This broker reveals why she created The Brokers’ Bible and her top tips for new brokers.
How and why did you become a broker?
I fell into broking. I was 24 years old. I didn’t really know what broking was. I failed maths. I didn’t even finish school so it certainly was not on my radar as a career!
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But I love business and I love property. It was at a time when I was looking to buy my second property [and] I used a broker for the first time. I was transitioning out of selling one business and looking at other opportunities and [my broker] said: “Katherine, why don’t you become a broker?” That was the first opportunity to look at [broking] as a business and as a career.
You started off at a franchise before opening your own brokerage Property Before Prada. You recently set up a second office in Albury. Why did you do that?
[It] comes down to the people; it wasn’t on a whim. I had an amazing colleague that I worked with years ago and I knew that she [Jess Wallis-Hinde] would be amazing. It’s [about] partnering with the right people. That’s what you want to bring into your business; it’s all about your people.
What tech do you use in your broking businesses?
We keep a very tight ship. We’ve got a CRM system, which is very important, where we can keep track of all of our deals. We use my CRM with LMG Group.
The second is Quickli, which [has] been a lifesaver. We do all of our calculations, our serviceability [through Quickli] and that cuts down a huge amount of time.
We also use the platform that I’ve developed, which is The Brokers’ Bible.
What is The Brokers’ Bible and why did you create it?
The Brokers’ Bible helps us to find answers to our client scenarios and lending policies in minutes.
There are so many things in our day-to-day role [that are] wasting time. Personally, over the past 20 years, when [I was] bringing in new employees or training new loan writers, I wished I had a resource that I could just say: “[G]o and check out [T]he Brokers’ Bible, and then come back to me to workshop if you can’t find the answer”.
Essentially, it is a library of over 100 different residential lending policies. You put in a keyword and it will bring up only the bank’s policies that have an appetite for that particular scenario. It cuts through everything. It reads the policy … and it gives you the answer in a few minutes, not hours, [without] calling BDMs or reading policy documents. There is [also] a video with every module that helps to educate on that particular policy. There’s that human element, it’s not just a copy and paste.
What are your top tips for new brokers?
Number one is [that] it takes time. Don’t underestimate the learning journey. You can’t rush it. You need to stick close to your BDMs [and] you need to go to all the training events. Give yourself that time and don’t set high expectations on yourself.
I would also encourage [brokers] to find their tribe, especially solo brokers. It’s very lonely and [it’s important to] find other men or women to bounce off ideas or have a coffee and be vulnerable.
If you’ve got a story and if you’ve got something that you can connect with others, use that story to engage and build trust so that when people come to you for the first time, they know more about you. It’s not [to say] you’ve got to put it out there, but use your story to … speak to your target market.
Find out more about how Katherine Persoglia set up her business by listening to the Elite Broker podcast episode, recorded live on stage at the Better Business Summit 2024 in Melbourne.
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[Related: How this broker created The Brokers’ Bible]
