Building a new business around better ways of working

Two years ago, Foster Russo & Co was established as a new finance and mortgage broking business led by Robyn Russo. While the company itself was new, the people behind brought extensive experience to the table. Robyn herself has spent more than four decades in finance, and several members of the team have worked together for between 10 and 20 years.

Starting a new business gave the team a rare opportunity to decide how they wanted to work from the beginning. They wanted less paper, fewer disconnected steps and a clearer way for brokers and support staff to keep work moving without relying on memory.

“We were very paper-based up until the start of the new business,” Robyn says. “From the beginning, we made it a paperless environment. Now we only use Salestrekker. We don’t have a database anywhere else.”

For Robyn, risk mattered too. Years in banking and broking had shown her how quickly a missed step could become a bigger problem. The new business needed consistent processes around compliance and sensitive client information.

Giving the whole team a clearer way to work

Foster Russo & Co began using Salestrekker in 2024 and chose to move early to Salestrekker 2.0. The team committed to learning the platform together rather than leaving the change to individual users.

Emily Brookes, Client Manager, says they attended every training session available and created dummy clients to test processes themselves. New discoveries were then shared across the team.

“When we moved to Salestrekker 2.0, our minds were blown with how much it could do,” Emily says. “We threw ourselves into every training available, played around with it and shared every new thing that we found with each other.”

That approach has helped turn Salestrekker 2.0 into a common way of working across the business. Task automations allocate work as a deal moves through different stages, giving brokers and support staff a clear view of what needs to happen next and who is responsible.

For Client Manager Vy Nguyen, that visibility helps when different people need to contribute to the same deal.

“When the deal moves to each stage, there are different tasks allocated to certain people,” Vy says. “Everyone can pick up the work as we go.”

The team also uses Salestrekker 2.0 AI within compliance notes, particularly around options presented, while continuing to build its use of the broader AI tools.

Robyn also credits aggregator Outsource Financial as an important part of the business environment Foster Russo & Co has built. “Outsource are amazing to work with,” she says. “It was very clear from the beginning that I own the customer. And using Salestrekker works perfectly for us.”

Fewer missed steps and more confidence in every deal

For Foster Russo & Co, the most valuable result from using Salestrekker is the confidence that comes from having a consistent process that the whole team can follow.

Salestrekker 2.0 guides users through each stage of the work, including compliance requirements, so key steps are less dependent on someone remembering what comes next. Information can also follow through the process rather than being repeatedly entered into separate systems.

“Salestrekker 2.0 gives us real confidence that every step is being covered,” Robyn says. “The compliance requirements and automations are built into the process, so the team has a clear path to follow from start to finish.”

That structure matters when someone works part-time, takes leave or needs to pick up another person’s task. The work stays visible and responsibilities are clearer.

Clients are feeling the difference too. Emily recalls a client who had delayed refinancing for a couple of years. After finally completing the process, her response was simple: “I can’t believe how easy that was.”

Security has become part of client conversations too. Vy recalls two clients working in IT who specifically asked how their information would be protected. The team could explain the security around Salestrekker 2.0 and give them confidence in the process.

For Robyn, reducing risk is one of the strongest benefits because it supports the people behind the business as much as the process itself.

“You can’t put a price on that,” she says. “I’ve seen what can go wrong and how quickly things can escalate. I feel this is more secure in every sense. It’s a safe environment to operate in.”

Foster Russo & Co is now broadening into areas including asset and commercial finance. Salestrekker 2.0 gives the team a consistent foundation for that next stage – while keeping personal client relationships at the centre.