What has been your biggest challenge as a new broker?

Building a referral network

The biggest challenge for me is building a referral network. It can, at times, feel like the market is really saturated, especially in the east (of Sydney), where our office is based. It can feel like everyone’s already got this relationship in place, so it can be quite difficult to break into that.

Finding those relationships, building upon them, and getting to the point where you do have a network to build a foundation to allow you to do your business is the biggest challenge that I’m facing at the moment.

I’m trying to find different strategies to grow and break from that.

Oliver Imrie
Azura Financial

Losing clients to last-minute price matching

It’s losing leads at the last minute. I had a refinance opportunity that got all the way to the end. But, at the point where the client went to the bank to get the discharge form done, his current bank matched him.

One of the big outtakes from that was to have that conversation with the client upfront and actually get them to go and speak to their current lender and ask for a discharge form earlier on.

Don’t assume the lenders are doing what you think they’re doing in terms of progressing the loan! You have to chase them up almost at every step. Some are great, some aren’t so great. You’ll learn which ones you need to chase at every step of the way.

Josh Kellett
Yellow Brick Road, Miranda

Social media presence

I’m not very active on social media at all. When I started, I said, ‘I’m going to post heaps of stuff’ and, 18 months down the line, I still haven’t done it!

I think it’s because I’m too much of a perfectionist on things. I want it super complete and I want to assess it a thousand times before I actually release it. I still haven’t solved that yet and I’m trying to figure that out.

Terence Hammond
Mortgage Choice, Marsden Park

Acquiring leads

My biggest challenge is about leads. It’s really hard right now to get as many leads as I should. But efforts are on so we are approaching more people and trying hard to get those leads. The market is hard right now.

I think broking gives you a purpose other than the monetary goals. It gives you a bigger purpose of helping people achieve their dreams.

Shruti Arora
Oxbridge Finance