Teaching skills enhance broker’s business

They say change is as good as a holiday and for Perth mortgage broker Leanne Ferguson, her decision to fulfil a lifelong dream of being a teacher was just the change she needed.

In MPA’s latest broker interview, we caught up with Ferguson, the director and owner of Empress Financial Solutions based in Perth’s southern suburbs, which is part of aggregator LMG’s ‘bring your own brand’ model.

Ferguson (pictured above) discussed her career in financial services, her decision to become a primary school teacher, her passion for financial education and empowering women and the importance of being a great communicator.

Ferguson became a broker in 2012, joining Loan Market as a franchisee, but prior to this she had worked in credit assessment and lending roles for various banks.

“I had my second child and I wanted to do something where I had the flexibility to be a mum, but also work at the same time so a friend of mine suggested I contact Loan Market and I joined them and bought a franchise,” said Ferguson.

“It was actually when (Loan Market) began the franchise model and we were one of the first franchises at the time.”

Ferguson said her prior experience working as a credit analyst at banks helped make the transition to broking a lot easier.

“Having all that understanding of how credit policy works, and how the processes work on the back end really helped me communicate with customers and give them a more suitable scenario because I could understand credit policy straight away.”

Ferguson said she also enjoyed the fact that as a broker, unlike working for a bank, she was able to offer many more loan options to customers. In a previous role as a lending specialist at one of the major banks, people would come in looking for a loan “and we just couldn't help them”.

The mortgage industry had changed so much, with the majority of home loan borrowers now using brokers and loyalty to their bank dissipating.

“Now you've got access to people like me that can find you a product, not just because it works for your scenario, but also because it’s the best that you can get.”

From broker to primary school teacher

After working as a Loan Market franchise broker for almost seven years, Ferguson decided to study at university and become a primary school teacher.

“That was my dream job, what I had wanted to do since I was a kid – I wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “Because of how the income works for a broker, I had the trail income that was available to support me to go to uni.”

For a time Ferguson was both studying and broking but when she had to carry out longer practical sessions while training to be a teacher she left broking behind.

Ferguson worked as a primary school teacher for three years. She said that was a long enough as it was a really hard job.

“I don't know how teachers do it for a long period of time – it’s very demanding. I just found I’m giving a lot of myself to the kids in my class, and that's just the person that I am – I  want to give as much as I can. I would come home and I'm just exhausted.”

Transferable skills

After ending her time as a teacher, Ferguson returned to broking, setting up her own brokerage, Empress Financial Services, in July last year.

Asked what useful skills she had picked up in her time as a teacher that transferred to broking, Ferguson highlighted one skill in particular – communication.

“I thought I communicated well before but I think as a teacher, you just learn how to read the audience and adapt how you can communicate,” said Ferguson.

“I think also reflection. Being able to reflect on your practices and always improving and learning. Teaching is all about reflecting on what you're doing, and just constantly improving and educating yourself as well. It's all about learning.”

Ferguson said she allocated time every week to learn, whether through LMG education programs such as Brokerversity, or other lender information, which helped her, meaning she was able to her customers.

New brokerage

While Ferguson’s brokerage is new and has “taken a while to get going”, she said the business was doing well, with a focus on building a customer network.

Empress Financial Services’ client base was mostly local – in the Perth suburbs of Piara Waters and surrounds, including teachers and past clients from when Ferguson was a franchisee.

Ferguson said she had sourced a number of teacher customers through social media. “I understand how their incomes work. A lot of teachers in Western Australia are on rolling contracts.

“I found that even while I was teaching, I'd have people come to me, asking me questions about mortgages and finance.

“That's sort of what instigated me to get back into it because I feel more passionate about helping people with their finances and speaking to adults than I was speaking to kids. A lot of teachers want to speak to someone that ‘gets them’.”

In terms of lending segments, Ferguson said refinancing was popular right now. Customers were asking about refinancing, restructuring, consolidation, and also second homes.

“There's minimal supply of property in Perth so I've got a client contacting me about getting their finance sorted to buy homes – they might not be ready just yet, but they want to know where they stand and what they can do in the near future.”

Education and empowering women

While competition amongst brokers is fierce given their more than 70% market share, Ferguson said her brokerage’s value proposition included her passion for educating customers, especially women.

“I can bring those teaching skills to mortgage broking,” said Ferguson. “Not only do I want to help people with their lending requirements but I want to give them that education and empowerment to feel like they're making good decisions, and they're not just relying on me to do it for them.”

“Also, I really want to help women. You hear a lot of women now are out on their own, whether it be because of divorce, or just choosing to be on their own.

“I want to give them the financial tools to be on their own and be independent. Often women find themselves in this scenario where they're on their own all of a sudden, and what are their options? I'm really interested in helping women get on their feet, and be able to do things on their own.”

Ferguson said her aim was to set up small information sessions for women to educate them about their options in the lending market.

Broker challenges

In terms of the biggest issues facing brokers right now, Ferguson mentioned clawbacks, which she said was “a massive issue”.

She said it was tough on brokers who did all the hard work and then lost their income to clawback. “I think there’s a time and place for it – maybe there needs to be more vetting done as to the reasons why clawbacks are carried out.”

While higher interest rates had made it harder for customers to get the loans they wanted due to serviceability requirements, Ferguson said the situation would improve this year as rates eventually fell.

“I just think it's a great time to be a broker, when we're going to be seeing interest rates dropping, we're going to help our clients get a better rate. This year is going to be a really good year for the broking industry.”