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BLIZZARDS, BANKS AND BROKERING
BLIZZARDS, BANKS AND BROKERING
BY LISA GORDON
“I had a fairly strong presence in London and the surrounding area, with a large network,” recalled Shaw. “So, in April 2014, I began as a mortgage specialist at one of the big banks, with no prior experience. I consider myself a quick learner, but I learned that a commission sales role has an entrepreneurial foundation. The bank gives you tools and resources, but it’s on you to use them and ask questions, and use everything in your tool box.”
Shaw realized his new job was sink or swim.
“When I got in there, I had a huge network. My reputation was good. I had trust from people off the hop, but my knowledge needed brushing up.”
That’s when he began shadowing one of the top mortgage specialists in the country, who happened to live in London.
Growing up in London, Ont., Matt Shaw was steeped in an entrepreneurial environment, learning lessons about hard work and responsibility at a young age.
“My mom owned some restaurants, so I grew up around it. It was second nature,” Shaw told Canadian Mortgage Broker. “I worked three jobs while going to school, on and off campus. One of them was managing a Dairy Queen store. That led me to the opportunity to buy into a Dairy Queen – and that’s what got me into franchising.”
He admits that it wasn’t everything he had expected. As much as he was running his own business, he still had to operate within the guidelines set out by Dairy Queen.
“You’re really confined as far as what you can do when you work for a big conglomerate.”
Shaw quickly realized that earning a good income meant scaling up with multiple locations, so he got a second store within 18 months, and a third just a year after that.
“I built the third store from scratch, which fuelled the entrepreneurial desire and led into a real estate mindset,” he said.
At that point, Shaw was approached by his commercial account manager at the bank. They were leaving to go to another bank and wanted Shaw to join their mortgage team. It was an intriguing offer for someone who has always liked a challenge.
“I’d show up at his house in the morning and literally follow him all day, just listening to him. It was the best learning experience I had. I was able to take that learning and apply it to my business and my network. From then on, I was in the top 10 per cent in Canada.”
But even though he was excelling in his new role, Shaw was also learning something else: Many of his clients, like him, were self-employed. The bank didn’t have many mortgage solutions for them.
“I was one of the top mortgage specialists referring deals to our alternative lending channels,” he recalled. “I realized then that maybe I was in the wrong place. I needed a bigger tool box –something that had more than one product to provide my clients with other solutions.”
So, in March 2019, Shaw teamed up with two colleagues at the bank – Aly Jamal and Andy Jia – to form BNB Financial Group with Mortgage Alliance.
Once again, Shaw found himself confronting a steep learning curve.
“We were humbled very quickly in the broker space. I think we took a lot of things for granted that we had had at the bank. They have vast resources. You get an assistant, opening/closing solutions, back-end support, etc. When you’re a broker, you are that person for the entire journey with the client, from submission right through to closing.”
The bank and broker spaces are vastly different, added Shaw.
“I would say I’m a better mortgage agent now because of my broker experience. Here,
you definitely get to run a business, whereas at the bank you’re a salesperson selling the bank’s products. When you’re a broker, you’re looking at all the options and constantly looking for solutions for your clients.”
Shaw and his partners had to “relearn” the business while transitioning from bank to brokerage.
One of their biggest innovations was to create a “hub” – run by Shaw and one other employee – that streamlined all mortgage transactions by handling administrative tasks for the company’s eight agents.
“We’d send a deal in on their behalf to a lender that they wanted, and we’d handle lender questions on the agent’s behalf,” explained Shaw. “These are all tedious tasks. It was a real benefit for me to go in and create the hub and build relationships with the lenders. I took that time to learn everything and apply it to my own book of business and provide support to the other agents on our team.”
Just as he was transitioning out of the hub and back into a full-time mortgage agent role, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Within 30 days, the team was disconnected, sequestered in their homes. Momentum slowed and collaborative chatter ceased.
“The big thing with brokering is that it can be really lonely,” reflected Shaw. “Having a cohesive team atmosphere is a big plus, so we made a real effort to have regular Zoom calls to keep people connected.”
Now that business is returning to normal, he predicts that 2023 will be a year of solutions-based lending.
“A lot of Canadians out there are trying to navigate this interest rate market, whether they are in a variable mortgage or coming up for renewal this year. It’s going to be about giving advice and finding solutions to fit people’s needs. Mortgage brokers will be challenged to show their value.”
A self-proclaimed “people person,” Shaw, now 41, believes the most important thing is being there to provide clients with good advice. Even if that doesn’t result in a transaction, he thinks clients will eventually return to him when they do need a mortgage. In the end, it’s all about the relationship.
“Clients, lenders, back office support, appraisers, vendors... There is a ton of relationships to be had here, and you really need to take care of them. At the bank, it really was transactional. In this space, relationships are everything and it’s not about a one-time transaction.”
