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Lumi business development managers speak up on why they joined the lender, why and how they became BDMs, and share their tops tips to succeed in the industry.
Why did you join Lumi, and what do you like about working there
I joined Lumi having worked for another cash-flow lender and the first thing that struck me was a palpable hunger to do deals, to find a way, to mitigate shortcomings, to accentuate the positive in any scenario. It’s an environment in which BDMs are encouraged to engage with credit and management and we’re not completely hidebound by policy. This open-mindedness is matched by a burning ambition to grow, and by offering innovative working capital products to brokers and their clients. If someone has an idea about a product enhancement, like an interest-free payment holiday, or a loan tailored to established businesses that have had next-to-zero income for a number of months through no fault of their own, these enhancements are often put in production in the space of a week. Our chief executive Yanir (Yakutiel) has invested a lot of time and money in the tech side of the business, which makes us as agile as an Olympic gymnast. In addition to that, Lumi is a buzzy place to work, with dozens of extremely talented Millennials working in the tech and sales sides of the business. They work hard, they’re keen to learn and they keep this old fossil up to date with their TikTok, Instant-gram, Jonathan Bieber and what have you.
How and why did you become a BDM?
The reason I became a Business Development Manager is because having worked in a variety of internal sales over my career I was keen to challenge myself, and break the shackles of the office desk! I’m enthusiastic about small business finance, I’ve developed strong working relationships with many brokers by phone and email, and I decided that I wanted to get out and meet them in person more often. I suppose I wanted to become the “face” of the business, rather than the voice (or text) of it, and what’s nicer than enjoying a cup of coffee with a broker while advising on how we can support their SME client? At Lumi I have joined a team of seasoned professionals who have been an invaluable resource to me as I adapt to my role on the road. We discuss market trends, some of our products that are gaining traction – like our Kickstarter loans for COVID-affected businesses in the southern states where we can lend to clients that may have had zero revenue for three months – and we always make time to enjoy each other’s successes on our daily calls.There is a nice camaraderie, and that makes each day rewarding- knowing that we’re all working together to build Lumi into the SME lending powerhouse we know it can be.
What are your top tips as a BDM to help brokers looking to write more commercial loans?
In my time as a BDM in the SME lending space I would say one of the key things for brokers is to utilise the educational content that is released to the market. Whether it be accessed via lenders directly, aggregators or associations there are multiple resources and courses available for you to continue to diversify your skill set.
One tip on identifying the sessions to attend is try to avoid only attending product-only sessions. Product sessions only really cater for you knowing the product itself. These sessions often won’t touch on two crucial points: A) how to put an application together B) how to sell the product to the client.
As a follow-on from the above tip, I would say the most important thing you can do to learn more is pick up the phone and ask your BDM to help. Most BDMs will have the skills at their disposal to guide you through how to become more comfortable with doing commercial loans in general but more specifically that specific lender. I personally take great pride in helping brokers who are not yet fully fledged commercial brokers in writing their first deal with Lumi.
In closing, I speak for the Lumi team here when I say please do not hesitate to reach out to any of us for help in diversifying your skill set in finance broking.
How do you work with brokers to ensure good customer outcomes?
As John previously mentioned, Lumi as a business, has a hunger to help SMEs find a funding solution. Our experienced team of BDMs understands that a customer referred to Lumi via our broker referral partner is a source of income for them.
Therefore, as a priority we ensure all broker-referred clients are given complete priority and professional service. As an unsecured lender, it is important to communicate clearly and to be transparent at all times. Our existing broker partners have already experienced the level of care we take when speaking with their clients and assessing these deals.
Our team ensures a common-sense approach is taken at all times when reviewing an application. We ensure that the customer is well informed in the loan approval process that also provides confidence to the customer that their broker has referred them to the correct lender for their immediate need.
For absolute peace of mind, the Lumi broker portal keeps our referral partners up to date with all activity against their client’s deal. As a business, we are looking for long-term relationships with our broker partners, and great customer outcomes are just the tip of how Lumi is able to support brokers across Australia.
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