“SMART benefits our business in so many ways. It provides our business with regular and consistent contact points to our customer base. The way it improves customer retention is nothing short of amazing.”
Mark Turnbull, Managing Director of Horizon Financial, was awarded the MFAA Finance Broking Business of the Year in 2010. Horizon Financial, based in Cairns, have been operating since 1999, and have developed a passion for customer service.
Mark says of his decision to start his own brokerage: “I enjoyed helping people and the satisfaction of seeing a first home buyers face when you tell them their home loan is approved was the initial catalyst. Since then, the ability to not have a glass ceiling and have no limits on my business, income and flexibility has been the major factor in staying in the finance broking industry.”
We conducted a Q&A with Mark, to understand how our multi-award-winning SMART program helped Horizon Financial save time on their marketing and improve their customer retention.
When you become a broker through AFG, you’ll have access to SMART: our always-on marketing platform designed by expert marketers to help brokers’ businesses market like pros, save money, and attract more leads, referrals and repeat customers.
Q: How has SMART changed how you conduct your marketing?
Mark: SMART has helped us to set and forget our marketing output. Before we had SMART, we built our own campaigns which took considerable time and were quite hit and miss depending on how much time we had to spare.
Now that we have SMART in place, we have automated campaigns throughout the year and send milestone touchpoints at times in the year that are important to them, such as birthdays or anniversaries. We regularly get a reply from our customers saying thank you and how much they’ve appreciated the personal touch that comes with SMART!
SMART benefits our business in so many ways. It provides our business with regular and consistent contact points to our customer base. The way it improves customer retention is nothing short of amazing.
If you are growing a trail book and you don’t have SMART then you have rocks in your head! It is just that good!
Q: What enhancement has SMART made to Horizon Financial?
Mark: SMART has freed up an enormous amount of time for me and my business.
It’s helped us to automate everything in a way that gives us greater retention of our hard-earned customers. Which is 2 for the price of 1!
I often say there is no point in writing business when it is walking out the back door – SMART prevents this from happening!
Q: How has SMART boosted things within your day-to-day?
Mark: Thanks to SMART we’ve got more time to concentrate on writing business and sourcing new business.
I’ve noticed lots of little changes, for example I’m never finding myself caught in the office writing generic emails, interest rate updates etc. I am always working in and on the business!
Q: How has the analytics data you’ve been able to capture from SMART helped you?
Mark: The analytics data and reports from SMART are very powerful and give you an accurate view of the business you are writing and how you are tracking.
There are no more spreadsheets that need to be manually updated, the information is right there and accurate.
Q: How has the SMART Red Alert system improved your business?
Mark: Red Alerts have been wonderful in allowing us to identify clients that might be a risk of leaving and touch base personally with them to see how we can meet their needs.
We have retained numerous clients this way which means SMART has paid for itself!
Your all-in-one marketing platform
AFG’s SMART program is designed for brokers who want to see their business soar. It’s the marketing engine that propels your business forward by helping you attract customers and grow your business.
Thinking of joining us?
If you’re interested in becoming a broker with AFG, then why not contact us for more information about how we can support you on your journey.
