William Lockett talks about aggregator's growth over 30 years
After 30 years in operation, Specialist Finance Group continues to experience high growth due to its successful and flexible business model and aggregating services.
MPA caught up with SFG managing director William Lockett to learn more.
Q: SFG celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2021 – was this a big achievement for a family-owned aggregator?
A: Celebrating 30 years in aggregation is a significant milestone, as during this journey you need to evolve and adapt to business and industry changes, which I believe SFG has done well.
A large reason for our longevity and business success has been engaging the right people at SFG. Some of these same people are still part of our group and have been for the large majority of our 30-year business history.
We commenced in 1991, and the greatest change has been legislation and licensing requirements, which now see all finance brokers operating under the same regime as opposed to when there were originally no licensing requirements and later when states and territories had different licensing requirements.
Q: What has been the biggest challenge for SFG over the past 30 years?
A: The greatest challenge was the original report and outcome of the royal commission of 2019.
This report completely shocked our great industry as it gave no value to the service proposition that mortgage brokers carry out for consumers and communities. The report and its findings and recommendations would have had serious consequences for mortgage brokers and their business models.
SFG, as part of the MFAA Aggregators Forum, strongly contributed to this forum’s industry response to the royal commission, engaging key stakeholders such as ASIC, the Treasury and members of parliament. SFG also canvassed MPs directly to educate them on the actual work mortgage brokers do and how they were solely remunerated for a valued service provided to their clients with full knowledge and consent.
This period was extremely frustrating and worrying for all mortgage brokers and key stakeholders, but through our industry’s outstanding response to the royal commission led by the MFAA and the FBAA, common sense prevailed, and the status quo was retained.
Q: What are the key strengths of the SFG business model?
A: We continually strive to provide key strengths in our business model, and we believe we have five key strengths. These begin with great service and a high level of communication from the entire SFG team, which includes myself as the managing director. Mortgage brokers are business owners, and they like to deal directly with me as the business owner of SFG.
Technology plays a vital part in our industry. SFG has partnered with Salestrekker to provide its own enterprise version, SFGconnect, delivering what we believe is industry-leading software to SFG members.
We also provide our members with four different commission options, allowing them to select a commission platform that best suits their business model and transfer to a new commission platform as their business changes.
We provide balance sheet finance to our SFG members that allows them to grow their business through extra cash flow funding for business expansion, business acquisition or trail book purchases.
We have a business mantra: “We have a relationship-based approach to doing business, and trust and communication are at the forefront of all of our dealings with both our members and business partners.”
Q: Describe a typical business day leading SFG.
A: I’m a very early riser, [getting up at] around 4 a.m. My first appointment is with my British bulldog and black labrador whilst I enjoy my first cup of coffee.
I’m on the tools by 4:30 a.m., which works great for my national business as I’m based in Perth and I can engage with both SFG members and business partners and my eastern states management team.
Around 6 a.m., it’s time for my wife, Ann-Maree, and I to have breakfast together as we navigate the day ahead, which includes five beautiful children.
This early start allows me to deal with my most pressing issues in a timely fashion. When I arrive at my office in Subiaco about 8 a.m., I feel as though I’m already on top of my day as it commences.
Being a national company, you have many matters to address and manage across six states and different time zones.
My favourite part of any business day is speaking directly to SFG members.
I generally like to be home by 5:30 p.m., and this is where it’s very much family time, then later on I recap the day and plan for tomorrow.
On weekends I make myself available for business meetings and Zoom calls. Given our primary business partners are mortgage brokers and they work outside business hours, it’s important for an aggregator to be available at these times.
Q: Tell us about SFG’s rapid growth as an aggregator.
A: Our business model has clearly resonated with mortgage brokers, and this has been the prime reason for our outstanding business growth, both among individual brokers and medium and large mortgage broking businesses.
We are fortunate that industry-leading brokers have joined SFG, which has seen them substantially grow their businesses with the aggregating services we provide.
Q: What are your plans for SFG in the next 12 months?
A: Put simply, our number one goal is to improve our aggregation services. Key projects this year include introducing a new internal CRM platform for our SFG staff and launching a new commission platform hopefully in July that will bring additional benefits to SFG, our members and business partners.
Last year we opened our new SFG Melbourne office, and this year we plan to relocate our Sydney office and make extensive renovations to our head office in Subiaco, Perth. We will also be adding to both our administration and management teams.
