Award-winning Port Lincoln Home Loans rebrands to Loan Market

Multi-award-winning broker Steven Toome has decided joining national brokerage Loan Market - leveraging its marketing solutions and brand awareness - is the best way for him to scale-up and make strategic acquisitions.

Mr Toome rebranded to Loan Market, previously trading as Port Lincoln Home Loans under the LMG Partner service plan - and has benefited from an immediate uptick in leads.

In December, under the Loan Market brand, Loan Market’s full suite of automated marketing solutions helped propel a 48.8% increase in leads to the business compared to the same period last year.

The recent growth comes on top of Mr Toome sweeping the industry awards over the last 12 months, including being named the SA Regional Broker of the Year in the respective MFAA Awards for Excellence and the Better Business Awards.

Already aggregating with LMG, Mr Toome has embraced the time saving benefits of MyCRM and how it keeps him safe in compliance and customised website.

But by moving to Loan Market, he now has access to ‘done-for-you’ marketing solutions and state-based marketing specialists and the profile of a national brand.

As the most trusted and liked brand in the broker industry, moving to Loan Market would also support the retention of clients who were part of loan book acquisitions.

“The business is bigger than me,” said Mr Toome.

“We’ve had a brilliant first few years but I know that there’s the potential to scale-up further with the Loan Market brand.”

Prior to rebranding to Loan Market, Mr Toome completed Loan Market’s innovative Elevate Program.

Elevate is a six-month program for business owners who are servicing 75 to 100 customers a year and are looking to double their activity.

The program involves:

● intensive, personalised fortnightly coaching sessions with Michael Karpathakis, focusing on unlocking each broker's full potential;

● monthly face-to-face sessions sharing success stories, strategies and accountability to foster collaborative growth; and

● masterclasses on profitability, benchmarking, marketing, talent management and leadership designed to equip brokers with the skills to excel.

The business will trade under the business name Loan Market Link. Mr Toome said the new name held meaning on several levels.

“Loan Market Link underlines the linkage we offer between our customers and lenders; ‘Link’ is a nod to Port Lincoln; and ‘Link’ also refers to the fact we link clients from a sweeping part of Australia - from Adelaide to Perth - with the very best finance solutions.

“More than anything, Loan Market is a liked and trusted brand, and that will help us attract more customers beyond Port Lincoln and the surrounding regions.”

Mr Toome said his clients were commonly seeking finance solutions that went beyond home loans which didn’t align with his former business name.

“We have a lot of PAYG clients who want products and expertise in car lending, self-employed clients who want vehicle and equipment finance solutions, clients who want to purchase commercial property through Self-Managed Super Funds and more.

“Since we opened Port Lincoln Home Loans three years ago, non-residential lending has accounted for about 20% of our client activity. But by moving to Loan Market Link, we’re looking to further diversify our activity into asset, equipment and commercial finance, tapping into the connections and expertise of the national network and furthering our commitment to delivering holistic solutions for customers.”

Being a liked and trusted brand meant that Mr Toome would be in a strong position to acquire loan books.

“As Loan Market, I’m in a better position to acquire a loan book from, for instance, a city-based brokerage than I would be as Port Lincoln Home Loans,” he said. “There’s strength in being part of a national brokerage.”