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Education and “nurturing” client relationships are key to the success of an award-winning brokerage, according to the founder of Time Home Loans.
Ruan Burger, founder and head of Time Home Loans in Brisbane, recently took home the Australian Broking Award for Customer Service Office of the Year 2019.
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Speaking to The Adviser’s Elite Broker podcast, Mr Burger shared the secrets behind his award-winning customer service and the importance of education to him.
For Mr Burger, continuing to service clients over the life of their loan is paramount to his business and central to his customer service philosophy.
“I just would love for clients to be our raving fans. I think, at the end of the day, that is the best referral we can ever get,” Mr Burger said.
“So, not just to help them get into that first loan but really work with them to ensure that loan remains the right loan for them, the process remains a good process for them.”
The process of building and investing in relationships and return customers is one of Mr Burger’s goals and has reportedly proven to be a very successful strategy throughout his career.
In order to achieve this, he maintains regular contact with all of his previous clientele.
“We do talk to the clients on a yearly basis. We reach out to them. We also allow for them to reach out to us. Any changes they want to make, we want to be part of those changes.”
Mr Burger also believes an important part of a strong broker-client relationship is the ability to be able to challenge your client.
“It’s in those defining moments that you just know there’s a relationship there, and all we now need to do is nurture that relationship,” he said.
“We don’t have to change anything. We need them to know we are with [them] in this journey and we do care.”
On top of being a qualified broker, Mr Burger has also trained in real estate, property services and financial planning, and is also in the process of completing his Harvard Business School studies at the University of New South Wales.
With a wealth of knowledge behind him, Mr Burger said this additional education not only helps him broaden his financial knowledge but also deepens his service offering and helps build closer referral partnerships.
Mr Burger said that while he has completed additional qualifications, he never intended to practice the different professions but only wanted to “understand” them.
He explained: “If you really want to look holistically at your client, it makes sense to understand the market you want to work in.
“This is about building relationships, and building a relationship doesn’t mean you have to be all things for them.
“We’re very big in home loans. We’re not big commercial brokers. We’re not car loan brokers. We stick to what we know well and we offer an exemplary service within that field.”
According to Mr Burger, this approach has not only made his team more desirable for clients but also for referral partners.
“[It] allows us to look very good to our referral partners because they know we understand their businesses.
“For them to refer to us has become more fluent and clearly they appreciate our proposition because we clearly acknowledge theirs.”
Find out more about how Mr Burger and Time Home Loans offer award-winning customer service in The Adviser’s Elite Broker podcast.
