Infinity Group Australia recognised in 2025 Top Mortgage Employers list

Kylie Speer  00:00:07 

Kylie, hello and welcome to MPA TV. I'm Kylie Speer, and my guest today is Helena Christakos, Chief Operations Officer at Infinity Group Australia. Infinity Group coaching has been recognized as one of this year's MPA Top Mortgage Employers. Welcome to you, Helena, congratulations and thank you so much for joining us today. 

Helena Christakos  00:00:29 

Thank you so much, Kylie, absolutely thrilled to be here today. 

Kylie Speer  00:00:33 

Well, firstly, Helena, infinity group is seeing rapid employee growth and office expansion. What is driving this growth? 

Helena Christakos  00:00:43 

A lot, to be honest with you, Kylie, we have such a strong reputation in the mortgage and financial services industry, and our clients now in the industry are starting to notice that as well, through social media, through word of mouth, etc, our clients do a lot of our referrals as well, and we get heaps of repeat business, which is obviously driving huge demand. We really believe we are driving measurable client results with rapid debt reduction, wealth building, et cetera, and because of our award winning customer service and operational excellence, that's just driving all of this rapid growth that everyone is seeing with the Infinity group at the moment, our expansion into the new offices that's to meet, you know, new clients across nationwide, because, again, we are in high demand at the moment. And I think one of the key pillars as well is our culture of innovation. We adopt new technology and scalable systems all the time. We're constantly evolving. What everyone else seems to think is the norm. We're breaking that norm. We're really trying to, I guess, evolve what we think needs to be delivered to really enhance our client's journey. 

Kylie Speer  00:01:51 

Infinity Group places strong emphasis on learning and mentorship. What can candidates expect in terms of development, career progression and guidance, especially around client centric values. 

Helena Christakos  00:02:05 

Kylie, I love answering this question. I've worked for some pretty big organizations in my time across multiple industries, and I really feel infinity is really leading the pack when it comes to what we do. From a development and career progression perspective, with our employees, we really structure the mentorship from all the way from senior leaders up to our top performing brokers. And I think what's really key is that we create really clear career pathways, and this is from entry level roles all the way up to leadership roles. Regular professional development workshops and training are absolutely key to the success of these career pathways and allowing the employees to feel they are being valued as well. Because everybody wants growth. Everyone has their own aspirations for their own career, we do a massive amount of coaching on client first values as well ensuring that service Excellent. Because again, like we do with our employees. We focus on clients first as well. We do a very big, broad overview of diverse areas. So because we are across mortgages, wealth creation, budgeting, etc, so managing of that money, it really gives people a bit of an exposure to the not so norm, I guess that's out in the industry, and that allows people to really feel that professional growth within themselves. 

Kylie Speer  00:03:26 

Helena, why is infinity training approach different? Why does it work? And how do you consistently develop top performers in an industry known for high turnover? 

Helena Christakos  00:03:39 

It's again, another really good question. Kylie, so look, we're very practical, hands on. Okay, everyone from a C suite level all the way down to entry levels. We all want to roll our sleeves up and help each other. We're very collaborative as a group, and I think that's what builds real trust between employees, senior leaders, executive suite, et cetera. We do the hands on learning around real client scenarios. It's not just theory. You know, anyone can go and they can do a certificate in something, but again, it's just theory. You're not getting that hands on real learning with here. We do that differently, ongoing, one to one mentorship. It's not a single swim environment. And again, I think that's quite critical to what we do here at infinity, and why we are so different as an employer. Another probably, I guess, equation to our consistent performance would be around the culture of accountability, right, plus the support everyone in the team, again, doesn't matter on what levels they are, whether they're entry level, senior executive, even our own founders, they all want to get in and help. They will all do training sessions. They will get on the phone and show what that client experience needs to look like. They will coach the staff one on one. It's very much a feel of a family run business, but with an organism. Conversational twist, and I think that's what really allows us to be different and effective in what we do. And again, proven track record, you know, we infinity consistently develops award winning brokers. We have quite a few brokers, I think five or six at the moment, who are winning awards, left, right and center across the industry. And we also have a low staff turnover, because employees feel very invested and supported and valued, and I think that is the key ingredient. 

Kylie Speer  00:05:28 

How can Infinity Group help clients pay down mortgage debt quicker? 

Helena Christakos  00:05:33 

God, you're great. Giving me some great questions today. So look, it's cash flow coaching, right? So we have to be able to teach our clients how to manage their spending habits. It all comes down to accountability and mindset, but it also comes down to education. What lacks in the industry, unfortunately, is education. All right, nobody is out there going, Hey, this is not black and white. There's actually this big gray area here, and we can teach clients how to utilize this gray area in the industry. That is where most of our client success is actually coming from. Because, again, we're not a one stop, easy, one option service. You know, we're applying our saves. They're applying their savings directly to their debt. They're cutting years, and I mean years off their mortgages at the moment, just by restructuring, just by having smarter ways to do things. And more simple, there's a lot of complexity put out there around finances. And again, somebody who doesn't work in the industry or has exposure to the industry, it can feel quite convoluted and quite complex, right? Because if you're not familiar with it, it can scare you. So again, we work with them, we educate them. And at every point of contact, we are educating, whether it be around basic things, around settlements, loan documents, budgeting, tips for families when going on holidays, what to do at Christmas time. We put all of that into one little service model, and that's what's making our clients pay down their mortgage debts extremely fast. 

Kylie Speer  00:07:09 

Here's another good question for you, how does infinity group improve clients financial literacy? What ways does this help demystify the banking system? And how do you measure success in this area? 

Helena Christakos  00:07:24 

I love this question. So again, like all of them, and I think I probably touched on this in the last question, we have to educate clients. Banks make money where hidden costs lie. Okay, we need to show them what they don't know. And this is what I love, and this doesn't matter what part of the industry. So forget who we are for a moment. In all aspects of life, our kids ourselves, we don't know what we don't know, so we have to break down the complex terms into simple, actionable advice. Again, ongoing workshops, exactly like what we do with our employees, which I mentioned earlier, ongoing educational workshops, webinars, regular, and I do mean regular client check ins, because, again, you don't pay a personal trainer and then don't follow through and listen to them. So they're coming to us. They're entrusting us with their their goals, with their finance, with their wealth creation, their financial freedom. We need to make sure we keep them accountable. Okay, that is probably the biggest difference of our point of difference. We measure success on the reduced financial stress, the increased savings rates, and the faster debt reduction timelines, and again, long term wealth creation. We're not just creating wealth now for them and their families. We're creating generational wealth. We're breaking that norm. 

Kylie Speer  00:08:49 

And finally, Helena, your well deserved success has not gone unrecognized by the mortgage industry. Can you share some other recent wins?  

Helena Christakos  00:08:57 

I most definitely can this category. These categories are always very important to us. We want to be recognized in the industry for what we're doing and how we're breaking the normality of the industry. So of late, we've actually had six of our brokers been listed as Australian broker five star winners, which is absolutely amazing to have six of those in that amazing list. We've also have finalists in the FB double A Excellence Awards, which are coming up shortly. And we've also been shortlisted as finalists for the Australian mortgage Awards, which are also coming up shortly as well. So again, absolutely humble to be receiving all of these accolades. And again, it's a tribute to the company Rebecca Graham and everything they do here as well.  

Kylie Speer  00:09:42 

Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for your time today, Helena. And huge congratulations once again. 

Helena Christakos  00:09:48 

Thank you so much, Kylie. I do really appreciate it, and we're very humbled to be receiving this as an employer of choice. 

Kylie Speer  00:09:54 

And thank you, of course, to our viewers for watching the latest episode of MPA TV, we look forward to seeing you again soon.