‘Ability to sell’ critical to success in broking

“It is a massive gamble,” Mr Sales said. “My mentality is if you're a good broker, why are you going to come work for me? If you're good at what you do, you do it on your own,” he said.

Mr Sales worked as a credit analyst at St.George and commercial lender at ANZ before becoming a broker almost four years ago. He is currently recruiting, and says his ideal would come from a similar background and be familiar with the industry.

“But I guess the number one thing that I see in new brokers, what I look for is ability to sell,” he said.

“You need to be able to get your name out there, get referrals, network. No one's going to knock on your door.”

According to Mr Sales, the ability to sell is far more important than knowledge of product and policy.

“You could know every single policy under the sun, what your LVRs are… but if you don't have people that want to get loans off you, your knowledge is useless,” he said.

“I can teach the credit side. One thing that's hard for me to teach is the selling side. I look for certain qualities in that person: Can they accept a 'no'? Are they willing to go knock on doors? How do they handle rejection? Stuff like that. I think that's the main quality that I like to see in new brokers, the ability to network.”

One of Mr Sales’ brokers, Jack Punch, won the Editor’s Choice award at the NSW Better Business Summit in Sydney last month after less than two years in the industry. A finalist in the Rising Star category, Mr Punch is building a successful career in mortgage broking built on referral relationships with agents, accountants and financial planners.

“He had zero experience in banking and broking,” Mr Sales said. “He took the leap of faith and he's reaping the benefits now.”

[Related: Young brokerage on big recruitment drive]