Guidance by experienced industry veterans is fundamental to building brokers who succeed in the long-term
Adrien Hameau, broker at Vancouver-based Primaria Mortgages, cites the supportive environment fostered by his family and colleagues as the most significant influence on how he approaches his work.
“I have been in the mortgage industry for more than a year now. My family has always been in real estate, mostly on the commercial development side,” Hameau told MBN. “While at a social gathering, a family friend of ours who is a mortgage broker (Cara Savege) approached me and asked if I would be interested to see what she does for work. After a few weeks of coming into the office and understanding what it was all about, I was very drawn to this profession. I never had given too much thought to residential financing. I was curious and wanted to learn more about this area of real estate.”
Hameau said that while the very early stages of his career presented a major learning curve for him – from trying to attract referral partners and clients to actually engaging those clients for the first time – the ongoing support he received from his more experienced peers helped enormously.
In addition to helping ease him into the industry, the advice given by his fellow professionals at Primaria proved invaluable in showing Hameau the confidence and knowledge that come with experience.
“For clients, it can be a very vulnerable and stressful process,” Hameau said. “They must trust their brokers enough to hand over sensitive financial information and must trust that the broker will help them with what could potentially be the client’s biggest investment over a lifetime. It is important for the broker to create an environment where clients are comfortable and can trust their broker.”
Hameau said he was nervous about saying the wrong thing or failing to come up with the correct answers during his first few meetings with clients, but that fear soon faded as he realized that he had the answers his clients were looking for, or that most were patient enough that he could get back to them once he had the information they were needing.
That latter realization is a critical one for young brokers to make, that a delayed answer that is 100% correct is a safer play than immediately providing an answer that may possibly send a client in the wrong direction. Hameau emphasizes that this mindset plays a pivotal role in establishing long-term relationships.
“I think that mortgage brokering has a lot to do with how you are with people,” he said. “Many of the top producers in our industries … are good at listening and talking to people, but they are also good at connecting people. I think that is a strong skill to have in this industry.
“Your network and how you handle those relationships are ultimately going to have a large effect on your business. Specialise in mortgages, but also specialise in people. I think that is key to optimising your performance in this business.”
But even the industry’s unquestioned gurus of relationship building can only go so far without also leveraging the newest tech.
“Another important aspect of this business is technology,” he said. “The more you use technology to your advantage, the more you will do. This applies to marketing, like social media, but also to your processes. It is important to find the right combination of software and programs that will ultimately make your business experience smoother.”
