuals who want to stay ahead of the game. It allows individuals to learn at their own pace and provides users with the most engaging content in the industry.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
Helping self-employed businesspeople achieve their goals is very rewarding. Ambitious business owners want to be held accountable to their growth plans. In turn, I make sure Loan Market supports owners in the best way possible.
Culturally, internally and externally, everyone buys in. Loan Market is a family-owned business and we have many family-run businesses within the network who have an affinity with our values.
We have a strong commitment to the wellbeing of our business owners. Brokers are in-demand and we recognise the need to support business owners and their teams through the physical and mental challenges of delivering five-star service while simultaneously growing their businesses.
What’s the most important advice you can offer to a new-to-industry broker?
Learn to be a broker before you become a business owner – the two roles are completely different.
I’ve seen some amazing brokers that have struggled to be business owners. Our industry is complex and the only constant is change. It’s vitally important they learn the ropes of being a broker before they become a business owner.
How important is broker feedback in ensuring you provide the best service?
Broker feedback is critical. Every broker is different in terms of tenure, goals, business needs and requirements. It’s inspiring when you receive great feedback and when the feedback isn’t so good, it allows you time to reflect on where the gap is in our offering or execution of services. Our team is adaptive and always wanting to improve ourselves. The biggest indicator of our own progress is the improvement of our businesses.
What makes a great BDM or state manager?
It’s a multi-faceted role: a strong customer service focus, adaptability, change-management skills, agility, sustaining high workloads and managing priorities, being curious and comfortable to suggest and recommend changes when necessary.
If there’s one thing you could change about the industry, what would it be?
It would be wonderful for the industry if more women had the confidence to make the move into broking and business ownership.
Juggling the commitments of career and family is certainly tough for women, especially in an industry which grows in profile every year. As an industry – and probably as a wider community – it would be great if there were support mechanisms that would encourage more women to view broking and business ownership as a sustainable career path.
Within LMG, the Leading Ladies community has become the industry’s pre-eminent support network for women. It’s an amazing community where women have been emboldened to connect, share their triumphs, trials and tribulations, and grow collectively. Leading Ladies has been influential in the growth of female business owners in the group.
Support networks like this are critical to women having the confidence to find the work / life balance needed within the industry.
Describe your ideal weekend.
I recently became a grandfather, which has been a wonderful experience. Little Beau has been an amazing addition to our family. I love spending time with my grandson and the family any chance I get.
I also love finding new great places to eat and sharing good food and a couple of drinks with family and friends.
I love the warmer weather and I’m lucky to live in Perth which is the sunniest capital city in Australia. I’m always keen for a nice walk (used to be a run a few years ago!) or bike ride to reflect and recharge, followed by time around the pool reading a good book.
