Feedback vital for providing the best broker support
State Manager in the Spotlight and BDM in the Spotlight is a regular series, giving brokers insight into the lives of some of the country’s leading relationship managers.
Paul Marshall, Queensland state manager for aggregator outsource Financial, is the focus of this week’s Q&A profile.
Marshall has been working in the finance industry for almost three decades and joined outsource Financial in 2017.
Part of his role as state manager is mentoring new mortgage brokers and Marshall says there are two things which are crucial to becoming a successful broker – building referral relationships and building relationships with lender BDMs and soaking up their knowledge.
He says if there’s one thing he could change about the industry it would be clawbacks, but not for refinances, only where a circumstance has happened to cause the loan to end within clawback period through no fault of the broker – for example a property sale or marriage breakdown.
Full name: Paul Marshall
Job title: Queensland state manager
Company: outsource Financial
Number of years in the industry: 29
Location: Tanah Merah, Brisbane, Queensland. Looks after all of Queensland and northern NSW
When and how did you join the finance industry?
I joined the industry in 1994 working for Suncorp Bank in investments.
What does your current role involve?
My role has a variety of functions, primarily it is the support and growth of my members [brokers and referrers], working with them closely to provide guidance on growing their business. I provide mentoring to our new-to-industry members, who rely on me heavily in the first few months, to guide them to becoming successful mortgage brokers.
I liaise with lenders and work closely with our business partners to ensure our members are a priority for updates and educational opportunities. I work closely with our sales team to guide them as needed and overall, ensure the growth of the business in Queensland.
How do you assist brokers to grow their business?
Typically, I like to conduct a thorough assessment of business operations and strategy, then identify any areas that require more efficiency.
I look for ways that the business can grow by either implementing additional systems, support, staff and/or brokers and guide them on the complexities of managing growth and trajectory to ensure they are also protecting their business.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
Seeing the success of my brokers and the relationships we build. I look at some of the brokers who started with me in mentoring some years ago and now, to see those same brokers with successful broking businesses, starting to take on new brokers of their own, and growing to the next level. Having a hand in their success means the world to me. I’m super passionate about helping my brokers grow, in a way that’s meaningful to them.
What’s the most important advice you can offer to a new-to-industry broker?
Two things that I believe are the most vital to being a successful broker is:
- Building referral relationships – without referrers you are much less likely to have a sustainable business.
- Get in front of your lender BDMs – build relationships and knowledge. The BDMs are the only ones that can provide the knowledge that is vital for you to gain confidence and competence. They can provide the one thing that software cannot provide … risk appetite! This ensures you have heightened knowledge about which options may suit the needs of your clients.
How important is broker feedback in ensuring you provide the best service?
Feedback is vitally important. Every broker and business are different, with their own unique needs and objectives. It is important we know that we are providing the right amount of support for that particular business and broker.
We conduct “Broker Business Reviews” that give a guide on what their needs are and what additional support they require, but like life, things are continually growing and changing so feedback is important so we can pivot with their business.
What makes a great state manager?
Having the ability to understand the needs of the business and be able to stay focused on the goals of the business, whilst managing the ever-changing complexities and needs of brokers, clients, lenders, training, investigations and all the day-to-day hurdles thrown at you.
It’s important to maintain the balance of making decisions that are in the best interest of outsource Financial, whilst sustaining our strong relationships, with stakeholders.
If there’s one thing you could change about the industry, what would it be?
It would have to be clawbacks. However, I’m talking about clawbacks where the finalisation of the loan was inevitable without the knowledge of the broker eg: sale of a property , marriage breakdown, etc.
I think we are the only industry where a broker can perform their duty and perform it well, get paid for performing their duty, and through no fault of their own, get their income taken away because of the decision a customer has made independently of the broker.
Again, I’m not talking about refinances where the broker is refinancing a loan or the customer has sought another broker to rewrite that loan, I’m talking about the instances where a circumstance has happened to cause the loan to end within clawback period through no involvement of the broker who wrote the loan.
Describe your ideal weekend:
My ideal weekend would have to be spending time with all my family and close friends, whilst sitting on a cruise ship – that would be magical.
BDM in the Spotlight and State Manager in the Spotlight features a range of relationship managers and BDMs within the mortgage and finance industry.
State managers who featured recently include: Bluestone Home Loan’s Tommy Lee, AFG’s Jia Jia Wong, La Trobe Financial’s Brendan Grenfell, Liberty’s Belinda Ng, Mortgage Choice’s Matt Bocking and Ben Livera, Assetline Capital’s Jason Lucas, BOQ’s Samantha Robinson and SFG’s Amy Thorburn.
If you know a great BDM or state manager that you would like featured in this series, please email [email protected]
