Deslie Taylor: turning water into wine

Top 100 leading lady and Mortgage Choice high-flyer tells MPA how her business deals with everyday customers yet produces outstanding results

29–33-30: judging by her MPA Top 100 positions over the last three years, Deslie Taylor hasn’t been doing badly. That’s only half the story, however.

Maintaining one’s position in the Top 100, given average volumes have increased year by year, actually means raising one’s game every year. Taylor has done this, and done it with an unexceptional client base, within a franchise system and with just one seemingly obvious business mantra: consistently excellent customer service, backed up by solid processes and a standout team.

The brokerage
Like many brokers, Taylor’s introduction to finance was through a bank – starting in 1995 as a teller at Suncorp; and like many brokers, banking showed her how not to do customer service. “You were there to meet your targets and make sure your managers had all the reports for the day to tick the i’s and cross the t’s and make their bosses happy. But it just didn’t allow you the time for what is most important, and that’s to give your clients customer service.”

Taylor knew she was ‘emotionally ready’ for a change. “At no time did I second-guess or question my decision, so I knew I was ready.” Even before acquiring a Mortgage Choice greenfield site in 2007, she had done her cash flow forecasts.

“If I only had to do one tenth of what I was doing at the bank, I would be earning similar money, whilst giving myself time to give the clients the service they needed – and it evolved from there.”

Ormeau, halfway between Brisbane and Surfers Paradise, is not at the centre of the house price boom, has few foreign investors and lags far behind Sydney and Melbourne in the ‘crane index’. Instead it has the ‘warm and fuzzies’, Taylor’s own term for her clients: young couples buying their first homes, upgraders and those dipping their toes into the investment world. It’s a mixed bag, and Taylor likes it that way, she says. “I’ve never specialised in a specific field, and I’m so glad I haven’t.”

One of the major spin-offs of excellent customer service are customer referrals, and 87% of Mortgage Choice Ormeau’s business now arrives this way. Its customer base has spread far, far beyond Ormeau, all the way south to Tasmania and back up the east coast as far north as Cairns. Face-to-face interactions have been replaced by phone calls, Skype and Facetime, which can be just as valuable, Taylor says. “I’ve got some clients in Melbourne, and I Facetimed them, and the kids are in the background saying ‘Hi Deslie!’ It’s all quite fun.”

In fact Taylor now only leaves the office for around one in 20 clients. While that saves time, the ‘warm and fuzzies’ still require evening appointments, where both clients can be present. “They want to know that information together; they want to be together when they’re sitting and making these decisions.” Consequently, “every evening I’m booked up still … and some Saturdays”.

“I’ve never specialised in a specific field, and I’m so glad I haven’t”

The process
Once the interview is scheduled, the customer service begins, and Mortgage Choice Ormeau really earns its stripes. Taylor takes on the difficult topics early. “I do point that out at the very beginning of the interview; our customer charter explains what we do and how we are paid.” Over the years Taylor has seen customers become more and more interested in broker remuneration, and she’s responded by being more transparent, including quoting an exact figure for her own earnings and explaining Mortgage Choice’s pay-the-same commission policy. “The figure is actually outlined for their loan; it highlights what I’m getting paid for their application.” The clients then sign off on this figure at their preliminary assessment.

“Our process is the same for every single client,” Taylor explains. “I don’t give out settlement gifts ultimately because all my clients are wanting is the service they got from me; for whoever they refer to me, they want to make sure that person gets the same service, because their neck is on the line.”

The day of submission, the client receives a text to let them know the loan has been submitted. Then Taylor’s processer, Jodie Brookes, calls the client the day after submission to let them know the lender has all the details to move forward, and explains the lender’s timeframe to the clients. Then as the application continues, the brokerage will attempt to contact the client every second day, by phone or failing that SMS, regardless of the status of the application. They also offer to keep real estate agents and other involved parties in the loop. Keeping in contact, even when there’s nothing to report, is important to Taylor and her team. “When a client is trying to get finance, if they haven’t heard from us for a day, that day feels like a week.”

This process doesn’t just build trust with the client, adds Taylor. “As soon as a client’s loan is approved, no matter what client we’ll refer them to the local branch, to get the account set up, to get the credit card set up; all that stressful stuff is done. I don’t have to fear that the branch is going to take that client, or put a foul taste in the client’s mouth.”

“When a client is trying to get finance, if they haven’t heard from us for a day, that day feels like a week”
 

The future
With such a high number of touchpoints, Mortgage Choice Ormeau’s operation depends heavily on its loan processors, a point that Taylor is the fi rst to admit. “I’ve got an amazing team behind me. My team is made up of girls who make sure every client’s needs are met, and no stone is left unturned.” One of those loan processors, Sheree Pendergast, has just become a loan writer, building on fi ve years of interacting with clients, explains Taylor. “Sheree already has a relationship with 99.9% of my clients.”

Bringing a second loan writer on board is not just important to Taylor, but to her business, she says. “It’s now at a point with the volumes that we’re writing … it will give me a bit of work-life balance back, and one or two evenings back. If I’m booked two weeks in advance of a meeting, that’s not customer service, if I’m not available for two weeks.” Taylor will continue to deal with her existing clients; Pendergast will handle walk-ins and some referred clients.

While there are plans for a second loan writer or possibly a financial planner on the horizon, Taylor is more focused on the present. “The next six months is making sure my loan writer Sheree is comfortable in her role. There on out I’m probably going to be looking at 12 months embracing a bit of ‘me’ time – just a little bit of me time! Being able to have a date night with my husband once a week would be very nice.”

With two loan writers, Mortgage Choice Ormeau can run more appointments, creating even more satisfied customers and repeat business. Taylor wrote $110,204,112 to make last year’s Top 100, and it seems this figure can only go up.