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How this broker pilot got into broking, why he created his own intranet, and his top tips for new brokers.
How and why did you become a broker?
Financial services … was actually part of my aviation life. I had a mentor who encouraged me to get involved in the business side of his aviation business. I have a fairly lengthy financial services history. I spent more than 10 years as a financial adviser. I had an AFSL and I’ve been with three aggregators over that time. I’ve had dual careers.
Crew Financial didn’t just start out of the blue. The pandemic did a lot for putting our business on the map. We were able to help people where they really struggled.
After the GFC, a lot of us [in the finance industry] were fatigued and so I decided to drop finance and focus exclusively on flying. Come 2018, I had old clients reaching out to me. And I thought, ‘I’ll just do a few loans’. A few loans turned into … 17 staff.
Was there anything about your career in aviation that helped you in broking?
There are a couple of tenets that [we] bring from flying into our business. One of them is consistency.
We’re doing quite a lot of loans now. We do a couple of hundred a year. And obviously, me doing all that would not be possible. So having a well-resourced team that knows how to prosecute their role and have their roles clearly identified and they know exactly what they’re doing. It brings consistency.
We’re very deliberate about how our brokers deliver their content to our support team.
What tech do you use to make your job more efficient?
So we use a few different platforms. We use Salestrekker through our aggregator Specialist Finance Group (SFG). Their products, like SFG Connect, [are] really awesome bits of gear. In fact, I chose them because of the software and we ended up with a wonderful aggregation group and we really love their support.
We run our own intranet as well. I had a few trainees who would consistently ask me, “Where do I find this? Where do I find that?” It was driving me crazy. There was no off-the-shelf solution so I created this intranet and it literally has everything. Even down to what motor vehicle servicing costs are. Every calculator under the sun, every industry website, every regulator website, every bank website.
What prompted you to create your own intranet?
It came to me out of need. I couldn’t find anything that could centralise all of the documents, training places, and lender websites we needed.
I needed scalability around how I help [my employees] find what to do because it was taking a lot of my time. I can’t lead everybody to everything.
So we built a huge cache of training videos. We actually have our own Crew Broker Academy now that covers almost all the other stuff you could possibly need to know as a broker because there’s a real gap in the market for quality training.
What are your top tips for new brokers?
I think the most important thing you can do is to get out of dealing with problems that should be automated. Leveraging technology is the most important thing.
I’ve been with two aggregators previously who had very cumbersome, labour-intensive CRMs. So the very first move I made was to find a CRM where I could cut down my labour.
Number two would be to make sure that your process is predefined, so everything about our process is completely structured. There’s no ambiguity. It will help you set customer expectations. You’ll be able to improve quality.
Find out more about more about how Rick Garner manages his aviation and financial services career on the Elite Broker podcast episode, How this Qantas pilot is flying high with his brokerage.
[Related: How this Qantas pilot is flying high with his brokerage]
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