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Ahead of his session at the Better Business Summit, Nigel Dalton, chief inventor of the REA Group, has revealed the three “Ts” that brokers need to provide to stand the test of time.
The chief inventor of the real estate group (which recently branched into the mortgage world), told The Adviser that he was happy to “openly share [the group’s] philosophy of how to be resilient in a digital, fast-moving environment”.
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According to Mr Dalton, while new technology, automation and machine learning might be the current buzz words taking the finance industry by storm, there are three things that all business people need to achieve to stand out from the crowd.
He explained: “One of the founding plates is to adopt the viewpoint that as a person in business and property and financial service, you are part of an ecosystem — you are no longer able to stand alone and dominate, you are now really in an interconnected world. Consumers now consider the opinions of their sister-in-law on social media, influencers on Instagram as to which bank to go with; it’s far beyond what might have happened 20 years ago when you had the choice of your bank manager and that was it.
“We know there are lot of players out there and more coming every day, and we don’t want to eat anyone’s lunch, but we know that we have to add value. [So], have three things that we focus on within that ecosystem to ensure we have a seat at the table. And these three things are equally as important to a $10 million, publicly listed company as to a start-up broker who is just getting their business underway in rural Australia. And these three things are: time, trust and transparency.”
According to Mr Dalton, all of the technology and innovation that has taken off in recent years provide users with those three things, “so you need to think how you’re creating trust or creating more time for your customer or enabling them to have the expectation of complete transparency around how much money you are earning from the deal, what your trail commission is going to be, what your commission on property is going to be, etc”.
He said that transparency is now a key sticking point for consumers, and that “questions that would have seemed impertinent 15 years ago [around remuneration] are now expected to be laid up front and transparent”.
Mr Dalton said that marrying these three things, along with exceptional service, is what will help brokers stand the test of time.
“Despite all this tech that is being talked about, whether that be blockchain or whatever it is, it’s the last mile that counts,” Mr Dalton said.
The chief inventor highlighted that time and efficiency was part of the decision for the REA Group to branch into mortgages.
Talking of the REA/NAB partnership (realestate.com.au Home Loans) and the REA/Smartline partnership, Mr Dalton said: “As non-traditional competitors come to the fore, it’s great for big institutions and digital grownups of Australia, like REA Group, to collaborate in new ways. Our partnerships, whether they are Smartline or NAB, they are new combinations, they are inventions, and by combining our audience — a trusted instruction with a well-built approval platform that gave consumers more time — we have a combination that is an amazing invention. People are looking at our site at all times of the day now and thinking about property, trust of a brand that is one of the oldest brands in Australia in terms of NAB.”
He noted: “I think consumers are increasingly looking to gain back time. And we can deliver it.”
Better Business Summit 2018
Nigel Dalton will host a full session on how to attract business at the Better Business Summit 2018, partnered by NAB.
Visiting Brisbane (15 February), Adelaide (22 February), Melbourne (1 March), Sydney (8 March) and Perth (15 March), the award-winning event provides brokers with straight-talking, practical advice to help drive and grow business.
Mr Dalton will discuss how technology and innovation are fast changing the way customers want to do business, and he will deliver practical tips to help brokers apply systems thinking and stay ahead of the curve by driving innovation in their own business to not only survive but thrive in the years to come.
Find out more about the agenda for the Better Business Summit or visit the Better Business Summit and Better Business Awards for more details.
