Start collaborating with your competition, says the Finance Broker of the Year, for the good of your business and the industry.
Start collaborating with your competition, says Finance Broker of the Year Moshe Moses, for the good of your business and the industry.
Industry silos – and egos - are to blame for limitations in the third party channel at present, says the director of Niche Financial Group, and it’s time that brokers started working towards a solution.
Niche Financial Group was awarded this year’s AMA Brokerage of the Year award for Diversification and, as an ex-banker, Moses says his aim has always been to offer the same array of financial products as a bank.
Niche Financial employs both financial planners and mortgage brokers, many of whom are trained to deliver a range of financial products. But most importantly, says Moses, they are also trained to look outside the business to help their clients.
Brokers will often forgo opportunities that they don’t have the expertise to deal with – to the detriment of their business and the entire third party channel, says Moses.
“A broker won’t talk amongst their own aggregator and seek assistance when they can’t satisfy a client’s requirements in things such as commercial loans or finance deals, they would rather let that deal go – and banks are the same… they don’t say to brokers ‘we can do that for you if you’re not experienced enough and we can flick you an upfront’.
“It’s egos and protectionism of their own areas of influence. They’re not willing to partake and talk to each other and benefit from each other - even within the bank they have their own silos. They need to go and talk to the third party channel as one.”
Banks can do their bit by making an effort to present a holistic platform for brokers, and suggests tools such as PD days should be an opportunity to introduce brokers to opprtunities in different areas of finance.
“That’s the way that brokers themselves are going to wake up and say ‘Wait a minute, I do have this in my business but I’ve never looked at it, now I’ve got a bank that is providing it on a holistic platform, why don’t I just bring them in to help me with it?'... That’s where brokers, aggregators and banks can really widen the scope for the third party channel offering.”
Not only can there be significant financial incentive for this collaboration, it also helps to keep your clients sticky, says Moses. You become the point of contact for all their financial needs, and there is no need for them to look elsewhere for assistance.
“Unless your service platform that goes with it is crap then you’ve got an offering far better than a bank because you’ve got no churn, you’ve got direct contact, people know who you are, what you are and what your basis is.”
