An avid interest in property and wealth creation spurred Peter Savage to try his luck as a mortgage broker in 2022. Over that time, he has rapidly built a thriving business. Speaking to The Adviser, Savage shares his approach and what he’s doing to take his brokerage to the next level.
Q. You started broking in 2022 after being a machine operator at Visy. What prompted your move into broking?
I’d built up a bit of a portfolio, went through the different processes of banks and brokers, and learned bits and pieces…
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I knew I was going to be in real estate. I like the idea of real estate; it’s at the cutting edge of sales. Mortgage broking is sales at the end of the day. It’s transferring energy to someone, not just saving rates. And one day, I just decided I was going to be a broker.
Q. Why did you opt to open your own brokerage rather than operate under a franchise?
I was listening to The Adviser podcast for six to nine months before I [started] my business. I listened to so many episodes and just picked the perfect people that had businesses and processes that I wanted and were at the top of the industry.
Everyone at the top end had a similar model. And I found a lot of those brokers, after seven years or so, go out and start their own brand. So, I thought I may as well do it from day one.
Q. Where did you find your first clients?
Six months before I started, I was [posting videos on] social media. I wasn’t talking about mortgage broking – I was talking about life, mindset, and building up. The following started to come, just slowly building.
It’s probably just my energy. I already knew so much about property, leverage, and wealth creation. So, people just went: “Yep cool, let’s see what you can do.”
Q. How do you bring these leads in?
I use AI during client calls. I just hit the record button on my iPhone and ask the client what their goal is. We work backwards and I ask them personal goals for the next one to five years. I can get everything on that first phone call. And then it gets transcribed and pops into ChatGPT.
It extracts all the information. Then I just shoot them a text message and go: “This is what we need. This is where we send it.” And that’s done.
Q. You’re on track to settle $145 million this financial year and have also set a massive target for the next one ($250 million). How are you going to meet it?
In April, we lodged 30 loans for $19 million and settled 28 loans for $19 million. That’s with just four of us and one pipeline. We felt that if we can do that, imagine what we can do with two more offshore staff members who are coming in two weeks!
I also have a new broker coming who’s about six months in. The plan is, once I’ve hired the first broker, I’m going to know how to hire more brokers…
For the next six to nine months, my focus is building the team and making sure everything’s working efficiently, the clients are getting updated, the emails are not sounding too generic – focusing on the core part of the business. I don’t want to scale something that’s not working.
The last thing I want to do is an influx of business and not serve the clients.
Tune in to hear more! You can find out more about Peter Savage in the New Broker podcast. Tune in to the podcast, New Broker: ‘How this new broker plans to write $250m next financial year’, here:
