The new mortgage movement: A new discipline for building long-term partnerships and client relations

Narrator: [00:00:03] CMP Talk, the Canadian Mortgage Professional Podcast. This episode is presented in partnership with MCAN Home Mortgage Corporation. Leanne Conroy and Gita Cartwright. Business development managers at MCAN join us in the latest episode of CMP Talk to discuss what the new mortgage movement means. And they also share a new discipline for building long term client relationships.

Fergal: [00:00:38] Hello again and welcome to another edition of CMP Talk. I'm Fergal McAlinden, news editor for Canadian Mortgage Professional. And today I'm very pleased to be joined by one of the leading companies in Canada's mortgage space to take a closer look at some of the exciting changes they made in recent times and discuss some of the ways that the relationship between lender and broker continues to evolve. With me today from MCAN Home Mortgage Corporation are Leanne Conroy, business development manager in the Greater Toronto area, north and East, and Gita Cartwright, business development manager in the Greater Toronto area, West and Atlantic. Leanne and Gita are award winning individuals celebrating almost 50 years of combined experience in the mortgage space. They're frequently called upon to offer coaching, training and insights across the industry. And I'm delighted to be joined by both today. Leanne and Gina, thanks for joining me. How are things with you?

Gita: [00:01:27] Great. Thanks for having us.

Leanne: [00:01:28] Hey.

Fergal: [00:01:30] Thanks for coming on. We're so happy to have you on today. I'm actually really excited to talk about this because I understand you have some big news that's come out recently. You've rebranded and launched new tech campaigns on new markets. So could you just give a bit more information for for our listeners and fill us in on that?

Leanne: [00:01:47] Yes, absolutely. We're so excited officially as of April the first, we are MCAN home and we're proudly owned by MCAN Financial Group. So this is long been a plan. It's the unified brand that builds on the experience and the success of our parent company. So believe it or not, we have been we were listed on the TSX back in 1992, and our company has delivered consistent and sustainable growth for the last, holy smokes, 30 years, 1992. I won't even tell you what I graduated from in 1992.

Gita: [00:02:20] Well, it wasn't elementary school, Leanne.

Leanne: [00:02:25] Okay, all right. So we're the same age you know watch out. So Plan has been an investor in the Canadian real estate market for, I guess, over 30 years.

Fergal: [00:02:33] Okay, excellent. And I wanted you to kind of take me through a little bit more about this kind of new mortgage movement that I've been talking about. What does that really entail?

Gita: [00:02:46] Maybe I'll tackle that one. Every so often, industries will experience a shift.

Leanne: [00:02:53] In the mortgage industry more than any other, I would say.

Gita: [00:02:56] Yeah, I mean a lot. I completely agree. And I think right now it's really pushing us to reframe the way we work with our broker partners. And one of the things that we are striving to do is position ourselves as an extension of their team, and we want to do that by arming them with the right tools that they need for success while still providing them with an amazing client experience. And I think moving away from the rate conversation, certainly nothing new. It's something, Lianne, I'm sure you can agree that we've been discussing for many, many years. It's been a big topic for years. So what are the things we are talking about right now? We're really leaning into service. As I mentioned earlier, we're building strong relationships. We're working to improve our communities. We're improving technology for ease of use, and we're trying to stay innovative by creating new products. And I do think this movement is pushing us all to be better partners to our broker network.

Fergal: [00:03:56] It's an interesting point that you made about the focus on rates, because, I mean, maybe it's just because rates have been so low over the past couple of years during the pandemic, there's sometimes an assumption that the rate is king, and that's the only thing that we should focus on. But why do you think it's so important not to focus just on the rate and also make sure the clients are getting, you know, top notch empathy, insight from their mortgage providers and brokers and things like that.

Leanne: [00:04:22] Exactly. Like how do we make it about the entire process and not about one solution as opposed to, like you said, hanging your hat on one facet of the process, which is namely the rate clients need certainty that they're getting the right solution, not a stopgap for now, but something that will serve them long term. They need ease. They need a straightforward experience that doesn't cause stress or confusion, and they want to feel good about the companies that they work with. We all need to succeed. We all want to support each other and help each other grow. So we're all in it for the long run.

Fergal: [00:04:56] And this is something that I mentioned at the top of the of the show. I know that obviously the relationship with brokers is so important to all lenders across the spectrum. But I know that Amazon in particular has been focusing on some real new developments of late. What are some of the ways that MCAN has been redefining that broker lender relationship, particularly this year?

Leanne: [00:05:17] Absolutely. So with our ICON program, which is kind of quote unquote a program that rewards brokers on the alternative side, we are really digging into social media. So we want to profile not only our own brand, but our broker partners through testimonials and free mortgage payments. We again, we really want to. Promote them. And I have to say, we do a very good job. Also, we've had to kind of speed up our. Technological innovation, as you would call it. And we've just launched our broker portal. So this allows us to upload documents and for our our brokers to really touch and feel and deal with their, their, their mortgage applications in real time.

Gita: [00:06:02] Leanne I would be remiss if maybe we didn't take this opportunity to talk about Macs.

Leanne: [00:06:07] All right. So thank you. I can't leave without introducing Macs. We've taken one of our most senior underwriters and actually he really specializes in our BFS program. So we've taken them and put them into a deal run scenario so brokers can email Macs. He can they can call him and they'll run through a deal and really go through the deal, the ins and outs, what documents will be necessary so that we can really set them up for success.

Fergal: [00:06:36] So those are some really interesting new changes that you just mentioned. And it sounds to me as though there's a bit of a focus on longer term partnerships and improving that client relationship. Is that something that you'd agree with? I mean, do you think the movement is going to develop those aspects?

Gita: [00:06:52] Yeah, as Leanne mentioned, a few ways I will echo those thoughts, but I do want to add that from a corporate perspective, I really think that clients are going to move pretty comfortably into relationships with alternative lenders. What they are going to expect, though, is that they're going to get the same suite of products and options that they can traditionally get from their bank. So the stuff that really matters right now is making sure we're expanding our product lines, building brand development to create that trust and awareness and of course, being thought leaders in our field for brokers partnerships like this helps replace. What Leanne alluded to is who has the lowest rate and focus more on partners that want their feedback, that want to help foster innovation and be a part of a more holistic approach to the mortgage process. Ultimately, the end consumer, our homeowner, will benefit from all these improvements and enhancements within the industry.

Leanne: [00:07:53] And then to loop this back to the highlight on our rebrand, they want to make sure that they're working with a long tenured company that's agile and strong enough to support these changes.

Fergal: [00:08:04] Okay. Well, I want to ask you about something that is always so important. Whenever I'm talking with lenders or brokers or anybody in the industry, it always comes back to like education and training and just how central they are. Is that something that's a big focus and in its relationship with brokers?

Gita: [00:08:23] Yeah, I completely agree with that statement. And for those of you that that know me and Leanne, I know she feels exactly the same way. Training is something we're both very passionate about. There is such a huge push for efficiency on all fronts. So arming brokers with information at the beginning of the process really helps with that. It's not about pushing product, but like I've mentioned a few times, it's about being a trusted partner, being that extension of your team. So we run quarterly national webcasts covering things like who we are, our offerings, and our commitment to the communities across Canada that we live and work in. And these presentations really do encourage further, more, more specific training on a more personal level with individuals or teams. And we can focus on products and running through deal scenarios. We also have a ton of data and we want to share that information on market trends where there might be gaps so we can add to helping our brokers in their efficiencies and overall success.

Fergal: [00:09:29] Is there anything in particular that you would say to brokers or that you would want brokers to keep top of mind whenever they're dealing with MCAN Like anything that springs to mind in particular.

Gita: [00:09:38] Yeah, I'll maybe take that one as well. We are here to help. I think some of the questions that you've asked today really exemplifies that, that we are here to help through training, arming you with the tools that you need for success. You've got some incredible regional BDMs like Leanne and myself that are here to help you, so take advantage of all that assistance and put that all in your toolbox so we can help you be as successful as you possibly can. And not to sound like a broken record, but I know this is big and again, this is a topic that comes to light all the time, is around efficiencies. So having the right documents, telling us the full story and working with like partners like ourselves are really the key to help with efficiency. We always want your feedback. We can't get better and make changes without you pushing us to be better. We've taken some amazing feedback from the broker channel and we've implemented that in our business and we're forever grateful. So we know you care when you give us your feedback. So we appreciate that.

Fergal: [00:10:50] Okay, amazing. Well said. And just before I let you go, Leanne, and Gita. Is there anything else that you wanted to mention that my questions didn't cover or anything you'd like to? Any kind of message?

Leanne: [00:11:01] Yeah, if you don't mind, I'd just like to leave it with a few thoughts that we're one team working for a common goal. The way that we used to do business, the push pull is really a thing of the past. Recently, we've been focusing on a word, a core value of empathy. And empathy is not just about understanding another's needs and goals, but it's about actually being interested in them. So I think if we can all keep this top of mind, we can have a more symbiotic relationship and we can actually redefine how lenders and brokers are working together. And this is so this is a new kind of partnership.

Fergal: [00:11:40] Okay. Well, look, that's a really good place to leave it. We're going to leave it there for today. Leanne and Gita, I want to thank you both for coming on to share some of the really exciting new things that are taking place over at MCAN. We really appreciate you coming on. Wish you the very best for the future, and I'm sure that we'll talk very soon.

Leanne: [00:11:55] Thank you so much.

Gita: [00:11:57] Thank you so very much.

Fergal: [00:11:58] That's just about does it for today's edition of CMP Talk. My thanks again to MCAN for that really enlightening discussion today. Thanks to you for listening. Stay tuned for even more great content from CMP in the coming weeks and months and we'll see you very soon.

Narrator: [00:12:12] Thank you for listening to this episode of CMP Talk. For more from Leanne, Gita and the team at MCAN Mortgage Corporation, visit them at mcanfinancial.com. That's mcanfinancial.com for more.