Kate O’Sullivan on why process drives business growth

What was the transition to being business partners like for you and Paddy?

“I quit my job to join Paddy three months after he started the business. There were a lot of tears. I was trying to help him, but we weren’t sure how we were going to structure our roles. Once I started to streamline tasks, we got into a rhythm and things started to flow...”

What did you do to get the business running smoothly?

“When I joined Paddy, there were manila folders everywhere so one of my first steps was making the business paperless and creating tight naming conventions for files.

“We set goals. We set a goal to do five appointments a week and slowly grew that target. I also received great advice early on from another franchisee, Maureen Johnson, who said that we should always be one staff member ahead, so we hired a trainee early on and that helped. The trainee helped us with general admin, data entry, and following up on applications and settlements.”

Can you give us some insight into your processes?

“We set weekly and daily KPIs to make sure our pipeline is always full. I created a spreadsheet that tracks what stage loan applications are at, so we aren’t frantic when six loans all come back on one day then there’s nothing for the next couple of days. The spreadsheet is nothing exciting but it’s a good planning tool, I've sent it to a few other businesses.”

Can you tell me about the satellite office? Why did you set that up?

“During the second COVID-19 lockdown, we set up a satellite office just around the corner from our main office and shopfront. Most of our team members have small children and we found that working from home wasn’t suited to everyone. Our first office was getting overrun with staff and we knew we’d outgrown it, so we opened the satellite office on a 12-month lease and we split the team in two, mirroring the roles at each office. We work half the week at one office and the remaining days at home or in the other office so if we had a COVID outbreak, the whole team wasn’t out sick for a week. It has worked so well for us.”

You’re six years in now, what are some of the most important things you’ve learned about building a team?

“When it comes to growing the business and bringing on staff, it’s important to know your own strengths. It’s hard when you’re a single operator but you need to think beyond just the role you need to fill and plan for developing the business. We have a big team today, with 10 staff in Nowra and three offshore, and that’s partly because a few of our team members are mums – some work after hours only, others can only work during school hours. This flexible model has worked really well for the business and has also meant that our team have stuck with us.

“Most of our staff didn’t have broking experience when they joined us, but I think that’s better because they don’t bring bad habits into the business. Our team members have worked in almost every role in the business. As the business has grown, their roles have evolved too. ”

“The business has grown to a great place but in this type of industry you need to keep growing. We’re excited because we’re training some junior staff to become brokers. We also have office managers, which makes the business less dependent on us, which has freed up some time for Paddy and I to do more with family.”