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There are countless considerations that make up a borrower. Age, culture, and class all come into play in servicing and could influence the outcome of a loan decision.
For brokers, effective communication and connection can be improved through a bit of fluidity in processes.
“Understand that if you are going to play in these markets, and first home buyers is such a big target market for so many brokers of all ages, you’ve got to know how that demographic works. Now, it doesn’t mean changing at a core, but it might mean pivoting how you work on some of your strategies,” said founder and director of Broker Essentials, Jason Back.
“Whether you’re using WhatsApp or you’re using text or you’re using certain apps to get your documentation, all of these things will come into how you serve those clients. But you need to potentially lead with some of these things. They can’t be surprised that you don’t know what something is and go, I’ve never used that before. That doesn’t instil a lot of confidence in me as a buyer.”
The discussion, in a recent episode of Business Accelerator, drove home the importance of upholding strong lines of communication throughout the loan process.
“Dealing with a younger demographic, they’re used to communicating. It’s not just face to face contact, but the channels within which you communicate with them, the way that you communicate,” said Momentum Media director Alex Whitlock.
“There’s that speed to respond to inquiry and I find young people, they’re possibly a little more impatient than we are and we all get impatient these days. I think one of the real key things for broking is the speed of response.
“It doesn’t mean you have to actually drop everything and be straight into a meeting. But a real key thing is the speed of response because people move really quickly to find other solutions if you’re not absolutely on point and in contact with that prospect.”
Keep on top of tech
Communication technology has become a key consideration for brokers. The pandemic normalised programs like Zoom and Google Meet. It can be difficult to keep up in this ever-changing world. It’s important to stay proactive in keeping up, said Back.
“Every day I get seven to 10 different AI and technology newsletters that come in from around the globe that I’ve subscribed to and that I follow. And I’m constantly keeping up with different technology changes about what particular channels are being used,” he said.
“I was talking with [a broker] this morning. They have an Asian client base, very successful business. They use Red, very heavy with the Chinese community overseas. We’ve grown up in the last 25 years with things like Skype. Those old enough playing along might remember Skype, it was terrible. And now we’ve obviously graduated into Teams and Zoom and Slack and a whole bunch of other tools like that.
“So, part of it’s not about just understanding and using the technology, but it’s about looking at futurists, about looking at those that might be predicting the trends or those that are leading these fields like what Google’s doing or Apple or any of these sorts of providers and starting to look and research and what are the latest trends.”
Don’t assume
Whether dealing with a retiree or a teenager, it’s best to approach thoughtfully, said Whitlock.
“In mortgage and finance broking, whether you’re dealing with a 50 or 60-year-old person with significant wealth or a first-time buyer, I think it’s always safest to assume and to check first to get the level of understanding,” he said.
“People quite quickly panic and feel affronted if they feel embarrassed because they don’t understand what someone is talking about. I think it’s very valuable to take time to gauge the level of competency but also to gauge the level of communication. People can sometimes get overwhelmed when information is coming their way and what we get is people just going, yes, yes, yes. Because not everyone wants to say sorry, ‘I don’t actually understand what you’re talking about’.”
Back agreed with these sentiments and delved into the concept of ‘pacing.’ This essentially refers to pacing understanding in a conversation by asking questions at the right time.
“If you’re interested in looking into how to pace, a very quick example was someone very close to me bought a property. They didn’t have finance in place, they went and saw a particular broker and that broker was all like, yep, no drama, it’s fast, it’s happening, it’s all good, it’s fine, leave it with me,” Back said.
“But what they failed to recognise was that person needed depth of concept. They needed to understand how everything worked. They needed to understand all the numbers in real detail. They’re a very detail orientated person. So, they left that meeting quite anxious and confused because everything was just fast.
“I ended up having a night on the couch with them going through a servicing calculation because they hadn’t had their questions answered. They felt rushed through the process because the broker hadn’t paced their objections when they’d asked a question, they said leave it with me and rushed over it. So pacing is a real big thing for brokers. Any salesperson understands that we need to work towards the customer’s pace, not ours.”
Conforming to a client’s needs and reading the room can be what keeps them coming back. While a whole personality revamp every time someone walks through the door isn’t necessary, it can be beneficial to listen and adapt to the wants and needs of a borrower.
The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full episode of Business Accelerator, click below.
