What key strategies should brokers focus on to grow their business?

Focus on teamwork

I know a lot of people sort of focus on how they generate business.

For me, it’s having an amazing team that is aligned and working together and having that really strong, consistent process that you can scale.

There’s no point in having five amazing brokers if they’re doing five different things. It’s about getting that unified approach. That’s the really big one.

If you can get people pushing together and whether it be support staff, everyone’s just sort of following that one way. It’s super important if you’re going to want to scale.

Do what you love

We’ve tried different functions with regards to me just focusing on sales and bringing in business, but I don’t get enjoyment when I’m not in the deal. That’s what I actually love about this industry. I love the strategic side of it. I think it’s really enjoyable, really exciting.

It’s one of the few industries where you get exposure to so many different businesses and so many different stakeholders. Tell me some other industries where you get to see the performance of all different small businesses across Australia. You meet great directors and great managers. You see who’s running their business well and who’s not. You get to meet amazing accountants and financial advisers and lawyers. We have exposure to such great people, and if I stepped away from that, I wouldn’t love what I do.

Hands-on approach

I have a presentation that I go through and talk about our services and what we do, but I also use scenarios of how I’ve helped clients, and that’s when I find that I really get the buy-in from the referral partner because they can actually relate it back to a client’s situation that they may have. And just being really hands-on with just being in contact with them regularly.

I send them a monthly distribution email about topical things that are going on in the lending market. I’m just trying to stay front of mind. I take them out for lunch, take them out for a coffee, and I really just ask directly, “Do you have any visits, do you have any clients that I can help?”

Sometimes it’s hard to ask those questions, but I think it really goes a long way. The more you ask and the more you stay front of mind, the more they’re going to remember you.

Empowering people

It’s giving staff autonomy to do their job. I hate micromanagement. So, I think giving them the skills, training them up, rewarding them well, but giving them the support too.

If they want to grow and build a career, they need support staff, and they need support from above and below. It’s very important to build a team around them.

And I’m very conscious of asking all the time, “What else can I do to make your life easier?”

I think it’s just genuine respect as well. I like to create a bit of a fun team, and I don’t take myself too seriously and I prefer they don’t too.