Nathan Vecchio offers three tips to make sure you're setting yourself up for the long term in broking.
Director of Hunter Galloway, Nathan Vecchio, started broking in 2015 and using the techniques from Joshua's Top Broker Handbook, is writing big numbers, leading to Vow Financial naming him Broker Partner of the Year Rising Star in 2016.
I don’t know about you, but I find it shocking that only 50% of new to industry brokers make it through the first 18 months of business, but why is this?
I think you would agree that staying in mortgage broking for the long term requires a constant focus on the fundamentals, and for me this started with having a really clear vision of where I wanted my broking career to go, and then setting clear and measurable goals to achieve this vision.
As we all know it’s really exciting becoming a broker, or even for those lucky enough to have been a broker for several years you could be at the stage where business might not be flowing through as easily as it once was but before you go and spend large amounts of money on employing so-called lead generation experts, or trying to make a fancy website I think it is important to be clear on exactly what you want your business to be and then setting goals to achieve that vision.
What’s your vision?
Having a clear vision is essential to your business. I know having only been in broking for less than 18 months myself there can be some really tough days. You get a bit tired or have had a few really difficult appointments and you’re just not feeling like taking that last meeting at 8pm at night but for me having a clear vision of why I became a broker and what I want to achieve has helped me stay focused through the good times and the bad.
A vision should be simple and identify who you plan on helping. You should treat it like a roadmap that will help you on the good, and bad days and guide your decision making. I look at my vision every day because it gives me motivation and clarity to get through these good times, and the bad and keep moving towards the goals that I have set.
Time to get goal setting
Now that you have a clear vision of where you want to go, you need to start building on that. I think of your vision being the foundation to build your goals on – it will give you a good sense of where you want to get to, but your goals will fill in the gaps to work out what you do every day.
It looks like this for me – set my vision, determine my goals, map out my monthly plan which then gets broken down into a weekly plan and then daily activities.
Are you SMART with your goals? SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound goals. It’s easy to be like 99% of people and on January 1 write down a list of goals you want to achieve for the year, these usually read something along the lines of ‘I want to lose weight’ or ‘I want to make more money’ but in my experience unless they are SMART you simply aren’t going to achieve them.
Equally, if you aim for the wrong goals, you’re going to end up in the wrong place. For your goals to be worth anything, they’ve got to be SMART.
For us brokers, here is an example of how to set a SMART goal: I want to submit an additional $10M in loans in the next 12 months compared to last year.
Now let’s break it down.
Like the daily planners in the Top Broker Guide (From Zero to $60M in 12 Months) I make sure I have each and every day planned out so I am in complete control of what I do, rather than letting random emails or non-productive phone calls dictate how I spend my working hours.
PS: I’m going to be taking over here at Top Broker for a little bit while Joshua focuses on a few big and exciting projects we are looking forward to bring you in the next few weeks. A quick background, I started broking in 2015 and using the techniques Joshua has given in the Top Broker Handbook I have grown my business in a very short time to writing some big numbers, and was fortunate enough to be awarded Broker Partner of the Year Rising Star in 2016.
I don’t know about you, but I find it shocking that only 50% of new to industry brokers make it through the first 18 months of business, but why is this?
I think you would agree that staying in mortgage broking for the long term requires a constant focus on the fundamentals, and for me this started with having a really clear vision of where I wanted my broking career to go, and then setting clear and measurable goals to achieve this vision.
As we all know it’s really exciting becoming a broker, or even for those lucky enough to have been a broker for several years you could be at the stage where business might not be flowing through as easily as it once was but before you go and spend large amounts of money on employing so-called lead generation experts, or trying to make a fancy website I think it is important to be clear on exactly what you want your business to be and then setting goals to achieve that vision.
What’s your vision?
Having a clear vision is essential to your business. I know having only been in broking for less than 18 months myself there can be some really tough days. You get a bit tired or have had a few really difficult appointments and you’re just not feeling like taking that last meeting at 8pm at night but for me having a clear vision of why I became a broker and what I want to achieve has helped me stay focused through the good times and the bad.
A vision should be simple and identify who you plan on helping. You should treat it like a roadmap that will help you on the good, and bad days and guide your decision making. I look at my vision every day because it gives me motivation and clarity to get through these good times, and the bad and keep moving towards the goals that I have set.
Time to get goal setting
Now that you have a clear vision of where you want to go, you need to start building on that. I think of your vision being the foundation to build your goals on – it will give you a good sense of where you want to get to, but your goals will fill in the gaps to work out what you do every day.
It looks like this for me – set my vision, determine my goals, map out my monthly plan which then gets broken down into a weekly plan and then daily activities.
Are you SMART with your goals? SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound goals. It’s easy to be like 99% of people and on January 1 write down a list of goals you want to achieve for the year, these usually read something along the lines of ‘I want to lose weight’ or ‘I want to make more money’ but in my experience unless they are SMART you simply aren’t going to achieve them.
Equally, if you aim for the wrong goals, you’re going to end up in the wrong place. For your goals to be worth anything, they’ve got to be SMART.
For us brokers, here is an example of how to set a SMART goal: I want to submit an additional $10M in loans in the next 12 months compared to last year.
Now let’s break it down.
- Specific: $10M in additional submissions compared to last year.
- Measurable: Looking at my stats, it takes an average of 3 appointments per submission. It takes me around 15 phone calls to book one appointment So, to get $1M in loans per month, I’m going to need to book 6 new appointments, which is going to take around 90 phone calls I’m going to make 5 phone calls a day to previous clients on top of my regular business.
- Achievable and Realistic: Submitting $1M a month is realistic as would only be a 30% increase from my previous year which I have been able to do year on year.
- Time-bound: I will have submitted $1M in additional loans by this time next year. From something vague and high-level, we now have specific actions to take. $10M in loans becomes 5 phone calls a day leading to 6 appointments a month and 2 new loans submitted each month. We’ve built in a safety valve by setting a goal for an extra $1M by October – if this goal isn’t reached, then it’s a signal to change what we are doing.
Like the daily planners in the Top Broker Guide (From Zero to $60M in 12 Months) I make sure I have each and every day planned out so I am in complete control of what I do, rather than letting random emails or non-productive phone calls dictate how I spend my working hours.
PS: I’m going to be taking over here at Top Broker for a little bit while Joshua focuses on a few big and exciting projects we are looking forward to bring you in the next few weeks. A quick background, I started broking in 2015 and using the techniques Joshua has given in the Top Broker Handbook I have grown my business in a very short time to writing some big numbers, and was fortunate enough to be awarded Broker Partner of the Year Rising Star in 2016.
