Client ‘stickiness’ essential for new brokers

Speaking on the Elite Broker podcast, the directors of Winning Home Loans said that they have achieved a $6.5-million loan book despite having only started writing loans in May, adding that they consider fostering client “stickiness” to be the key to continued success over the long term.

“We're happy to look at our progress over a three- to five-year period rather than the next quarter,” Mr Blackhurst said.

“The way that we see us doing that [achieving long-term success] is not only helping them get into their first home or refinancing them... [but] actually selling them avenues... A property is an incredibly powerful asset that you can use to generate future wealth.”

Mr Blackhurst explained that it’s about “creating a partnership with people” and acting as an “accountability coach” for their (predominantly) millennial client base.

“I think our oldest client is 39, so it's wealth accumulators … [and] their sole goal is to either get into their first property or actually use the property they've got,” the director continued.

The brokers added that they are beginning to focus on assisting potential clients to save in anticipation of a loan.

“You're talking about getting them when they're one or two years out from saving. And we would actually have a huge impact on that,” Mr Blackhurst said, noting that the smashed avo debate which centres on their target demographic is really a matter of planning.

“If you want to have that smashed avo, you just take that into account, into your plan. But the point is, you need a plan,” Mr Blackhurst said.

“If you're just going to having smashed avo and just waiting, then that's when it can sort of start trailing off. If you've got it all worked out, you can have your cake and eat it, too.”

[Related: Tom and Chaice share the ‘winning’ formula behind Winning Home Loans]