The owner of Blackfish Finance says her favourite thing about being a broker is helping clients
Leah Busby wears many hats throughout her day. As the owner of Blackfish Finance in Glenelg, Busby strikes the right balance between work and home life as a wife and mother of two kids and a golden retriever.
Recently named ALI’s Broker of the Year SA/NT, Busby adds this latest achievement to an array of accolades that both her and her business have earned over the past ten years – a testament to the exceptional customer service they continue to provide each day.
Over a decade in the industry
Busby was working at Flinders University when a friend offered her the opportunity to change careers and move into the finance world. Taking a chance, she completed the relevant study required at the time and started working as a mortgage broker. Not long after, Busby decided to start her own business and so began Blackfish Finance.
“After being in the industry for over 10 years, my favourite thing about being a Mortgage Broker is helping clients. I love everything from the client interactions, being able to educate clients, supporting them and getting them excited about the goals and dreams they are going to achieve,” she says.
Work-life balance is key
Delivering excellent customer service while maintaining a healthy work-life balance is something brokers often struggle with. Despite not being in the office full-time, Busby has perfected the art of helping clients; structuring her day and setting up a thorough process to ensure clients have what they need before they come in.
Developing strong relationships from the outset, Busby and the team at Blackfish rely solely off a referral base and don’t need to advertise at all for the business.
“I had a client call me recently asking if I knew a chef looking for work. We have clients reaching out to see if we know of anyone looking for short-term rental and we even have clients seeking assistance with their personal affairs and advice from our in-house accountant,” she says.
“I really do believe we have become such a trusted source of information for our clients, they know we will try to help them with anything. As a mum, a wife, a business owner – they know I’m happy to have a chat about anything with them if it means we can help them.”
Busby and her staff are no strangers to going above and beyond to help clients achieve their goals. She recalls a situation in which a young mother had a bank go back on formal approval, just as she was about to move to a new house with five dependent children.
“We moved heaven and earth for this client as she was incredibly emotional, crying her eyes out in our office. We got the entire world involved to sort it out because I was certain the bank had done the wrong thing – the mortgage insurer had done the wrong thing, issuing formal approval and then going back on it,” she says.
“So, I went straight to the head of my aggregator and straight to the head of third-party banking. It was a very stressful situation, but we persevered, and the banks ended up waving a few things and we got the outcome we wanted. The bank contacted the client and told them, if it wasn’t for Leah, we would not have got this resolved”.
Offering protection to clients is part of a great customer experience
As a supporter of loan protection from the very beginning, Busby has included the discussion in her customer interactions for over 10 years.
“Clients know about loan protection from the first initial phone consultation and appointment. I also include information in the welcome pack clients receive on day one”.
ALI’s Loan Protection Plan (LPP) is a complete part of Blackfish’s process – ensuring every client has explained clearly what protection is and what it can mean to them if something unexpected were to happen.
“It’s such an easy product to offer, it never comes across as a hard sell. It’s ultimately the client’s decision whether they take out a policy or not but it’s important that we be there to discuss it with them throughout the process”.
