My business

All about the team

Cameron Marcroft joined the industry ‘accidentally’ and has gone from strength to strength.

BY DANIEL DUNKLEY

In this edition of My Business we speak to Cameron Marcroft who, back in 2017, was named best new adviser of the year at the PAA Excellence Awards.

He runs Marcroft Mortgages under the auspices of Loan Market Central in Remuera and covers the high-end suburbs of Ellerslie, Mt Eden, Meadowbank, Epsom and the surrounding suburbs.

Marcroft made the move into the mortgage adviser space in early 2016, but he has been working in the broader industry since the early 2000s and was in sales at NZFSG from 2013 to 2015.

What prompted you to go into the mortgage advice sector?

It was accidental … I went to the UK to play rugby (semi-professionally) and had to get a job as my rugby career didn’t quite work out.

So I got a job with the local building society in the North of England specialising in mortgages. From there I worked for a Kiwi mortgage broker based in London and upon returning to New Zealand, I started working with the National Bank/ANZ in 2003.

How did you learn your trade?

Being an assessor in the bank broker unit and my experience as a BDM for NZFSG in third party aggregation.

Tell us about your business. Why are you passionate about being an adviser?

I’ve been trading as a mortgage adviser under Loan Market for just over five years. I have an awesome team of nine support staff who make the business run smoothly for me.

Up until recently, I have been the sole adviser but I have just progressed one of my team into being a qualified mortgage adviser with two more doing their papers to become accredited.

I’m genuinely passionate about our industry and the role we as advisers play in helping our clients create financial freedom and wealth.

How do you approach business differently from other advisers?

I’m not sure that we do anything too much different than other advisers, but we do focus a lot on the ongoing management of our clients’ lending by trying to help them reduce their debt as quickly as possible to ultimately give them more equity for future wealth creation.

We also have a strong focus on our referral partners, in particular, our valued partnership with Megan Jaffe at Ray White Remuera.

Is there any particular area that you specialise in?

Residential lending is our bread and butter but as the database has grown we have naturally diversified into commercial, business and asset lending.

Do you make use of social media and/or new technology in your work?

We use Facebook and LinkedIn for our social media platforms and we have a new business manager in the team that runs that for the business.

We make sure our online brand presence is constantly updated so we stay relevant to our audience and we are constantly improving the way we do things by using the latest technology to streamline our processes and save time.

What has been the high point of your time in the business? And how about the low point?

High point – has been the rapid success of the business. Every year we always seem to smash what we set out to do, which is a testament to my awesome team.

Low point – Probably the first six months, that was quite tough with the uncertainty of what lay ahead of me.

Do you have a mentor or someone who is an inspiration to you?

Brain Greer, the former CEO of Loan Market has always guided me along the way and I have always valued his opinion.

I’ve been blessed with other such influential people in the Loan Market fraternity, like Bruce Patten and I can always lean on my fellow Loan Market CIF peers for advice and good banter.

Personally, my late brother who died last year was inspirational for various reasons.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received and the worst?

My best advice – Don’t focus on the numbers, focus on the people and the numbers will sort themselves out.

Worst advice? If I have received any bad advice I can’t remember what it was as I probably ignored it.

Is there a typical working day for you? What does it look like?

The day starts on the phone from about 8am-8.30am, then I’m in the office with back to back meetings all day until about 6pm-6.30pm.

What challenges – both for yourself and for the industry – do you see ahead?

I will potentially have a challenge around the capacity to continue growing on the trajectory we are currently on. Finding good people to help with the capacity issue is time-consuming and also involves an investment in capital and training.

Challenges for the industry is finding our way through the new regulations.

What are your long-term business goals? What would you like to achieve moving ahead?

I’ve got some fairly large milestones mapped out for the business with the continued growth. But just as important as those is building a sound and robust infrastructure that is creating a successful career pathway for all our staff.

What are your personal goals?

By creating these career pathways for my staff to step up into advisory roles I’m hoping to be able to carve out a bit more of a work-life balance in my own l ife especially with a new baby due later this year.

Finally, do you have some words of wisdom, or tips, for other advisers?

When starting out in this industry make sure you surround yourself with good people that not only develop your knowledge but drive your energy.

Don’t be afraid to invest in your business for faster future growth and in the words of an industry icon: “Just keep bloody going!” ✚

From

I grew up on a dairy/deer farm in Ngahinapouri in the Waikato. After returning from my OE in Europe I based myself in Auckland from 2003 and I’m still here.

•Family

Married to Xenia with two kids and one on the way. Living in Pt Chevalier, Auckland.

• Out of work interests

Socialising with friends and family, anything sports-related and most importantly supporting my kids with their weekend sports and hobbies.

•Film/TV show

The Crowd Goes Wild.

•Favourite book

Brendon McCullum’s autobiography Declared.

•Favourite music

No favourite as such it depends on my mood as to what I’m into.

•Motto

Tough times don’t last, tough people do.