We speak with Mr Roylance about his move into broking, why the right person is more important than the right time, and the inherent necessity of brokers backing themselves.
Damien Roylance never had initial intentions to become a broker, let alone to run his brokerage, but a series of interactions and partnerships were the doorways for him to do both, establishing the Melbourne-based brokerage and financial service provider Entourage in December 2015.
In the time since, the Melbourne-based broker, alongside his brokerage, have begun making names for themselves, with Entourage being named Office of the Year, Non-Franchise at the 2021 Australian Broking Awards.
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The Adviser: How and why did you enter the broking space?
Damien Roylance: When I was 23, I was pouring beers at the Australian Open when a family friend – I think he had one or two too many – said that I was pretty good with people and I could talk. He asked me if I wanted to come and work for him next year. I think I started a few weeks later, and that was the start of my broking career.
How was that initial transition?
The advantage I had then was that during the early 2000s, there weren’t that many younger brokers – at least in my networks. I remember I managed to get all my friends and friends of friends on contracts. They're the people that are upgrading into that family home, buying those houses now which are $3 to $4 million now. It's not easy, but I'm getting some reward now.
You now run Entourage, which you founded at the end of 2015. but it’s not just a brokerage, it also offers finance and property services. Why did you decide to do that?
Broking's the main thing. We've added on legal for conveyancing, which has been really helpful, especially for the young brokers, and we’ve also got contract checks for every single person before they go to auction. I'm also a licenced agent myself. We really just get talking about property. That's probably one of our unique things – that we really get involved in every single property transaction.
How did you determine the direction you wanted to take your business?
I did plan to add the different services – that was part of the goal, and we have got the four services now at the moment. Nowadays, we set our targets every year and have our staff targets, but that’s about all we do. I’m not a huge “business plan kind of guy”, but I did plan what I wanted at the start.
You’re based in Melbourne – how was it running your business during Victoria’s lockdowns?
It was really hard because the systems we have – we can't really track what people do every day, but we trust our team. We've got a very loyal, long standing team, and we just know they're just going to do the right thing by us. In terms of business, we got flooded. The refinances came during that time of year, and then every time we came out of lockdown, the purchases would explode. So, we've been busy.
In 2017, you hired three brokers after running the business for less than two years. Is that a tactic you’d recommend?
Maybe not, but they're all coming on to their five year anniversaries. Good people are really hard to find in this industry. I think every single broker I speak to at the moment, whether it's admin roles or brokers, they just can't find the right person. I don't necessarily always look or advertise for roles, but when I see someone good, I get them. You look for good people, rather than wait until you're really busy. It's too late then I think.
Are there any other challenges you face as a business owner?
I've always worked with someone, so when you go out on your own, it's fun and exciting, but it can get lonely. It's also all on you to feed the mouths, and the challenge is that you get fed last. That's the reality of being a broker, and it’s the reality of trying to build a long term brand.
You mentioned that a lot of your business comes from those that you started out with. What do you do to get new leads?
We're trying to do different things and have a bit of fun while we do. We're pretty strong on social media. It can be hard to find content all the time, but every week, we sit down and figure out what we can say and do. We do big events as well – we have an annual ladies lunch, for example. Marketing can be fun. And mortgages are a pretty boring industry in finance.
If you had any tips for new brokers coming into the space, or looking to grow their business, what would you say?
Back yourself. If you're really passionate about the job and if you think you're good at it, then you're going to grow the business. Also, don't wait until you're crazily busy. I was speaking to a broker down in Geelong and he's taking three weeks to do stuff. I said, “Well, it's too late. You need to hire someone before you take three weeks to get back to people”. With new people, there's so many good experienced brokers out there. How do you stand out?
You can find out more about Damien Roylance and the story on Entourage in The Adviser’s Elite Broker podcast, below:
