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One of the country’s top brokers, who wrote $100 million in loans in the last financial year, has emphasised that a strong team is critical to long-term success in the industry.
Raymond Teh of Mortgage Choice wrote $100 million in loans last year and highlighted to The Adviser that it would not be possible without the support of a solid team.
Speaking on The Adviser’s Elite Broker podcast, Mr Teh explained that his success has been largely down to the changes he has made to the administration of his office and team members.
“The financial year before last, I was running a team of four including myself. Then there were two people left, and I thought it was game over. I just couldn’t fathom how I could manage things with just two people.
“The one thing I changed, and I think helped a lot, was actually listening to people and writing out a procedure manual. You think you can remember everything but you can’t.”
Mr Teh said that his brokerage now employs five or six people, most of whom are new, and explained that his procedure manual helped significantly with the recruitment and retention of extra staff.
“We have a procedure manual, with a script on how to answer your clients, so we became standardised. It cuts a lot of wastage whereby you could be telling a client one thing and your colleague could be telling the client another thing,” he elaborated.
The streamlined process, according to Mr Teh, can help ensure the longevity and consistent performance of a brokerage.
“As time goes by you may get complacent until a crisis hits you and you lose two staff, that’s when you know that you have to make changes or [your business] will perish,” he said. “You streamline the process and [the crisis] doesn’t hit you because everything is sweet.”
[Related: How to delegate your way to better customer service]
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