Following in the footsteps of his father, Ben Williams reveals his journey in shaping his distinct path toward brokerage success.
What inspired you to become a broker?
It was pretty simple for me. My dad has been a mortgage broker for about seven years and he’s been trying to convince me to join the business for probably seven years as well. I didn’t want to do it at the start; I wanted to pursue my own path. But eventually, he got me and I’ve been doing it for two years now and I absolutely love it!
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What branches do you operate with Mortgage Choice?
When I started, Dad had South Melbourne; he bought that business about seven years ago. Then, about a year and a half ago, I had an opportunity to buy a very small book in Richmond with the goal of that being mine. It took a little bit to get going, but now we mostly run separate businesses. I still use Dad’s team to support my work.
What’s the dynamics of the Richmond branch?
We’re in a co-work space. Dad’s got his co-work business in South Melbourne, which I still work out of. Richmond is another branch of that co-work. We’re very lucky in Richmond space; there are conveyancers, a lot of people working in the finance industry, asset finance brokers, and other small businesses, mostly my age, too, which is nice. It’s nice to have some young people around. We’ve picked up a little bit of business just by walking around with my Mortgage Choice polo as well. So it’s been really good for business. We recently found there’s a media business that’s helping us build a podcast as well. I’ve also built relationships with some local real estate agents who operate out of the Richmond office.
What team size do you have?
The team is quite big; we’ve got nine staff. At the moment, dad and I are the brokers. We’ve got a support team; one’s from CBA, who used to work there for about nine years, he’s our loan packager. We’ve also got someone that helps from submission to settlement. We’ve got three people in Manila supporting us. We’ve got a client care consultant who does all of our pricing, part-time. It’s grown a lot in the last two years.
Do you remember the first loan you wrote?
I do remember my first deal. It was actually a mate of mine who I’d been talking to for a bit while I was doing my Cert IV. He was looking to buy his first property, which was a bit nerve-racking, to be honest, because being new to the industry and not knowing a whole lot and helping a very close friend of mine buy a home. That first deal, I did rely a lot on dad because I wanted to make sure I did a good job. I helped one of my best mates buy an investment property and he’s been rentvesting since. Honestly, I was hooked from the beginning. That feeling when he purchased was such a nice moment to share and that feeling still carries with me to this day and that’s why I love what I do.
What are the main loans that you’re writing at the moment?
At the moment, probably about 50-50 purchases and refinances, but we’re getting a lot more purchases over the last two months and a lot of first home buyers and investors. People are getting quite creative at the moment. We’re getting a lot of rentvestors, people that are just wanting to get in the market and buying in the country or buying interstate, something that they can afford. We’ve had a lot of people buying with siblings, buying with friends. I found first-time buyers have been really resilient in the tough times. A lot of them are moving back home with parents to save and are keen to get in the market. Not all of them are converting, but we’re having a lot more conversations and inquiries at the moment from first home buyers, which is really good to see. I love that. They’re my favourite clients.
How are you reaching new clients?
It’s a bit of a roller-coaster when you start. You try to broaden your net and try everything to bring in business. Right now, I get a lot of business from local real estate agents whom I have a really good relationship with. It’s a two-way relationship. We refer to her, she refers to us. I also get some from a conveyancer, a couple of buyer’s advocates. I’d say the majority of our business is just repeat and referrals.
Do you have any strategy to check in with existing clients?
We set reminders, it used to be every six months, now it’s maybe less than that, but we’ve had more conversations with people than ever. We’ve done a lot of existing pricing, a lot of rate reviews. It’s a very competitive market at the moment. A lot of people are refinancing; the cost of living has gone up, so people need brokers more than ever at the moment. We have a really good CRM in Mortgage Choice that sends out automatic emails with check-ins and then we’ve also got our client care consultant Diane who checks in with our clients a lot. We’ve definitely upped it a lot recently.
What are you striving towards and aiming for when you look ahead?
I definitely feel a lot more confident in what I’m doing now. When I started, I had a bit of imposter syndrome; it was a steep learning curve. But I think my goal for now is just to keep building the business, keep helping people. People are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. So, I just want to help more people. That’s my goal. And yeah, we’re just trying to grow our business a lot at the moment through social media. We’re actually starting our own podcast soon, which is really good.
You can find out more about Ben Williams in The Adviser's New Broker podcast.
Tune in to the episode with Ben, New Broker: Continuing the family legacy, here:
