Women in Finance – Mentor of the Year 2020
Video of the Awards event
“Discipling yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem and personal satisfaction.” Margaret Thatcher.
Winning the Australian Women in Finance – Mentor of the Year 2020 is a massive honour of which I am very proud and grateful.
The Australian finance industry is one of the most highly regulated in the world and it’s an enormous responsibility to mentor mortgage brokers in Australia. I take my position very seriously and I’m always aware that it is the delicate balance of mentoring someone and not creating them in my own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.
In my opinion, mentoring mortgage brokers is a combination of mentoring, coaching, training, inspiring, motivating and nurturing. In this article and from my perspective, I’m going to talk about a few aspects of mortgage broker mentoring in Australia.
I’m the company owner of Quality Financial Group (QFG) which is solely owned and operated by myself and has 15 mortgage brokers all of whom started as new to industry under my mentorship. I offer an wholistic full service mentoring model for mortgage brokers in QFG and also across many aggregators.
A mortgage broker since 2004, I’ve used my experience and excellent industry record to become a leader in the finance industry. It gives me great pleasure indeed to share my knowledge and expertise to empower mortgage brokers to fulfil their dreams of being self-employed and self-sufficient business owners.
I’m passionate about helping the mortgage brokers and I positively support them in their personal and business journey. Constantly showering them with an abundance of love to inspire, motivate and propel them forward to success.
Watch my video to feel my passion Believe in Yourself 👉You can make it🏆
“I believe – if you believe in yourself and are willing to work hard in your business…….you can make it!”
Education Programme
To assist new brokers, I authored my QFG mentoring programme which was approved by the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (2014) and the Finance Brokers Association of Australia (2016). The programme is continually updated by myself on a daily basis.
Technology
A leader in my field advising mortgage brokers, I advise the use of innovative technology
ie: cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools.
- Enables mentoring regardless of location
- Enables mortgage brokers to learn and work efficiently
- Remain compliant
- Delivers a great customer journey
- Customers are not disadvantaged
- Security of customer data
Values
My key leadership/mentoring values are based on a foundation of honesty, integrity and trust.
- Supported by habits of excellence – nurtured by a mutual respect for each other and translated into my business processes.
QFG Quality Control Measures
During 2019, I’ve continued to develop many components within the QFG mentor programme.
Quality Control Measures I have put in place ensures mentees obtain 90%+ home loan quality ratings from the lenders.
Successful Results:
- Prevents unsatisfactory home loan applications being submitted to the lender
- Customers are not disadvantaged
- Saves the lenders time and reduces their costs
- Empowers mortgage brokers to work autonomously
- Produces excellent customer service outcomes
Example 1:Â Education Discipline
The programme is developed with high ASIC standards and not bank standards which have a lower criteria with regards to supporting documentation. Under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (NCCP), Â the mortgage broker is required to complete due diligence and collect ALL the relevant supporting documents from the applicants in order to satisfy responsible lending criteria.
Case A
If the bank only asks for 1 payslip as a supporting document, it is the mortgage brokers responsibility to collect more payslips (and other evidence) in order to establish a proven overview of the applicant’s employment income.
Case B
If lenders don’t require 3 months bank statements for supporting documentation to prove salary credits… then it doesn’t mean that mortgage brokers must not request this from applicants.
- Mortgage brokers MUST request this to prove that their spending habits match their declared living expenses.
- Result: the customer is not disadvantaged with obtaining an unaffordable debt.
- Also validates income on the payslips.
- Result: eliminates fraud
Example 2: Checklists I’ve developed. Prepares brokers for their road ahead after mentoring.
Case A
Detailed pre-submission checklist so brokers can learn to audit their application quality BEFORE submission.
Case B
Home loan supporting documents checklist for every type of NCCP application. The mortgage broker is required to copy and paste the checklist into an email to the customer. This eliminates errors.
Case C
Compliance & fraud checklist
These checklists are invaluable as they train brokers to become 100% accountable for their applications.
Case D
Mentor validation checklist signed and dated before application submission. Quality control measure enforced by myself.
- Prevents unsatisfactory applications being submitted
- Saves lenders time by not having to rework applications
- Reduces lenders costs
Successful Support Stories
I strive to maintain operational excellence. This results in excellent customer outcomes and therefore the customer is not disadvantaged.
A 2019 success case (one of many) described below, demonstrates excellent results with the use of innovative technology and my “Business in a Box” system that I developed.
Results:
- Empowers brokers to work electronically, efficiently and autonomously
- Produces excellent customer service outcomes.
Example 1
Janitha, a broker I mentor, had an urgent home loan request. The client needed funds to pay medical bills for his sick father in hospital and a deposit for a retirement home. He had completed the home loan process and now I had to check the file before submission.
At 7.30pm Janitha shared his online google drive customer folder with me while he was in his home.
- In my home, I viewed the information on my laptop.
- I advised him to fast refinance the deal enabling a quick payout
- Helped choose a lender that was suited to customer’s individual needs
- Assisted in perfecting the application (free of errors and had the correct supporting docs)
- Application was electronically signed by the customer and lodged the same night.
- The perfect application was approved in record time
- The customer was happy with the excellent service.
My systems and processes enable me to help mortgage brokers submit home loan applications with minimal errors.
Results:Â
- Brokers obtain high score cards with lenders (minimum errors)
- Good customer outcomes
- Reduces lender’s costs due to minimal reworks
- Customers are not disadvantaged
- ASIC compliant
Inspiration and motivation and my contribution to the development of the community.
The “QFG Online resource centre” – online platform I designed and built which is updated daily by myself.
- Broker has 24/7 access
- Houses 100’s of educational tools, templates
- Marketing examples help them stand out from the crowd.
- Used for training & support.
Using these tools helps brokers believe in themselves, become confident business owners and brokers. All these tools contribute to increased turnover.
Example Case A
Cecille, a Pilipino broker I mentor is part of a big church community.
- I educated her how to host small information sessions for her community.
- She holds events at her home with a big screen on the wall of her lounge.
- Her community look forward to these events and bring food to share.
- No extra costs incurred
- She’s become a leader in her community.
- Massive increase in home loan submissions
- All the marketig ideas and information were obtained from the QFG online resource centre.
Example Case B
Gaya, a Sri Lankan broker I mentor. For his local community festival:
- I helped him with ideas to prepare a stall
- Prepare a competition to increase his database.
- At my mentoring workshops he got to know the lender BDM’s who donated prizes for his stand.
- He’s become a leader in his community.
- All the information and marketing ideas were obtained from the QFG online resource centre.
- Increased his database and home loan submissions
Example 2
I share my inspiring story how I started a BNI Chapter (Business Network International) and quickly became the President. I relate how this chapter eventually became one of the largest in Melbourne with over 40 members. I excitedly relate my experiences “warts and all” including how difficult it was to get the chapter up and running. I also share stories of how the position of President was very rewarding as it gave me massive exposure which was a good foundation for growing my business.
I empower mentees to do the same and not let fear stop them.
Mental Health Support
How can a mortgage broker mentally survive the changing and challenging times of our financial environment without substantial mindset support to prevent depression and suicide?
Support Solutions
To support the mortgage brokers maintain a positive mindset, I use techniques such as emotional intelligence and NLP. I’m a qualified Neuro Linguistic Programming coach/practitioner (since 2010) I help support the mortgage brokers to:
- Maintain a positive outlook for themselves – in their life with their family and in their business.
- Define their purpose/clear vision
- Successfully obtaining and establishing goals
- Overcome negative thoughts and decisions
- Establish good habits and behaviours
Many mortgage brokers need help to believe in themselves to remain mentally strong so they can help themselves, their family and customers while maintaining a healthy business and achieve a life they love.
NLP is about observing changes in perception, responsible communication and developing choices of responses or communication in any given situation. It works on the principle that everyone has all the resources they need to make positive changes in their own life.
In essence, it has elements of mindfulness to overcome anxiety and depression.
Establishing good habits by processing events in a positive way creates an internal happy and motivated state. Rewiring the information we process that comes into our brains from the outside into positive thoughts.
For additional assistance and support for mortgage brokers in their business, I help them stay ahead of the game by giving them tools to:
- Overcoming Client Objections
- Conquer Your Fears and Bounce Back
I Love my life❣️
If you need more information about becoming a mortgage broker and need an inspiring mortgage broker mentor, look at Sue Hayter’s exciting website www.melbournemortgagebrokermentor.com.au