"We won't gouge a client for commissions"

The COVID-19 pandemic was especially challenging for commercial brokers, with office spaces emptying out and people staying home by the thousands. The secret to surmounting those challenges was broadening relationships and a relentless focus on the customer, according to Jean-Pierre Gortan, managing director of Simplicity Loans & Advisory. That strategy led to Gortan (pictured above) being named one of MPA’s Top 10 Commercial Brokers for 2021.

“For us, we’ve built our business around the ethos of always putting the customer first,” Gortan said. “I think that’s because we’ve delivered a number of strong results for clients over the years consistently. We have a very big pride in our reputation, so we’ll always look to do the best by all of our suppliers, whether it’s the lenders or the clients. Also, we derive value from our strong lender relationships, so we feel we can create value for our clients in that manner.”

Gortan said that the pandemic pushed Simplicity to up its game.

“Our business is a commercial-only business – we don’t offer home loans as part of our regular product suite,” he said. “So, during COVID, it was a bit of a trying time for us, because a lot of lenders were effectively concerned about asset values and [they didn’t] necessarily stop lending, but they put a pause on a lot of their transactions. … What that did is, it enabled us – but it also forced us – to become better at what we did and form some relationships with lenders that we’d never done transactions for. So we had that pressure to solve clients’ issues during a very uncertain time. But I think, ultimately, it’s made us a better business, so the challenge from that contraction is sort of a blessing in disguise. It was extremely stressful at the time for us and all the staff, but I think we’ve come out of it really well.”

Read next: MPA 2021 Top 10 Commercial Brokers: Jean-Pierre Gortan

Gortan said that focusing on the customers as long-term relationships was vital to Simplicity’s success.

“The culture of our business is built around delivering value – not just for clients, but also for referrers,” he said. “And that’s to be distinguished from price, because, at the end of the day, a suitable outcome for a client is obviously a better outcome in the long term. So we opt to put relationships ahead of any preconceived ideas around fees or what a broker should earn from a transaction. Our aim internally is to deliver effectively the best transaction that we can rather than gouge a client for commissions and things like that. What we’re looking to do is … form a long-term relationship with each of these people.”