Time Management for Busy Brokers

You’re here because you operate an established mortgage broking practice, already experienced success and wondering if you could or should take your practice to the next level.

The knowledge, skills and tools that you’ve accumulated to get to this point will not necessarily get you to where you’d like to be.?If you truly want to grow, the journey ahead does take effort, and on occasion, it can be a testing or character-building experience.

With a host of different variables that influence deal flow, profitability, settlement volumes, asset value, work-life balance and your own sense of accomplishment, Ultimate Broker Insights will look at and discuss these variables so you can level up your broking practice.

Each article has been influenced by the pragmatic experience of working with mortgage brokers in Australia for over 9 years combined with the insights gained from having conducted over 8,500 one-on-one ?coaching sessions.

Hopefully they inspire you to realise your own potential so you too can operate a broking practice that provides a sense continued professional and personal reward.?

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In a day and age when more deals are being scrutinised and reworked, and getting approvals is taking longer, arguably your most precious resource becomes even more valuable.

Time is the one commodity we all have in equal proportion, though how we use it, can differ greatly.

Some people go on a quest to introduce more operational efficiencies into their business. Some are focused on maximising productivity. Some are putting in longer hours.

Yet others are sticking with the status quo.??

There’s no right or wrong, but it is useful to know where the goal posts are for you so your effort aligns with your desired results.

All too often it can be easy to get enamoured by the high performers of the industry.?I for one admire the volumes they write, but I think it can be dangerous and unproductive to measure your success by comparing yourself to others.

Most brokers aren’t going to write over $100M.?And many brokers I know don’t want to.

More often, they’re driven by having the time and means to provide well for themselves and their family.??

To enjoy a good quality of life, deliver great client outcomes, and have a sense of accomplishment about what they’ve achieved.

Though, at the risk of contradicting myself, we have clients who have "knocked off early every day for months" and still writing $120M+ per annum, though they don't define success by settlement volume itself, but rather, by capacity to enjoy the fruits of their labour.

Moreover, most brokers I've spoken with writing north of $50M per annum would rather take a hair cut in volumes if it meant operating with more structure and having a life instead of their practice being their life. Invariably though, when more structure is introduced, volumes tend to increase by virtue of delivering a more efficient and superior client experience.

With that in mind here are some questions that can help you identify potential areas of focus so you can optimise your day to day operations.?It’s not an exhaustive list, but it is a useful starting point.??

What income goal are you aiming to achieve and what settlement volume and loan book income do you need to hit it? The more specific you are, the more easily we can align activity with the desired outcome.

Do you……

Qualify appointments over the phone?

Send link to bankstatements.com.au (or equivalent) and document collection tool

Drive to the client for appointments?

Know the average time (in minutes) spent driving to & from appointments?

Know your hourly rate to identify the ‘cost’ of your travel? (it’s not a cost-neutral exercise)

Establish client expectations from the outset so clients play ball with you and are easier to work with?

Have automated notifications for key milestones?

Have a clearly defined and consistent way to hand over deals to your admin team (so that once handed over, you don’t keep getting questions)?

Use multiple resources to update the deal status (e.g., your CRM + Slack + Evernote + Trello?) or a single point of truth?

Have a clearly defined loan process from enquiry to settlement where everybody understands their role?

Clear and open lines of communication in the business, or do people try to ‘protect their turf’ rather than act in the best interests of the client and the practice?

Set and measure monthly performance metrics to track progress toward your goals?

Can you or do you turn off notifications on your phone so it isn't a continuous distraction? Or forward mobile calls to a land line number for your staff to answer?

Again, this isn’t intended to be an exhaustive list.

As you read the questions, consider if there are some areas of operation, that if tweaked, could have a profound impact on your effectiveness, and as a result, deliver you a higher return on effort.

Seldom do you need to change ‘dozens’ of major areas to have profound change or to see more bang for your buck. This message started with managing time, but, as Stephen Covey, Mr. 7 Habits himself once said, “time management is a misnomer, the challenge is to manage ourselves.”?

With that in mind, consider what you can streamline, delegate, automate or delete so you can continue to take steps toward your own goals.

Over to you. What's one strategy that's make a profound shift to your personal effectiveness or management of time? Share in the comment below.

And we'll cover more about time management in future newsletters.

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Do subscribe and share!

I’m James McCracken, Broker Growth Strategist, where for the past 9 years, I've coached brokers to grow their practices with structure and consistency.

Here are further resources and options you might find helpful:

Deal Flow Plan: Download a personalised plan that pinpoints growth inhibitors and options for operating with more structure, efficiency and consistency. thesuccessfuladviser.com/dfp/

Ultimate Broker: For established mortgage brokers only, this service provides guided support to accelerate settlement volumes, improve operational efficiency and reduce worth hours.?

Book an initial call to see if there is potentially a fit.

Speaking & presenting: Would you like a tailored presentation for your conference or PD Day from an industry specialist??

Send me a LinkedIn message with event details or to request my speaker kit.

To your continued success!

James