A fledgling Sydney brokerage is crediting its team of young mortgage brokers for its record home loan applications lodged in March.
Shore Financial was established just a year ago and lodged $100 million home loan applications last month, beating its previous record of $63 million and well on the way to achieving the company goal of $150 million by December.
Managing director Alex Nochar credits his fresh and enthusiastic team – the average age is a youthful 26 – for the company’s success.
“We’ve got young brokers who have no preconceived ideas about the industry and we can teach them how to do it well. They’re hungry, dynamic, bright, intelligent people from different backgrounds and I think it makes a difference. They’re able to generate inquiries with enthusiasm and professionalism.”
Nochar has been in the broking industry for just five years although has worked in the financial services industry for around 14 years, and says his staff is made up from diverse backgrounds like investment banking, sales or even straight from university.
To support the new entrants, Shore Financial has developed a robust training and mentoring programme that develops potential while retaining a strong trusted value proposition, he said.
“When we get someone new in from a different industry obviously there’s a huge amount to learn. We all work in the same open office environment, so they are around people doing the job every day. We get them to do the back office first for around six months, where they work with a senior broker and understand the back process as well as the front end.
“So they get a really holistic view of broking in general. That in itself means they fast-track their training very quickly – not only doing the processing but getting to understand how to generate referrals. They also come with us when we do presentations to new referral partners so they get a really good understanding of how the industry works.”
Shore Financial pays the new entrants a salary to keep them afloat while they are doing their training, diploma and accreditation.
Capturing potential brokers in their twenties is they key, said Nochar, as it is before people get embedded in a career yet know what they want out of a job and lifestyle.
“It’s a great opportunity to jump into something like mortgage broking which offers so many benefits… If I knew back then what I knew today I would have got into broking a lot earlier – it’s a fantastic industry.”
Nochar believes brokerages that are reluctant to employ inexperienced new brokers are potentially missing out on a great opportunity.
“When you’ve got someone new and hungry to the industry it’s very exciting, and I think for anyone getting into the industry now the income potential is absolutely fantastic.
“Younger brokers will support your business as long as they’re paid in the correct manner and looked after, and part of a good culture and team. It gives your company a lot of longevity as they develop and grow in their career path.”
Shore Financial, which plans to go nationwide, may be just a spring chicken but its director and staff knows to learn from the experts.
“We have good relationships with a lot of the top brokers because we believe if someone is doing something well then we want to understand what it is and adopt that if it improves the way we do things,” said Nochar.
“There are so many different business models out there [and] we often have other people in from successful brokerages to talk about how they got there. It’s all about learning and improving.”
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