We find out why Ms Yu embraced the broking industry, how she managed to build an award-winning franchise, and how emerging brokers can find the referrals to secure their own success.
Almost three years ago, Xia Xia Yu transitioned from her over-12-year career as a private banker to become a mortgage broker – a decision that came from a blend of chance and possibility.
However, in her short time in the industry – most of which has been spent during a pandemic – Ms Yu has established herself as a broker on the rise, being named as Best Newcomer, New South Wales/ACT at this year’s Better Business Awards earlier this year.
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You started broking in 2019 after spending more than 12 years as a private banker with Westpac. What was the appeal for you to enter the industry?
I never intended to become a broker. I left Westpac to set up my own consulting business, helping high net worth individuals entering Australia to establish either their family or new businesses.
But in that first year, we realised that every single client wanted some level of advice in mortgages. We were referring people to other business partners, and therefore, for our clients, getting that loan approved was a long journey. So, we created a broking arm.
Do you think that your banking experience helped the transition?
It was hard because – I’m obviously very experienced in the credit piece, but what was the most difficult element was learning about different bank policies while running my own business. It's almost like, you're asking someone to hit the ground running by doing the fundamentals, but at the same time, you try to pass it on as much as possible. It’s a lot about balance.
I tell all my clients that there's certain policies we still don't know – we're still not 100 per cent across some smaller banks – but we’ve been in the space long enough to know that we get the client in and we apply the common sense approach.
What was your method to get across these policies?
What I found to be useful was attending as many lender sessions as possible. Once you’re accredited with a lender, you get updates. Being disciplined in reading what's coming up and the new updates on a daily, or even weekly, basis – to me, that was very important.
I remember the first day coming out from Westpac – I didn't know what I was doing. Suddenly, I was running my own business. Having discipline in your routines is absolutely most important.
You first focused on high net worth individuals coming from abroad. How did you pivot during COVID-19?
I started looking after my ex-client base from my time at Westpac, and I've got connections with accounting businesses and tax people that I work with. But it was the referral base from these connected individuals and businesses that became an integral part of my business.
Who is your client base now?
There’s still the high net worth individuals, but over the last 10 months, I’ve started to receive a lot more of the low end of market purchases – first home buyers, people downsizing. It’s a mix of different deals, which is fantastic because as you can imagine, with high net worth individuals, you could be settled today, but in two years, they could be looking at doing something else.
For new brokers who may not have any referral partners yet, how would you recommend for them to find some?
I would say if the opportunity comes, ask for a referral. It may not be that easy, because referral partners – if they are also quite smart – they'll look at you and ask if you’re experienced. So I’d add that, for these new brokers, make sure you do those deals that you come across well. And one deal at a time. Once you get one deal settled, or you do well, that can become two deals or three or four. Referrals from this existing client base – this is the best. Asking for a referral from an accounting practise, a law firm, or a real estate agent means you are competing with so many people.
If you could get one or two deals happening as a new person, make sure you do everything you can to get those deals settled as smoothly as possible. If you make it a simple experience for the client, I guarantee you’ll get more business.
You can find out more about how Xia Xia Yu set up her brokerage in the Elite Broker podcast.
Tune in to the epsiode with Xia Xia, How this new broker set up an award-winning business, below:
