WA's top Broker James Chatfield is advancing his brokerage Chatfield Consulting through a dogged focus on building wealth.
Most brokerages' websites greet you with a picture of a smiling family in front of their new home, often brandishing a bunch of keys.
On Chatfield Consulting’s homepage, you’ll find a gleaming luxury yacht cruising through clear blue waters, with the line ‘Tailor-made finance solutions: Finance strategies to achieve your goals’. As the yacht makes clear, Chatfield Consulting is not just about mortgages, but about building wealth.
As financial planning and broking get ever closer, many brokerages and national franchises have attempted to combine the two. What makes James Chatfield’s brokerage stand out is that it’s clearly producing results. Over the past few years Chatfield has inched ever higher in our MPA Top 100 Brokers report: 18th in 2013, 15th in 2014 and 11th last year, writing just under $150m over 329 loans in the 2014-15 financial year. The report also named Chatfield as WA’s top broker for 2015.
According to Chatfield himself, the brokerage is about building wealth over the long term. “We deal with high-net-worth clients, helping them build wealth over time through mortgages, property purchases, basically provide them with education and information from buying their first home through to developing their self-managed super fund.”
Background to the brokerage
Focusing on wealth building, rather than just mortgages, came in part from Chatfield’s early experience in broking. He finished his commerce degree and entered broking just at the wrong time, he explains. “It wasn’t that easy to get an occupation back then… I started a week before the GFC. I was sitting there biting my nails and thinking to myself, ‘What have I done?’”
His first role was at Perth brokerage IMFS. He then moved to Rate Detective. At both brokerages he concentrated on building up contacts in niche areas, particularly in the investment space. This directly guided him when setting up Chatfield Consulting in 2012. “I mainly moved because of my lead sources. I had a few good lead sources at the time in the residential investment space.”
The brokerage now includes two brokers. Chatfield and Chien Low, who, despite starting in 2015, has already impressed Chatfield. “I put a lot of faith in her and she’s never let me down. The client knows from the second they talk to her that she’s extremely knowledgeable.” Taking on another broker was essential, Chatfi eld explains. “It’s just for the simple fact that I’m going to check myself into an early grave if I continue working like this.” The brokerage also has three processing staff and a telemarketer.
Beginning the conversation
If you’ve attended any PD sessions recently, you’re likely to have been told about the important distinction between the transactional broking relationship – doing one mortgage for a client – and a long-term relationship. Actually making the transition to the latter relationship, as Chatfield Consulting has done, can be difficult in practice, especially for brokers whose expertise is largely confined to residential mortgages. We wanted to know how Chatfield moves the conversation towards building wealth.
“It’s very, very easy,” Chatfield replies. “You just say, ‘Would you like some more information on investing and how it works?’ Ninety-nine per cent of the time they say yes.” The key is to provide information, he insists, not view this as a selling process. “It’s not a hard sell, it’s not a pushy sell, it’s ‘Here’s the information, this is how it works. If you’d like, we can take it one step further. If not, you’re richer for the experience’.”
A typical example would be a refinancing conversation. “If we’re saving the client $2000, $3000 or $30,000 of interest, they could essentially be paying for 1,2,3,4 investment properties with that saving. So what I show them is this is the savings from the refinance, these are the options for putting that into properties options. A lot of people will save money, as well as holding another property.”
Chatfield Consulting aims to provide all that extra information – including on financial planning – although Chatfield admits it’s difficult for him to personally provide all those services. Although he’s done his financial planning qualifications, Chatfield doesn’t provide financial planning advice. “I can’t physically take it all on, as much as I’d like to. The clients expect a level of service, and they get that, but unfortunately it can’t all be managed by me.”
That’s why Chatfield Consulting in 2015 set up a dedicated property and planning division. “It’s basically the full suite of products, anywhere from advice in insurance, super, planning, through to property options being leasing, strata management, sales, then obviously my core business, which is broking.” When suggesting strategies that put clients in more debt, Chatfield always advises them to consult with their own financial planner, given the potential conflicts of interest which could arise.
Standing out
When talking to MPA back in 2013, Chatfield made a bold prediction. “I believe that the role of a broker will be pushed further towards that of financial planning – either because of compliance or diversification.”
Chatfield’s views have mellowed since, but he still believes brokers need to offer more. “I do believe there’s a certain degree of structuring advice that you have to give clients. I think what’s becoming more and more apparent is that the market is becoming more and more competitive for mortgage brokers. It’s very, very difficult to set yourself out from the rest in such a saturated market. So I think the more time you can spend on each client, structure and scenario the more likely they are to speak to you.”
Speak to you, and get other potential clients to speak to you – Chatfield Consulting relies almost entirely on repeat and referral business. They got to this point through a process of trial and error, Chatfield recalls. “We’ve tried some marketing – it’s a waste of time and energy. I’ve tried a lot of stuff online – it’s a waste of time and energy. We do the whole business on a repeat and referral business and relationships, and will continue to go down that path.” This repeat business is helped by the fact that the brokerage’s clients are mainly property investors with a portfolio of properties, although Chatfield insists that he’s willing to take on clients wherever they are in the investment process.
The brokerage’s value proposition continues to revolve around information and expertise, and having more of both than their competitors. “The structuring is usually a lot more complicated, and combined with the level of knowledge we have, with on-panel and off-panel lenders. To give you an example, we’re writing a lot of stuff that’s not on the aggregators’ panels, because they’re providing a policy or pricing point of difference, which a lot of brokerages just can’t offer.”
Taking Chatfield national
Chatfield’s business model will be tested in the coming year, due both to conditions in WA and his own ambitions to expand across Australia. In February, a report by CoreLogic and Moody’s Analytics predicted that house prices in Perth would actually fall by 0.05% in 2016 – in comparison, Sydney and Melbourne are just growing at a slower pace – before recovering in 2017. This is a concern, Chatfield concedes. “To be honest, with a depreciating market and low valuations popping up it’s obviously going to hit the business. The settlements are down anywhere from 10-20% from this time last year, and it’s just one of those things. It’s swings and roundabouts – it will come back.”
His solution is to expand Chatfield Consulting to states with more positive growth trajectories. The brokerage already has clients across and beyond Australia, but Chatfield is just about to move to Brisbane for several months to develop Chatfield Consulting’s new office there. He’ll then move to Melbourne to repeat the process. These offices won’t be franchises but instead satellite offices of the main brokerage. Chatfield will take on an extra broker in WA whilst he’s gone and move to a bigger office in Perth.
One potential thorn in Chatfield’s side could be APRA, specifically the high tempo of regulatory changes last year that have hit investors, who make up so much of Chatfield Consulting’s business. The result is frustration for him and his clients, says Chatfield. “There’s a huge lack of clarity about what APRA actually want, and the lenders are just running towards APRA, trying to keep their books intact. More information about what APRA want would be fantastic, so we don’t have to go back and forth to the clients 4000 times.”
Advice for brokers
For brokers who are interested in following Chatfield Consulting’s model, Chatfield advises you concentrate on that initial conversation when you first introduce the idea of building wealth. “Most people are always keen for more information, so it’s 100% down to your presentation, because clients are very good at spotting when you’re not confident and when you don’t have everything. So if you are going to promote the fact that you are knowledgeable and have these different ideas and options, just make sure you are proficient in the first place.”
If you don’t have that expertise in place, Chatfield advises brokers to refer on the work whilst improving their own skills, as he concludes, “Don’t run before you can walk.”
On Chatfield Consulting’s homepage, you’ll find a gleaming luxury yacht cruising through clear blue waters, with the line ‘Tailor-made finance solutions: Finance strategies to achieve your goals’. As the yacht makes clear, Chatfield Consulting is not just about mortgages, but about building wealth.
As financial planning and broking get ever closer, many brokerages and national franchises have attempted to combine the two. What makes James Chatfield’s brokerage stand out is that it’s clearly producing results. Over the past few years Chatfield has inched ever higher in our MPA Top 100 Brokers report: 18th in 2013, 15th in 2014 and 11th last year, writing just under $150m over 329 loans in the 2014-15 financial year. The report also named Chatfield as WA’s top broker for 2015.
According to Chatfield himself, the brokerage is about building wealth over the long term. “We deal with high-net-worth clients, helping them build wealth over time through mortgages, property purchases, basically provide them with education and information from buying their first home through to developing their self-managed super fund.”
Background to the brokerage
Focusing on wealth building, rather than just mortgages, came in part from Chatfield’s early experience in broking. He finished his commerce degree and entered broking just at the wrong time, he explains. “It wasn’t that easy to get an occupation back then… I started a week before the GFC. I was sitting there biting my nails and thinking to myself, ‘What have I done?’”
His first role was at Perth brokerage IMFS. He then moved to Rate Detective. At both brokerages he concentrated on building up contacts in niche areas, particularly in the investment space. This directly guided him when setting up Chatfield Consulting in 2012. “I mainly moved because of my lead sources. I had a few good lead sources at the time in the residential investment space.”
The brokerage now includes two brokers. Chatfield and Chien Low, who, despite starting in 2015, has already impressed Chatfield. “I put a lot of faith in her and she’s never let me down. The client knows from the second they talk to her that she’s extremely knowledgeable.” Taking on another broker was essential, Chatfi eld explains. “It’s just for the simple fact that I’m going to check myself into an early grave if I continue working like this.” The brokerage also has three processing staff and a telemarketer.
Beginning the conversation
If you’ve attended any PD sessions recently, you’re likely to have been told about the important distinction between the transactional broking relationship – doing one mortgage for a client – and a long-term relationship. Actually making the transition to the latter relationship, as Chatfield Consulting has done, can be difficult in practice, especially for brokers whose expertise is largely confined to residential mortgages. We wanted to know how Chatfield moves the conversation towards building wealth.
“It’s very, very easy,” Chatfield replies. “You just say, ‘Would you like some more information on investing and how it works?’ Ninety-nine per cent of the time they say yes.” The key is to provide information, he insists, not view this as a selling process. “It’s not a hard sell, it’s not a pushy sell, it’s ‘Here’s the information, this is how it works. If you’d like, we can take it one step further. If not, you’re richer for the experience’.”
A typical example would be a refinancing conversation. “If we’re saving the client $2000, $3000 or $30,000 of interest, they could essentially be paying for 1,2,3,4 investment properties with that saving. So what I show them is this is the savings from the refinance, these are the options for putting that into properties options. A lot of people will save money, as well as holding another property.”
Chatfield Consulting aims to provide all that extra information – including on financial planning – although Chatfield admits it’s difficult for him to personally provide all those services. Although he’s done his financial planning qualifications, Chatfield doesn’t provide financial planning advice. “I can’t physically take it all on, as much as I’d like to. The clients expect a level of service, and they get that, but unfortunately it can’t all be managed by me.”
That’s why Chatfield Consulting in 2015 set up a dedicated property and planning division. “It’s basically the full suite of products, anywhere from advice in insurance, super, planning, through to property options being leasing, strata management, sales, then obviously my core business, which is broking.” When suggesting strategies that put clients in more debt, Chatfield always advises them to consult with their own financial planner, given the potential conflicts of interest which could arise.
Standing out
When talking to MPA back in 2013, Chatfield made a bold prediction. “I believe that the role of a broker will be pushed further towards that of financial planning – either because of compliance or diversification.”
Chatfield’s views have mellowed since, but he still believes brokers need to offer more. “I do believe there’s a certain degree of structuring advice that you have to give clients. I think what’s becoming more and more apparent is that the market is becoming more and more competitive for mortgage brokers. It’s very, very difficult to set yourself out from the rest in such a saturated market. So I think the more time you can spend on each client, structure and scenario the more likely they are to speak to you.”
Speak to you, and get other potential clients to speak to you – Chatfield Consulting relies almost entirely on repeat and referral business. They got to this point through a process of trial and error, Chatfield recalls. “We’ve tried some marketing – it’s a waste of time and energy. I’ve tried a lot of stuff online – it’s a waste of time and energy. We do the whole business on a repeat and referral business and relationships, and will continue to go down that path.” This repeat business is helped by the fact that the brokerage’s clients are mainly property investors with a portfolio of properties, although Chatfield insists that he’s willing to take on clients wherever they are in the investment process.
The brokerage’s value proposition continues to revolve around information and expertise, and having more of both than their competitors. “The structuring is usually a lot more complicated, and combined with the level of knowledge we have, with on-panel and off-panel lenders. To give you an example, we’re writing a lot of stuff that’s not on the aggregators’ panels, because they’re providing a policy or pricing point of difference, which a lot of brokerages just can’t offer.”
Taking Chatfield national
Chatfield’s business model will be tested in the coming year, due both to conditions in WA and his own ambitions to expand across Australia. In February, a report by CoreLogic and Moody’s Analytics predicted that house prices in Perth would actually fall by 0.05% in 2016 – in comparison, Sydney and Melbourne are just growing at a slower pace – before recovering in 2017. This is a concern, Chatfield concedes. “To be honest, with a depreciating market and low valuations popping up it’s obviously going to hit the business. The settlements are down anywhere from 10-20% from this time last year, and it’s just one of those things. It’s swings and roundabouts – it will come back.”
His solution is to expand Chatfield Consulting to states with more positive growth trajectories. The brokerage already has clients across and beyond Australia, but Chatfield is just about to move to Brisbane for several months to develop Chatfield Consulting’s new office there. He’ll then move to Melbourne to repeat the process. These offices won’t be franchises but instead satellite offices of the main brokerage. Chatfield will take on an extra broker in WA whilst he’s gone and move to a bigger office in Perth.
One potential thorn in Chatfield’s side could be APRA, specifically the high tempo of regulatory changes last year that have hit investors, who make up so much of Chatfield Consulting’s business. The result is frustration for him and his clients, says Chatfield. “There’s a huge lack of clarity about what APRA actually want, and the lenders are just running towards APRA, trying to keep their books intact. More information about what APRA want would be fantastic, so we don’t have to go back and forth to the clients 4000 times.”
Advice for brokers
For brokers who are interested in following Chatfield Consulting’s model, Chatfield advises you concentrate on that initial conversation when you first introduce the idea of building wealth. “Most people are always keen for more information, so it’s 100% down to your presentation, because clients are very good at spotting when you’re not confident and when you don’t have everything. So if you are going to promote the fact that you are knowledgeable and have these different ideas and options, just make sure you are proficient in the first place.”
If you don’t have that expertise in place, Chatfield advises brokers to refer on the work whilst improving their own skills, as he concludes, “Don’t run before you can walk.”
