STRATEGY SUMMIT FOR BROKERS IN THE COVID-19 CLIMATE
Nadine: Hello and welcome, everyone. We’re here running a short summit with the aim to provide brokers with the general and industry-specific strategies, hacks, and information to assist with the continuation of business through the current COVID crisis. We’ll cover four important topics delivered by industry experts in their respective fields.
Pivot and Growth & Connection with Clients will be delivered with Leah from the MFAA. Hi, Leah.
Leah: Hi, Nadine.
Nadine: So Leah. I’d love to come across to you now and just ask you a little bit about why is it so important for brokers to pivot at this point in time and what are some strategies that can be put in place to assist brokers through this?
Leah: Hi, Nadine. Thanks a lot for having me involved today. Look, I think it’s really important for brokers to pivot in this current market. From my perspective, the brokers in this market have the skill and they have the understanding of the current market to be able to actually truly connect with their clients and assist in the time of need. So whether they do that through assisting with pricing or analyzing whether or not a refinance is right for them at this time or even whether going down and simulating the hardship measures and assisting their clients to actually walkthrough, I think that’s a really important thing. So by actually truly connecting with them and reaching out to be able to help them, I think that they can position themselves to one, if they’re investing in their future pipeline but they’re also doing something in a time of chaos and uncertainty they’re doing something for others and actually, you know, I think it’s selfish of them to keep those skills and not share them with the wider market.
Nadine: Absolutely. So definitely reaching out to their existing client base to let them know that you’re actually there to support them.
Leah: Yeah, I think that’s one of the main things and some of the ways that they can do that, of course, is by going through a process of segmenting their database. So if they segment their database and actually look at the different types of demographics that are in their client database, whether or not they’re aggregator has tools for them to be able to use or they need to go through a manual process, I’ve got some really great tips and tricks about how to do that. They might try to segment on demographic so client type and Dylan will talk a little bit later in the social media section about connecting with different audiences, I think it’s really important to identify who is your audience, have a look at who’s in your client base reflect back on all of those people that you helped over that time and actually define who they are.
And another way of doing that in segmentation is also looking at industry codes so you might go through your database and say okay I’m going to identify everybody that works in the hospitality or the restaurant industry and go through and reach out to them. So once you’ve segmented your database some great ways to think about it is also to go and then try and think of what is the best way to communicate with that particular segment. So say for example the Gen Xs and the Gen Ys are a little bit more tech-savvy, they might already be in your Facebook groups or be liking you on social media and they might be great with an email communication or even a text message but some of the older client database they might respond a little better to a telephone call or even to a good old snail mail and I’ve got lots of tips and tricks on how to get through and also some sort of tangible stuff like magazines that you can send through to them to keep you at top of mind so just putting in place a strategy.
So segmenting your database first, then defining what is actually the communication strategy so what method of communication and then defining what you’re going to say. So say for example you are going to reach out to someone who you know is in a difficult financial position because hospitality has been shut down or they haven’t been able to pivot to take away. That’s a very different conversation to ring someone in saying ‘hey, can I refinance you would you like to save money?’. These are people that aren’t in a position to refinance so you need to look at other ways that you can support them.
I think some really great strategy things that you can also do is to consolidate all of the hardship information lines for your clients. Have them on hand to be able to provide that information really quickly and readily. The other thing I think you should do is go through your Commission statement identify the eight different lenders or the ten different lenders that you have most commonly worked with over the time and actually become an expert and a specialist in how they’re dealing with their clients with hardship and use some tools and resources to be able to really dive into the technical side of whether or not a repayment deferral is the best situation for that particular client.
So we know that capitalizing interest isn’t always a great way to go actually define what that means for your client to find what that means for them in a dollar value in their pocket and then have that conversation of ‘if you defer interest for six months this is what it will mean to your mortgage repayment and let’s make that decision together by going through a potential budgeting exercise’. So you’ve got the tools and resources that you’re using already every day in your business. It’s just now being strategic about it and doing it from a position of care and reaching out to the community to be able to help them in times of need. Now we all know that if you actually connect with your clients now in the times when they need you the most then you’re going to be top of mind when things do even out. One, they’re going to be in your database if you didn’t know them already, and two, they’re going to remember that you’ve done something for them that isn’t necessarily income-generating during difficult times, okay?
And you’ll be positioning them for a potential refinance in the future and you know that I could talk forever but I did want to also say that the MFAA has so many tools and resources to be able to assist you at this time. I’m going to attach our 101 social media guide which really does tell well with what Dylan will talk to you about next. This is the basics and he’ll talk more detail. I’ve got lots of cash flow planning tools if you want to actually talk about yourself and really look inward on your business then I’m absolutely happy to assist you to streamline your processes to have a look at your cash flow forecasting for the future and make sure that you can weather the storm because if you don’t survive, then you’re no help to your clients whatsoever. So please reach out if there’s absolutely anything that I can do for you.
Nadine: Thanks so much, Leah. And we will provide a little bit more detail you know on ways that the brokers can pivot in this environment with your download so thank you so much for that. I do agree that you know, segmenting your database to deliver to different areas that you can in this environment is a great way to start especially with the industry restrictions on income. You know, that banks are now kind of putting in place and on what they’re going to accept, so definitely a good position to start from there. Thank you so much, Leah.
