How brokers can boost business during a market lull

The following article was written in association with Axiom Innovations.

2020 was a great time to be a mortgage broker in Canada. With the market booming, brokers were busy managing a continuous stream of transactions – however, this left little room to focus on the operational side of their businesses.

Fast forward to today, and the market has significantly slowed down. According to Andrew Schultz, vice president of sales at Axiom Innovations, this lull presents a golden opportunity for brokers to take a fresh look at their business – particularly with regards to the technology platforms they have in place, and how they can utilize it more fully.

“When we had the pandemic forced upon us, and it made brokers adopt technology whether they were comfortable with it or not,” Schultz told CMP.

“I think that was a major benefit to the industry, and to brokers as a whole. However, brokers were more focused on keeping the business running rather than exploring what these platforms could do, and today, most brokers only use a small portion of their features. That might mean that only 20-30% of a system is actually getting used by the average broker.”

Mining your data for the ultimate value

With mortgage transactions taking a pause, brokers have the chance to think strategically about positioning themselves for the future.

Schultz explained that when it comes to technology, the true value lies in the data it collects. Over three million Canadians will be renewing their mortgages over the next two years, representing over $600 billion in mortgage volume. By the end of 2026, 76% of all Canadian mortgages will be up for renewal. The opportunities are abundant – brokers just need to use the right tools to find them.

“Brokers need to ask how they can use their data to better understand their client relationships and increase referrals,” Schultz said. “Think about how you can identify other opportunities that live in your database - for example, non-subject properties that a client might own.”

One of the most widely adopted broker platforms is Scarlett, powered by Axiom Innovations. The platform does everything a typical broker platform would, from application processing to document collection, to automating communications. However, Schultz highlighted that its true value lies in its ability to filter clients using over 196 data points – an ability that many brokers haven’t made full use of yet.

With this filtering technology, brokers can take an in-depth look at their database of clients and identify hidden opportunities. This might include clients whose mortgages are coming up for renewal, those with non-subject properties, or those who may be interested in products like reverse mortgages.

“Brokers can generate their own lead reporting, design their own lead generation funnel, and define the opportunities that they want to search for within their data set,” Schultz said.

“That’s what really sets Scarlett apart – that ability to mine your database to the nth degree to find those opportunities.”

Sharpening your skills as a broker

Throughout the last year, Scarlett has run a series of webinars to help brokers enhance various aspects of their business. These sessions have covered topics such as realtor referral relationships, automated communications, effective task management, and maximising lead generation. Schultz noted that for brokers managing large books of business, it’s simply not possible to manage everything manually – and so automation becomes invaluable.

Scarlett currently hosts over 48 pre-built communication and task modules that span the full life cycle of a mortgage application. The webinars aim to make brokers aware of these capabilities, and help them get the most out of the technology they have available.

The webinars have also extensively covered Scarlett’s filtering technology. With the Bank of Canada signalling more potential rate cuts to come, there’s no time like the present to start diving deep into your data and touching base with clients.

“I think everyone will be thinking about what the next six-12 months will look like from a rate perspective, and wondering whether it’s time to switch into a different product,” Schultz said.

“One of the key things we focused on there were all of the maturity dates that you might have coming up. You can get ahead of the renewal process and automatically communicate with the client at the 12-month mark, and those reminders continue to trickle down on both the client and broker side.”

“As a broker, you have the ability to use the Scarlett filters to identify those people in your database and proactively reach out to them and have these conversations,” Schultz concluded.

“There’s a huge swath of the Canadian population that could benefit from a touchpoint, whether or not they move forward with it.”