Over a strong latte: Nodifi Head of Inside Sales, Jordan Mutton, unpacks Nodifi’s recent partnership with Loan Market Group, and what it means moving forward for everyone in our community.
Furthermore, with Jordan’s well known determination and unwavering commitment to a healthy team, he explains what “high morale” means and, more importantly, how (and why) businesses can achieve it.
It’s this foundation of support, accountability and team dynamics that have delivered an outstanding experience for partners and their respective clients over the years – Nodifi was recently announced as a finalist in the MFAA’s Excellence Awards 2022 in the Support Service Provider – Small Company category.
“Great tools don’t mean much without a great team,” something Jordan often remarks, here’s why.
Key takeaways
- Nodifi’s partnership with Loan Market Group sees over 5,000 brokers introduced to Nodifi
- “In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity.” – most relevant for Nodifi over the last 24 months
- Implementing a health and wellness program in the workplace is pivotal for creating a comfortable working environment
- A focus on team dynamics helps build strong professional relationships
- Getting culture and values right is well worth the investment
- Creating a supportive environment where staff can ask questions and self learn are key drivers to a high performing team
1. Firstly, Loan Market Group. There’s been quite a lot of buzz around this merger, but in case anyone’s missed it, who are they and what does such a significant collaboration mean?
Loan Market Group is the largest and fastest-growing retail mortgage brokerages in Australasia. Proudly family-owned and led, it is part of the White Family Group of companies comprising Loan Market, PLAN Australia, Choice Aggregation Services, FAST, Wealth Market, Home Now and Ray White.
As for the announcement, LMG and Nodifi will merge their asset finance operations, consolidating personnel and tech for the industry’s leading asset finance solution.
LMG’s network of brokers will gain access to 80 asset finance support specialists, as well as Nodifi’s innovative application and compliance platform, under the new partnership.
A key takeaway is that like Nodifi, Loan Market Group is 100% family owned and upholds similar values and culture. This has helped solidify the partnership.
2. 2022 is proving to be an exciting one for Nodifi, with the announcement of a partnership with Price My Car, a growing team and now the LMG news. Talk us through the last few years and how these milestones came into the crosshairs.
In the words of Albert Einstein: “In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity.” This could not be more reflective of the last two years for Nodifi. My thoughts turn back to July 2020, a time when the Nodifi management team got together over a two week period to set short (and long) term business goals in respect to the times, and strategies on how to achieve.
That two week period was instrumental and paved the way for key releases. A relaunch of the Nodifi brand, a new platform that was rebuilt from the ground up, and a raft of key partnerships, none more so pivotal than the recent merger with LMG.
All these milestones have elevated Nodifi to becoming the industry’s leading services provider for asset finance – an achievement the team should be extremely proud of (I certainly am).
3. It’s clear that partnerships offer many opportunities, how can other businesses reap these rewards and align themselves with exciting collaborations of their own?
What’s clear about the partnerships Nodifi has encountered over the last 24 months, is that they’re all so different. We’ve got a partnership with 4WD Supacentre – an online retailer, Price My Car – an online car buyer marketplace, Loan Market Group, and thousands of brokers Australia-wide, from standalone brokers to large-scale brokerage groups.
With that in mind, it’s a simple matter of reaching out to those key service providers within the industry, and discussing current business operations and key goals. Having such conversations will help providers understand your business model and how technology and support can help achieve business goals, and improve efficiencies.
Working towards goals collaboratively is much more powerful than going it alone.
4. In our introduction above, we mentioned that you’re an advocate of a healthy team in an equally healthy workplace – what does this actually mean?
For Nodifi, it’s meant implementing a health and wellness program, which has seen the business implement stand-up desks and laptops for all staff, providing flexibility to move around the office and/or to work from home.
We’ve also introduced complimentary access to the onsite gym membership and social club.
It’s about providing a comfortable working environment for all staff, and supporting staff to live a healthy life whilst all supporting mental well-being.
In general, I think the more energy a team has, the more it’s passed onto the business. It also supports a healthy workplace culture.
5. It’s clear to anyone familiar with Nodifi, especially those who have met the team in person, that culture is a central part of the organisation’s direction. Has this always been so evident?
Culture has always been at the forefront for the business, but in saying that, there has been work to do over the last few years. I can honestly say that we are in a great place now, the best we have ever been.
We’ve been utilising Leading Teams for five years on a regular basis and these sessions, which bolster and review our values, have had a positive impact on our culture.
Over recent years, dynamics and mechanics have come into play, which a key focus on dynamics. In most businesses, mechanics is typically the core focus – and that’s understandable as it’s simple to measure – however, we’ve spent a great deal of time focussing on dynamics and building strong professional relationships.
Culturally, we’ve seen a great synergy with the LMG team, a big reason as to why we were so excited to partner with them.
6. What are some standout red and green flags that businesses in our industry should look out for when both hiring new staff and evaluating their existing team?
Hire staff based on values and culture. We base our interviews around personal values, not past numbers or skills sets – resumes show that.
I think it’s important to ask questions to determine whether someone fits in with company values.
If they don’t buy into and agree with your values, it’s probably not a good fit for both parties.
7. Training and upskilling can be expensive in terms of both time and money but what can our partners do to ensure their team is operating smoothly and at peak performance?
Create an environment where staff feel comfortable asking questions. Also, provide multiple sources for staff to find answers, such as an intranet. In this day and age, self-service is proving ever popular, even in the workplace.
At Nodifi, we use Facebook Workplace, a platform that allows teams to easily collaborate and share ideas. We have 100% usage across the business and, given it’s a Facebook familiar format, that’s not too surprising.
8. Lastly, complete this sentence: A winning team is a team that…
Lives and breathes company values. The strength of the team is each individual member – the strength of each member is the team.
Stay tuned for more exciting news and inside tips on ensuring your business is healthy on the inside and out. And of course, feel free to reach out to Jordan and the Nodifi team if you require any assistance on turning up your team’s output.
Other coffee chats
- Chief Technology Officer, Dave Longbottom, discusses embracing technology and the importance of technology
- Consumer Strategist, Zoe Calderbank, talks us through building strong relationships with all stakeholders along the consumer credit journey
- Commercial Strategist, Rhys Thurtell-Morton, helps us navigate commercial clients and their business needs in the smoothest ways possible
