A Melbourne mortgage broker who recently diversified into commercial lending is already seeing the bottom line benefits to his business.
Darren Steele of Global Wealth Solutions told The Adviser that he decided to add commercial lending to his offering this year and has already settled a handful of deals with more in the pipeline.
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“With anything new or unknown you are always a bit apprehensive but having a good network of BDMs that are accessible makes things a lot easier,” Mr Steele said.
“We have some really good commercial BDMs at Westpac and NAB. They have been more than willing to come out to our office and go through things with us.
“If all you do is mum-and-dad home loans you are missing out on a big portion of business, particularly asset finance and commercial loans.”
Mr Steele began mining his existing client base and found a fair portion of self-employed business owners.
“I was doing a needs analysis and my business partner and I realised that it would be a great opportunity to get into the commercial space,” he explained. “We have a double shopfront in Ivanhoe and all the walk-ins have been for home loans. Nobody has walked in looking for a commercial loan. You need to ask more questions of your existing clients.”
Mr Steele has just settled a $1.5 million commercial deal for one of his existing clients, a doctor who was looking to build a new surgery.
“There is definitely a lot of money out there in the commercial space,” he said.
“All of our advertising indicates that we now write business loans, asset finance, and commercial loans.
“If you want to push yourself and upskill yourself you can. But it’s not something you can float in and out of. You need to give it 100 per cent.”
Discover how you can grow your business beyond home loans at The Adviser's upcoming New Revenue Streams event in Sydney on 27 October and Melbourne on 29 October.
The intensive one-day boot camp will get brokers business fit and ready to launch new revenue streams in their business, generate referrals and create simple marketing strategies to reach new clients that want more.
The agenda is packed with seven sessions, including an interactive broker panel where the industry’s top loan writers reveal the secrets to their diversification success.
After a full day of tips and tricks on how to double or even triple your volumes by capitalising on existing clients and boosting new business, brokers will get the chance to hear how to market, present and profit on new revenue streams from the leading product producers in Australian lending.
Networking drinks will wrap up a full day of workshops and give brokers the chance to discuss their next exciting business venture.
Tickets are strictly limited so get in quick to secure yours today! Click here to register now.
[Related: Brokers would be 'mad' not to consider commercial lending]
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