We find out how Jason Boccaccio established himself in SME finance, why he started a mortgage broking business, and what he’s learned along the way.
Five years ago, a retrenchment sparked an idea for accountant Jason Boccaccio, who noticed a gap in the SME finance market. In the time since, the director of Adelaide Commercial Finance has made a name for himself in finance broking, being named the 2021 Finance Broker and Broker Of The Year for SA/NT at the Better Business Awards earlier this year.
We find out how Jason Boccaccio established himself in SME finance, why he started a mortgage broking business, and what he’s learned along the way.
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How did you become a broker?
It began five years ago. I was an accountant for 10–15 years, predominantly in the mining industry. But at the age of 35, I faced my fourth redundancy. I decided I was going to take the money and take some time off; catch up with a few people and try to work out what I wanted to do.
One of the areas that I touched upon was that there was a gap in the market with self-employed people who were having trouble with finance. They were self-employed, and they needed business and commercial lending, but there wasn't a lot of help for those types of customers.
That’s quite a change. How long did it take for you to get off the ground?
It took about four or five months. I had no client base, so it was a very slow start. I did put a lot of time into a business plan, but [it was mainly about] getting out there – it was door knocking, cold calling, reaching out to people I knew. It was challenging not having the background and experience others might have had. But I learned a lot in the process. I spoke to a lot of people, made a lot of contacts, and it's a long-term play.
What's your process for walking through commercial finance with your clients?
My process is that I always start with an informal discussion: Questions about their business, their personal life, and whether their solution is a finance solution or profitability solution. If they like what I'm saying as a potential solution from that discussion, we progress forward and help them.
It’s not very salesy. It’s more solution driven. Generally, for an initial discussion, there's no charges at that point. And then to proceed further, there may be fees that apply from that point.
Adelaide Commercial Finance offers business finance help but you also now offer mortgage broking. Why did you decide to set up two separate brands and two separate offerings?
It was originally set up as Adelaide Commercial Finance, really focusing on commercial transactions, but after the first two years in business, I saw a gap in the business model and created the second brand. There wasn't a lot of focus still on it until COVID first hit [and business finance slowed down].
What would you say to someone who’s looking to get involved in SME finance, or who’s writing SME finance for the first time?
It’s important to establish your niche and what you're going to be focusing on. Don't be a do-everything. And do one thing at a time. I’d also recommend getting some training. Being able to read financials is quite important with self-employed customers.
I’d also say: [whil you can] have a look at doing it on your own as one option, look at maybe getting into another business that's already doing what you want to be doing, and learning the job that way.
How did you go about setting up your referral partnerships?
We initially reached out to various people, but primarily accountants. I actually referred clients to some accountants as a first step, and that was actually a good strategy, and then the referrals came back the other way.
The business is now heavily built on really digital strategies… a lot of opportunities and leads actually come through people finding the business on Google or Google Maps. Probably half of the opportunities come through digital now, more so than actual referral partners. So, it's probably the opposite of what a lot of people would perceive.
But referrals also do come from businesses talking to other businesses and referring me on… and a lot of word-of-mouth referrals from my mortgage clients too, now.
If you could do it all again, would there be anything you would change?
If I went back to earlier, I probably would have implemented digital strategies a bit more effectively and got some paid help in that area. And also, starting off from mining was very tough.
Perhaps starting off working alongside someone or an established group may have been another strategy forward to give you a bit more momentum to start off.
You can find out more about Jason Bocaccio and how he’s set up his two broking businesses in The Adviser’s Elite Broker podcast.
Tune in to the episode with Jason Bocaccio: SA/NT’s Broker of the Year 2021, below:
