Pressing the advantage: Broking with Optimise Finance

Aggregation in mortgage and asset finance is the fast track to success in the modern world. Aggregators act as a medium between lenders and finance brokers and usually hold a current Australian Credit Licence (ACL), which then gives opportunities to appoint credit representatives on their behalf. Therefore, small independent operators or medium-sized firms do not need to go through the lengthy process of acquiring an ACL and gathering together a lending panel, all while trying to market the business to prospective customers.

However, not all aggregators nor aggregation providers are created equal. Optimise Finance, one of Australia’s leading aggregation service providers, is leading the way with their innovative technology platform, partner success program, and emphasis on win-win solutions for all broking and finance businesses looking to grow beyond their current size — and do it all without a significant time or capital investment.

More than just a CRM: The challenge

The ultimate challenge for new or emerging brokers, whether in assets or mortgages, is putting together a wide-ranging lending panel of conforming and non-conforming lenders. The idea is to give customers choice; and with choice comes competition, with competition comes lower interest rates or more favourable terms.

However, all aggregators are slight variations on a central theme: providing direct access to lenders and granting brokers a coveted credit representative role without jumping through hoops to gain their ACL. It’s down to what aggregators offer in exchange for their fee and commission structure that ultimately gains business.

As for brokers who have been in the industry for many years, they may be doing well — but hitting a plateau in terms revenue. They’re yet to experience a breakthrough until they unlock a key competitive advantage — which is where Optimise comes in.

“We often approach brokers who are already with an aggregation company, to see if they’re getting value and efficiencies out of what they have,” said Sam Crouch, State Manager for VIC/SA/WA. “We don’t see ourselves as an aggregator, but more of an end-to-end business platform. We handle everything from generating leads, nurturing them, streamlining applications, and providing timely lender approval. We help them by providing qualified leads for their business. It’s an all-in one solution.”

With this in mind, Optimise’s offering is not just an aggregation platform, but a comprehensive technology solution for asset and mortgage finance brokers from top to bottom. Usually, a brokerage will need to invest in a whole application stack — CRM, helpdesk software, cloud storage, data analytics, email marketing platforms, business intelligence, specialised credit application software — eating into potential profits through high ongoing subscription fees. “To be fair, most membership fees to aggregators are similar. But it’s about what value adds we can give brokers that gives us our main point of difference.”

A turn-key solution for broking businesses

Aggregation and access to lending panels is a crucial part of the broking equation. Solving lead generation problems means hiring business development managers, recruiting external digital marketing firms, or hoping wearing out shoe-leather by networking will deliver new customers. These methods are either time or money-consuming, with no guaranteed results. Again, this may also leech off revenue in the form of ongoing monthly or annual subscriptions.

“Part of our offering is helping brokers to grow,” said National Head of Growth Ahmad Elmustapha. “Saving time and efficiency in the actual broking process is important. But through our platform, brokers have access to all these digital marketing tools where they can generate leads easily.

“Optimise helps them advertise across all the social media platforms, connect with website referral partners, email, and newsletter marketing, all the rest. What happens is when they capture those leads and that information, our CRM puts them all into one place. It enables the broker to be able to save time because they have their digital marketing in one place, and plus we also provide all the online forms and the tools they need to be able to go out and market and capture those leads.”

Elmustapha emphasises that Optimise is an end-to-end solution; a brokerage can run their entire business using one platform instead of paying additional fees and subscriptions for ancillary software.

“A lot of aggregator software are just CRMs, or data entry systems,” said Ahmad. “They allow you to put the customer's information somewhere, push it somewhere else, then submit the deal to a lender. At Optimise, it’s not about that. It’s capturing the leads to start, getting the lead into the system, capturing then all the customer's information, getting all their documents, storing it in one place on the cloud. It also does your compliance as you're going through the application. Compliance, is ticked off automatically for the broker, so they have to think about it even to the point where you're going to settle the deal. We automate as much as possible so brokers can process as many deals as possible.”

Brokers don’t even have to invoice lenders for commissions or follow-up leads who may be on the fence.

“We automatically make sure you get paid. We’ve got automations in the system for follow up, so like automatic emails, text messages to go out. Everything is centred around making the broker’s job easier.”

After-sales support and training

Optimise emphasise that their training and ongoing support is second-to-none, helping brokers understand how to use the software to gain maximum utility. This means brokers can access professional development opportunities, training supplements when the software itself is updated, and help when they need it most.

“Every aggregator would likely have a similar lending panel. But our point of difference is being more hands-on, offering individualised and personalised support,” said Sam. “We are sitting down with our clients more often, working out what their target base is, and how we can help them achieve more market share or performance. We’re always refining what we do, so brokers can refine what they do.”

That means the solution grows and adapts to compliance conditions, new regulations, and efficiencies when they’re developed in the back end.

Optimised for growth

The aim of engaging a fully featured aggregator or Fintech solution such as Optimise is to gain as much return on investment as possible. “Some firms came to us doing two to three deals a month,” Sam says. “This may have generated just under $100,000. Now they’re doing $500,000 per month consistently.”

This is amplified by the value-added inclusions that Optimise also gives brokers. For example, Optimise Finance can also offer fleet buying solutions for brokers to offer customers, said Sam. “Rather than having their clients walk into a dealership on a Saturday and having a dealer try to lock them into a finance offer, we can alleviate that whole issue of losing clients to dealerships by having them leverage our in-house buying team instead. They buy from us, sometimes at significant discounts, and have the vehicle delivered to their door. It’s real silver service.”

By locking in as many sales through marketing, remarketing, and locking them into a long-term sales funnel, the sales cycle increases substantially. Providing exemplary service that goes above and beyond is an investment in a brokerage’s long-term growth. It’s ultimately good for solo brokers or entire teams that want to scale. Optimise has adaptability built into its DNA.

“It's good for one broker, 10 brokers, 50 brokers, and beyond,” said Ahmad. “It's all how we can get you to build your brokerage and for the system to be suitable every step of the way throughout that whole journey. It’s endlessly scalable.”

For more information go to https://www.optimisefinance.com.au.

Image credit: iStock.com/Charnchai