Mortgage Broking Tips: Surviving The First Year

The golden tips no one tells you

Did you know that around 30% of brokers don’t make it through their first year?

Becoming a broker is a much bigger challenge than most people realise, with the first year filled with expensive and frustrating learning experiences.

The good news is that after two years, it’s a great career: when you’re winning it’s fun and you earn a great income.

Here’s how to get through the initial slog.

Credit and sales skills

At Home Loan Experts, we see most brokers join us with either good credit skills or good sales skills. Rarely do they have both.

When you think about it, this makes a lot of sense as few people are analytical and are great with people and that’s essentially what we’re talking about.

To be a great broker, you need to firstly be aware of what your weaknesses are otherwise the training you do will miss the mark.

A great broker is extremely efficient and develops their weaker skill so that they’re able to give great advice and win over customers as well.

Intelligence, drive and resilience

Intelligence and drive are self-explanatory. You need them both to be a good broker. But what about resilience?

When someone leaves a bank and becomes a broker they usually have no idea what they’re in for.

• You’re going to deal with a lot of rejection.
• Customers will take your recommendations and go direct to a bank.
• Banks will decline your loan for no good reason.

It happens.

You’ve got to be tough and you’ve got to get back up and keep going.

If you’re emotionally unstable then working in sales is not for you!

Resilience is something that you can build over time.

Experienced brokers still lose clients, they just don’t let it get to them.

Pick a market

Everyone has their own unique strengths that they can utilise in their business.

Maybe you’ve got great connections in the local community, a brother who’s a real estate agent, you’re an experienced property investor or you used to be a builder.

It’s much easier to get started if you just focus on one market.

The mortgage industry is huge and it’s really made up of many smaller markets.

You don’t need to win them all: just pick one, become a guru in that space and build your brand.

One step back to take two steps forward

Are you really struggling and thinking of giving upIt’s best to talk to your Connective BDM and get their advice as they might be able to point you in the right direction.

If your technical skills aren’t up to scratch, consider working as a mobile lender on a salary before starting your own business.

If you find running a business isn’t your strength, join another broking business and then all you need to do is focus on sales.

Success is a team sport

That rule is there for a reason and, while it’s harsh, it makes a lot of sense.

If you don’t have the experience you need then you absolutely must have a great mentor and, to be quite frank, good mentors don’t come cheap.

In addition to that, you should meet up regularly with other mortgage brokers and discuss your challenges.

I’ve been a broker for 15 years now and I still regularly meet with various top brokers to swap ideas.

We’ve become close and even share processes or refer each other clients.

If you’re a new broker you can do this too.

In particular, look for other brokers who have skills that you don’t have so that you can help each other.