This top broker wrote more than $203m in one year by taking a calculated approach
Having written $1.1b in deals over the past 10 years, Josh Bartlett certainly has an impressive track record. He says the secret to his success comes down to two factors – a passion for education and a calculated approach to achieving goals. MPA spoke with the AMA winner and Mortgage Advice Bureau broker about what new brokers can do to drive lead generation and customer retention.
The secret to his success
For Bartlett, his resounding success as a broker is no real mystery. Instead, it’s a simple relationship between maths and educating both clients and referrers.
“I’m very driven on what my numbers are.”
“Every single year I sit down and I write out my goals.”
A few years ago, he decided he wanted to write $200m for the year. Knowing what his conversion rate was as well as his average loan size, he calculated that he would need to settle 400 loans to achieve this – and that he did; writing an impressive $203m and ranking third place in MPA’s Top 100 list for brokers for 2018.
This year marks another momentous one for Bartlett; the broker again hitting $200m.
Further to calculating how many loans he needs to write to reach his goal, he even breaks things down to how many appointments he needs to make each week and how many existing clients he needs to reach out to.
“It is very calculated but it’s all for a purpose.”
Entwined with this is his passion for educating people and delivering an exceptional service.
“You can only see that many people if you’re doing the right thing by people.”
“I am so passionate in a meeting. I love talking to people about how I can help them not just now but in the future.”
While the numbers are like the skeleton to his strategy, his love for helping clients is the substance to his success; the two working symbiotically to drive new business and maintain consistent growth.
Driving new business while keeping existing clients
To new brokers, Bartlett says lead generation is not simply a matter of asking people for referrals, it is all about sharing knowledge.
“People don’t want to send you a lead, they want to be educated by you.”
“Any referral partner that you ever meet, make sure that you educate them as much as you can over a long period of time.”
“Never ask for a lead and then your business will start to grow.”
This is something Bartlett has done for a long time; the broker running regular training sessions for real estate agent referrers. He says they often call him over the weekend to refer him business.
When it comes to customer retention, educating and reaching out to existing clients is also important, he says.
In addition to this, he does repricing enquiries for all of his clients on their 12 month anniversaries.
“We love doing that because we know that the banks don’t do it.”
“Last year a client of mine had only been in his loan for 12 months. We called the bank and we repriced his loan and in one year we saved him $21,000 in interest.”
