Moving Forward Business Coach's Newsletter
http://www.movingforwardcoaching.com.au
Email:  robyn@movingforwardcoaching.com.au

December 2005,  Issue #11

Welcome to our final newsletter for 2005. The end of the year always seems to come around so quickly. And brings with it the opportunity to look back and reflect on the year past. It has been great to work with businesses doing such great things this year. It makes me really excited to know that perhaps I played a small part in their successes and achievements. One of the most rewarding aspects to my work is seeing business owners being spurred on by their vision, and then turning those visions into reality. 

A key feature of this year has been seeing and assisting clients work with their own staff to share their visions and build great teams from solid foundations. Employing staff or dealing with sub-contractors can be quite different to what you might expect when you start off in business and there is certainly many skills involved in creating an empowered and performing team.  Similarly, building a business can look very different in reality from what you imagined in the beginning. It requires creative thinking and adaptability.  Many of the businesses that we are seeing grow are now taking on the services of a General Manager or Operations Manager.  Read the article below on the General Manager School that we are looking at offering in 2006 and register for more details if you or a staff member would like to take advantage of being part of this.

I am very grateful to have learned the coaching proficiencies and business analysis skills that we use with clients. These help me to identify the core issues behind any problems and then coach them to build and improve their business. They also assist me in coaching my clients and their staff so that appropriate shifts in work practice can be made where necessary. When I see people making these shifts and moving closer to their goals in both business and life, it gives me a great feeling of satisfaction. 

This month we are extremely lucky to be printing an article called ‘Building Trust’ by David Johnston from Property Planning Australia. David is a Mortgage Broker, and David and Mark Amrstrong are Directors of Property Planning Australia which is an exciting company with a great vision and this is excellent article. While the specific content of the article refers to Mortgage Broking, it is great information to market any small business. David makes some excellent points about the relationship side of marketing, and building trust with potential clients.  Its easy to see how a single lead soon multiplies and how generating leads is one thing and converting them is another ........ its all about trust. Why not visit their website http://www.propertyplanning.com.au or give them a call to find out how they can help you build wealth through property over time and correctly structured finances.  Don't forget to subscribe to their free newsletter as well to keep you up-to-date with the Australian property market.

If you would like to take some time to reflect on your business and its performance during 2005, here are a few ideas! 

1. Write an overview of what happened throughout the year.
2. Make a breakdown of which activities were profitable and which ones were not.
3. Do you know what your break even is?
4. Ask yourself what your customers have experienced when they do business with you. Are 2005 experiences something you want to improve on for 2006?
5. Finally – and most importantly – take the time to stay in touch with your customers. As David points out in his article, keeping in touch with clients is the best way to keep them happy. While you may assume you are giving great service, things may feel very different from the customers’ point of view. In reviewing customer relationships it is always best to check with the source.

If you can take some time to look over these few things as they stood in 2005, it will put you in a great position to move forward into 2006.

I wish you all a very safe and happy Christmas and festive season. May it be a time of peace and well-being for you, your loved ones, and for all.

by David Johnston
Property Planning Australia

Rather than describe a single career-defining lead that set me on the path to success as a mortgage broker, I thought I would give you some examples of how one lead or client can soon multiply into numerous leads and clients.  

I believe it is important that you cultivate leads from as many different sources as possible. The majority of mortgage brokers operate in small businesses, so most referrals are from centres of influence (e.g. accountants, solicitors, real estate agents), your clients, and your social and business networks. These referrals will only flow to you if you provide high quality advice and solutions to meet each client’s particular situation. You must follow this up with superb service.  

My first taste of mortgage broking came in 1996 at the age of 23 when, after spending three-and-a-half years at National Australia Bank, I had the opportunity to establish the mortgage broking arm of a small life insurance firm.  

My opportunity to work in the broking industry came via one of my social networks. At that point, I didn’t even know what mortgage broking was. I knew the Director of the life insurance business via my cricket club. A mutual friend and team mate (an accountant in his day job) told me at a sporting function that the Director was looking for someone to set up a mortgage broking arm.  

One of my networks was already working for me. What seemed initially just a casual conversation became the most significant ‘lead’ of my business life. 

I grabbed the opportunity, and focused on building the broking arm by delivering tailored solutions and exceptional service. By the time I left to establish my own firm Property Planning Australia, I had grown the business to eight brokers and four administrative staff in the space of five years.  

Interpersonal relationships are vital for leads or referrals, whether someone is referring to you a potential client, potential staff or potential business associates. These leads can ‘lead’ in any direction and should always be handled with care — no matter how insignificant they may seem at first.  

How can you cultivate these relationships? It starts with building trust. If a client is going to allow you to organise their finance, they must trust you to provide quality advice and solutions to meet their requirements, and then have faith that you will follow through with quality service. You must deliver on their trust, or you won’t see them again — and they certainly won’t give you any referrals!

Every client is a potential source of business, so delivering on their trust is equally important, whether they have a $100,000 loan or a $1 million loan. 

The trust begins in your first meeting with a client. During this meeting you should aim to let them do around 75% of the talking. It stands to reason that the more someone opens up to you, the more comfortable they feel with you, and from there on they develop trust.  

You can only get your client talking by asking the right questions. As long as you keep asking the kind of questions which show that you are genuinely listening, your client will tell you everything you need know to give them the most appropriate advice and service. If you don’t ask the right questions it can come back to bite you, as clients are less likely to tell you about the default they have, or that they already applied for finance elsewhere and got refused. This can cost you and the client a lot of time. 

It may seem self-evident, but a key part of building trust is being ‘straight up’ with clients — even if this means advising them that they already have a good loan structure. It may also mean telling them something they don’t want to hear— for example, that their home loan may not be approved, or that they may not be able to borrow as much as they’d like.  

The key is to clearly explain why this is the case, and work through the alternatives. I am a big believer in underselling and over delivering as a way of building trust! 

Take the example of clients that were referred to me by an accountant. The clients drove from the country to meet with me at 9pm one night after I had finished football training. They owned a number of investment properties and were borrowing more than $1 million. They wanted to fix their borrowings for as long as they could and pay interest only.  

Looking at my panel of around 30 lenders, I rang every lender that offered prime loans. Not one of them would offer interest only repayments for a fixed rate term longer than five years. I advised the clients of this during our meeting. The clients had been speaking to another broker who said they could provide them with a 10-year fixed rate interest only loan. I would have been surprised if this was correct; however I told the clients that if they could get this loan, they should proceed.  

I stayed in touch with them, to confirm whether the promised loan was available. A few weeks before settlement they received the loan documents in the mail, and sure enough, the repayments were principal and interest. The clients asked me to organise the loan. I did everything it took to ensure their loan settled on time, despite the short timeframe. I have since completed another loan with these clients for just under $2 million and I have also organised their eldest son’s first home loan.  

Another principle I live by is KISS (‘keep it simple, stupid’). It is startling the number of stories I hear from clients about other brokers and bankers who were ‘nice guys’ but left the client feeling more confused after the meeting than before they went in! If the information you give them is unclear, they are less likely to do business with you. Do not bamboozle the client! If the only person you are impressing is yourself, building a client base and referral sources will be a much harder slog.   

Any referral is a statement from someone else that you are doing the right thing. This is especially fulfilling when the referral is a member of a client’s family. I once received a referral from a real estate agent I worked with. The client was a first homebuyer. I went to meet him at his father’s place of work for a general discussion and to educate him about his finance options. From that one loan, his father has since referred his other two children. I have also organised loans for his eldest son’s then-girlfriend (now wife), two cousins, and a number of their friends. I’m happy to say that this kind of ‘chain reaction’ has occurred on a number of occasions over the last six years.   

The next key to building your base of leads is to stay in touch with your clients. This should be done via regular phone calls and e-marketing. Property Planning Australia emails clients and other business contacts a monthly newsletter. We also phone and/or email our clients at regular intervals beyond settlement to ensure they’re happy with their finance and determine whether we can help them further, or be of service to their own network of contacts.  

As your existing clients are the easiest to deal with, and are the best source of referrals, they are one of your key assets. However, it is also important — especially as you are growing your client base — to establish relationships with ‘centres of influence’ who run businesses and want to assist their clients by referring them to high quality mortgage brokers.

These referral sources may be ‘traditional’ — that is, people you deal with in the normal course of business, such as accountants, solicitors/conveyancers, real estate agents, financial planners and life insurance advisors.  

Relying on a small number of ‘suppliers’ can hurt your business if they drop off for some reason.

So it’s also important to cultivate other referral sources through your wider business and social networks. A great way to do this is to join professional networking groups, sporting clubs or other organisations of like-minded people.  

I have developed some strong referral sources by joining networking groups. Sometimes business and social networks can intertwine and strengthen each other — increasing your referral sources even more. My love of playing sport, in particular cricket and football, helped to develop my social networks and by extension, my business networks. This was especially important to me as a Uni student moving from the country to Melbourne, with no family in the city.  

If you are a regular reader of MPA you will know that service is key to building leads. Service — not trail commission — is the backbone or the foundation of your business. If you take your eye off the ball here, it doesn’t matter how many avenues are directing business to your door. They won’t last long as word gets around that you do not back up your advice. To provide exceptional service, it’s vital to build systems that ensure your clients will always receive the same high standards of care, regardless of the business volume coming through the door. This requires ongoing planning. 

About four years ago I received a phone call from a Director of a conveyancing firm. Because my staff and I regularly ‘hassled’ his firm to ensure everything was in order for our mutual clients’ loan settlement, he thought I must be doing something right! He wanted to build a business association with me. To this day, we enjoy a strong and profitable association built through mutual referrals and respect. 

In summary, here are some of the key practices I believe are essential to being a successful mortgage broker: 

• Develop a wide range of potential referrals through business and social networks.

• Build trust by providing personalised solutions and high quality advice, with evidence to back up your recommendations. Follow this through with high quality service to make your client’s experience as stress-free as possible.

•  In your initial meeting with the client, let them do most of the talking.

• Undersell and over deliver. Tell the client the facts. Do what you say you are going to do.

• ‘KISS’ your clients (well, not literally!) Keep your advice as clear and concise as possible to minimise any confusion.

• Stay in touch with your clients after settlement process. Clients who feel well looked after are much more likely to provide repeat and referral business

• Plough a considerable amount of your time and energy into building exceptional and consistent service levels.       

(Reprinted with permission from David Johnston, Property Planning Australia). 

Whether you are looking for property, mortgage or both - why not visit Property Planning Australia's website to see the innovative services offered at http://www.propertyplanning.com.au or give them a call on 9819 4088.

Is your General Manager turning your vision into reality?

'Did you know that a general manager can make or break a business ??????'

If your General Manager is NOT achieving the results you expect then this might be the most important item you will read all day. We are taking expressions of interest for our newest innovation 'Moving Forward Business Coach General Manager School'...... a new school of thought for a new breed of General Manager.   Learning how to be an effective General Manager doesn't just happen of its own accord - no matter how much talent is present.  It takes time, practice and specialist training to become a standout general manager.  You can't afford to wait as other companies gain the competitive edge.  Next year we will be offering our General Manager School which will comprise of 1 x 3 hour training session per month together with individual coaching for the real individual business specifics.  To register your expression of interest for our General Manager school click here and enter your details.

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© Moving Forward Business Coach - December 2005
You are welcome to use the articles from the 'Tips to create a successful business' newsletter as long as you include complete attribution and a live link to the website, The attribution should read "By Robyn Pollard of Moving Forward Business Coach.  Please visit our website at http://www.movingforwardcoaching.com.au/" for extra tips on creating your successful business