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After sweeping up the Editor’s Choice award at the Better Business Awards Victoria/Tasmania 2023, Mortgage Choice South Melbourne broker principal Paul Williams sat down for a chat with the Elite Broker podcast.
In this Q&A, we find out how he became a broker, why he decided to join Mortgage Choice, how he used South Melbourne Market to find clients and referrals, and his top tips for other brokers.
Here’s what he said:
How did you become a broker?
After I left the advice industry, I took some time to reassess my career options. I sought out some career advice and one of the exercises was to do a values-based exercise, basically asking the question, “What’s important for me personally and professionally?”
Believe it or not, out of that came “I’d like to become a broker”. I already had reasonable experience in banking but I knew nothing about credit.
So, after I started, I thought, “How do I get started now in a good broking business given I know nothing about credit? I better find one that’s established” and that’s how I ended up with Mortgage Choice in South Melbourne.
Why did you decide on Mortgage Choice?
I did extensive due diligence, I had a big Excel spreadsheet with all the things that are important to me personally, and I went and approached each of the large aggregator groups and the things that were most important to me.
I wanted commercial arrangements in place, to have a large brand, I wanted to work with some very good people; I was adamant that the payment model needed to be the same; and I wanted access to leads for new clients.
So, in the end, I narrowed it down to Mortgage Choice. I felt right at home with the people, the proposition, and the commercial arrangements.
How did you establish yourself in your local community/find your first clients?
Very good question! It was quite a challenge initially, our business is based near the South Melbourne Market, so I thought that was a good starting point. I knew one business owner in the South Melbourne Market (who is very famous, by the way, for the South Melbourne Market Dim Sims — for those who have been to South Melbourne!)
The owner of the fish shop knew everybody in the market, so every Tuesday at 1pm I’d go meet him and we’d walk around and he would introduce me to people. So, one by one, virtually every single business owner outside of the South Melbourne Market became a client of mine or a referrer and it’s just been amazing!
One of the things I’ve always prided myself on is networking and relationships, but also my strategy was to focus on the influencers, so influence the influencers. The more people I met that were of influence within the market and the surrounding South Melbourne area, the more people came to our door.
What sort of loans are you writing?
It’s about 95 per cent residential and given the market we’re in now, we’re about 60 per cent refinance and 40 per cent purchases (based on our recent settlement numbers).
Most of our loans are owner-occupier, so we’re about 60 per cent owner-occupier and 40 per cent investment, however, the investment numbers seem to be growing as of late.
Is there anything that you know about broking now that you wish you knew earlier?
When I started out, I needed credit knowledge around me and I felt that I needed to have people that had only ever worked in banking and finance and credit. But as the years have gone on (and with the power of hindsight), I probably would’ve changed the mix a little bit and gotten people from a customer service background and hired on their customer service skills.
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