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Patrick and Peter are the co-owners of Pave Financial Solutions, a boutique, full-service Finance Brokerage that is passionate about supporting their professional clients realise their financial goals. Both had lengthy 20+ year careers in Banking before making the leap across to small business ownership but have relished the opportunity to work more closely with the clients and referral partners and getting hands on with applications and delivering great outcomes.
How did you start down this career path?
Peter: I joined NAB on their graduate programme back in 02/03 after completing my university studies. I have a lot of fond memories from those times, including life long friends, a fantastic foundation of banking knowledge and putting the client at the centre of everything you do. I also celebrate my 20 year wedding anniversary this year with my wife who I met in the first few months of working at NAB!
Patrick: I joined NAB straight out of High School as a Teller in country Victoria. For many years the Bank sent me to different branches and I learned to build relationships quickly, how to provide client service and manage expectations to help them meet their goals and financial needs. Over a 27 year career at NAB, I worked across Retail, Head Office, Business and Wealth before now moving into the Broker World. You would say in summary the bank has provided both of us a great foundation to get to where we are today.
What inspires you in your role/industry? Why?
Over the years in banking, as in any industry, you see the very best and worst of what goes on in the business. Most importantly you see the significant difference in outcomes and customer experience that results from each end of the spectrum. As a team, we focus on listening to our clients to understand what is most important to them – and ensuring the end solution best meets their needs. We get a kick out of receiving great feedback from our clients and of course the greatest compliment is receiving referrals to help friends, family and colleagues with their finances.
What's your approach to customer service that separates you from the rest?
Ultimately, we are both passionate about helping people. It’s quite simple at its core but things often don’t go to plan in the finance industry and you need a lot of resilience and fortitude to keep going. However, if you don’t lose focus on supporting your clients then it is hard to go wrong and with our 50 years experience you tend to find a way to deliver an appropriate solution. Our small but experienced team have over 100 years experience in banking and as business partners we set the tone of our culture which is based on customer centricity and a desire to get things done for clients better than the competition.
How do you innovate and stay ahead of industry trends?
Our aggregator Loan Market, led by Sam White, plays a significant role in how we interact and support our clients with the latest in tech innovations and digital solutions that make life as seamless as possible for not only our clients but our team. Our banking career also set us up for success in this regard by always pushing continued education and staying on top of latest trends which we have maintained in the Broker space by staying close to our lender partners, aggregator and industry developments to ensure we are across the latest in tech innovations and industry trends.
What is the toughest challenge you've faced in your role? How did you overcome it?
Patrick: After 27 years in the bank and 17 years as an Executive, it was probably taking the leap in to small business ownership and just getting everything set up, whilst trying to learn the slight nuanced differences in the broker world and not lose sight of the need to write loans to start making money and driving the business. Honestly, it was just a lot of 3am finishes in the early months of going out on my own. I put on a staff member almost immediately as a way to provide some support and also back myself but it is challenging working 16 hour days and not paying yourself anything.
Peter: Similar for me it was the transition from Banker to Broker in terms of slight differences in processes etc but also the importance of spending time and effort on activities that will generate revenue and ‘pay the bills’. Like Patty, I put in the extra hours to make sure I deliver exceptional service to my clients but it is nice that it is now significantly more rewarding now, not just financially but also in terms of your direct role in delivering a great outcome for your client.
What are some of your goals for the next five years?
We are super proud of what we’ve achieved in the first couple of years since setting up the business and want to continue to organically grow and support more and more customers to achieve their financial goals. We will help close to 150 clients this year with a relatively small team. We are looking to embed a more targeted strategy to continue to offer exceptional service and build lasting relationships with our clients and the outcome for Pave Financial Solutions will be a successful full service Finance Brokerage that is well regarded in the industry by clients, peers, lenders and referral partners alike.
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