Raising her profile

She sends out quarterly glossy magazines to over 3,000 people on her database. She says it costs her a fortune but she knows people are paying attention.

“We took the Sudoku puzzle out once. That Monday, we had about 48 calls asking, ‘Where’s the puzzle?’”

It was then that she realised people were really paying attention to what she was saying and producing.

RISING STAR

Ms Gielnik, an AFG broker with 10 years experience in the industry, has been raising her profile this year.

“I’ve been around a while and I love the industry - I love helping and educating clients.

“Several of my industry friends have encouraged me to raise my profile because there aren’t that many high profile females in the industry.”

The decision it seems, has been paying off. “I guess once the seed was planted, it just grew.”

Ms Gielnik placed fourteenth in The Adviser’s recent Elite Business Writers ranking.

She was the highest placed new female, and the second female overall. On top of this, she placed tenth for ‘number of mortgages written’ for writing 261 deals over the 2011/12 financial year.

She also placed fifth for insurance with $57.5 million in volumes.

“We offer risk insurance, and that’s really important. It’s almost irresponsible these days not to offer risk insurance to your clients, I think.

“Even if they decline the offering, we’ve made sure that we did our part.”

Like many industry stakeholders, Ms Gielnik believes the future of the industry lies in diversification.

“Moving forward, I think diversification needs to be at the forefront of all brokers’ minds.

“We’ve got a squeeze on commissions in some cases. We’re doing more work for less reward.

“The banks are streamlining their businesses, so we have to take on the challenge and streamline our businesses, too.”

Smart Lending offers leasing and equipment finance, commercial loans and a total end-to-end service around super fund home loans.

They also have outsourcing arrangements with a financial planner and property advocate.

“It really is about taking a holistic approach to the client and their finance needs.

“I understand that I am not the jack of all trades, and that’s why I can’t be everything to everyone.

“My passion and expertise lies in residential mortgages, so I have a great team of diverse people around me who offer the other services.”

A REAL JOB

Ms Gielnik entered the broking profession in 2002 when she moved back to Australia from London.

Her father was a broker and needed some staff – “so he said to me, ‘why don’t you come and work for me until you get a real job?’”

“I’m still waiting on that real job,” she jokes.

She started Smart Lending in 2006, but feels that 2012 was the year she really settled in and enjoyed being part of the industry and growing her business.

Ms Gielnik does concede that she’s a little bit like a bull in a china shop, always running from one thing to another.

“The amount I squeeze into my week is actually quite funny,” she says.

“If you read back to me everything that I fit into a week, I would probably laugh.”

She believes efficient processes and an excellent team have helped her to succeed thus far.

“I’m the biggest believer in work/life balance.

“I’m really lucky to have an amazing team in my office, and in my home.

“We have very efficient processes for everything in my office.

“I think if you have great processes, you get a lot more done.”

To those studying Ms Gielnik’s hugely successful year, it may come as a surprise that she is only a part-time broker.

“I only work three and a half days. I get a lot done in three and a half days.”

Even she knows it’s impressive – “my figures are pretty kick-arse for a part-timer.”

Yet, there’s no slowing down any time soon.

“I want to write $120 million this year, and I don’t want to work any more hours.

“It’s more about refining our processes and having a clear strategy on where we’re going.”

She concedes that her goal is set extremely high, but believes there’s no harm in trying.

TARGETED GROWTH

Ms Gielnik’s business is built on a “huge amount of existing client referrals”. She says that almost all of her growth over the past financial year was organic.

“I’ve been working really hard this year on targeted growth – so building new relationships and increasing the relationships we have with current estate agents to make them reach their full potential.

“But our client relationships are by far our best referrers.”

Ms Gielnik has also really focused on ensuring all her referral partners are working effectively.

“I have a handful of really good, consistent, quality referrers.

“Since I’ve been looking at targeted growth, I’ve actually culled a few referral partners who provided really poor quality leads and took up a lot of time.”  

Ms Gielnik will also continue to focus on providing excellent service.

“My team’s approach to what we do is quite simple; we only do for our clients what we’d do for ourselves in the same situation.

“So if I wouldn’t do it for me, I’m not going to do it for them.

“So our philosophy is based on their financial facts and their goals, but I always try and put myself in their situation.

“We provide good quality service with heaps of personality.”

With so much on the cards for Ms Gielnik in 2013, it’s no surprise that people wonder if she can keep running through life at full speed.

“The most common question I get is, ‘how do you do it?’.

“I don’t really have anything to complain about though.

“I just get up in the morning and that’s my life. I love it.

“I wouldn’t do anything else.”