In March 2004, Darren Pescod, the principal in a small local brokerage writing 30 mortgages a month, opened a large white envelope and found his own advert torn from a local magazine.
Along with the advert was a letter giving 9 reasons why it wasn’t producing business for him.
He did not find it comfortable reading, but he acted immediately because he recognised the truth in it.
The action he took after receiving that letter was instrumental in The Mortgage Broker Ltd becoming the top firm in his network.
As the author of that letter to Darren in 2004, I became his business coach.
Here’s a snippet from an email that Darren wrote about my contribution to his success:
“Lee is one of two people that have played a major role in shaping our business over the past 3 years. When I first met Lee we were writing 30 mortgages a month, including my own sales.
With his help and guidance we are now writing in excess of 150 mortgages per month even in this so called ‘credit crunch’. I am also now free to focus on our growth and management, as the structure of the business has been shaped so that I am no longer advising.”
Darren Pescod, Managing Director of The Mortgage Broker Ltd
I now have two spaces available for ambitious brokers who want better results. Talking with brokers recently, I have found a number of issues that crop up again and again. Which of these is at the top of your list?
“I am really worried about the economy right now. I am concerned that we could be doing more to protect the business for the long term”
The current market conditions are very tough and demand a great deal from you.
One of the first things we will do together is a complete “health-check” to identify issues that need to be addressed now to safeguard your business.
We’ll take action quickly, putting you back in control and giving you a real sense of confidence in your business during tough times.
Taking this action now will prepare you for dominating weaker competition as the market starts to move again.
“I work long hours and don’t get time for family and friends any more”
Perhaps you have got to the point where you have no spare time anymore.
You find yourself in the office late at night and come in to finish things off at weekends and you realise you’re missing out on quality time with those you love.
You might even be feeling that your relationships are being damaged by your work commitments.
By working on your business, within a month or two we will cut your working day by at least 1-2 hours.
You will realise how easily you can change things when you make a few adjustments to the way you think and work.
“I don’t generate enough new enquiries; it’s all repeat business from past customers”
One of the toughest tasks facing brokers is creating a reliable approach to marketing that gets new enquiries every day.
As a client you will learn the truth about effective marketing and understand how to exploit this to your advantage.
We will introduce a range of marketing strategies to bring you a constant stream of new business.
In the current market, it is critical to keep enquiries flowing in so that you can filter out those that can’t be placed to leave you with good quality deals you can write.
“I don’t know how to get mortgage advisors who sell as well as I do, how can I get them selling more?”
You can learn the three key elements to having a great sales team.
I will teach you a recruitment system that gets high numbers of candidates quickly and filters them to give you just the self-motivated high calibre people to interview.
You will learn how to identify self-motivated people and introduce proven methods to manage and motivate your sales team.
If necessary I can also train your advisors how to sell more.
An experienced advisor was achieving just £4,000 written business per month.
By working with him and helping him to adopt some simple changes to his approach, he was soon selling over £12,000 per month.
Here’s what he wrote about my services after 3 months of focused coached.
“As a result of working with Lee, I have now more than doubled what I was selling and consequently saved my future in the mortgage business. In the past 3 months, I have written more business than I did in the previous six months.”
Barry DAVIS, CeMAP Mortgage Advisor
“We waste a lot of time on the road between appointments, I want to know how to sell mortgages over the phone”
Some of the UK’s biggest brokers run call centres rather than having people on the road.
The Mortgage Broker Ltd sells 99% of its mortgages over the phone.
Every broker that I speak to tells me, “I wish I knew how to do that too”.
After discussing this issue with Darren, for the first time he has agreed to let me teach you how to sell mortgages over the phone too.
Just imagine the benefits of adding this approach to your brokerage.
“My staff can’t do anything without asking me for help”
Learning how to manage staff is a fundamental skill for successful growth.
When you crack this, you will have jumped one of the major barriers that hold so many brokers back.
When we work on your team, they will become more motivated and productive, taking your business to new levels.
Depending on the shape of your business, this might be one of the first things we tackle.
“Our total sales are strong, but there doesn’t seem to be much profit left at the end…”
Building a great business is all about making profits.
If your sales are high and profits are not in step with sales, there’s something wrong.
We will take the time to understand exactly where your money is being drained away and fix it quickly.
As an impartial third party, I bring a new vantage point to your business and will ask questions that will give you new insights into how your business really works.
It is very common to be able to find 10%-20% of costs can be taken out without hurting your business at all.
Often, when I explain how to do things, my clients realise they can cut costs and improve services as a result!
I’ll also show you if you don’t have them already, how to produce easy to understand management accounts to keep you in control of your bottom line.
With this information, you’ll be able to keep your finger on the pulse of your business on a weekly or even daily basis.
“I feel a bit lost; I don’t have the motivation I always used to have. I wish I could get back my energy and enthusiasm for business”
From time to time you can feel a bit battered by business.
My clients regularly tell me that one of the biggest things I do for them is inspire and motivate them.
In fact, the reality is that the changes we make will allow your own enthusiasm to come back to the surface again.
I have seen this happen so many times with so many clients that I’ve lost count.
Once we’ve sorted out any burning issues, we can set to work on aligning your business with your personal goals.
If you don’t know what your personal goals are, that’s should be where we start.
Once you get your heart set on achieving something that is important to you, your head will follow it.
You will be amazed by your focus and achievements.
“This sounds interesting, but with the current state of the market I don’t think we can afford the time or investment in your services just now…”
You will never know what you can achieve until you try.
In the credit crunch of 2008, I started working with another broker and this is what he said to me within a month:
“I thought long and hard about investing in your services, especially with the state of the mortgage market. However, since April you have helped me get to grips with my business in a new way, far more quickly than I could have imagined. I realise that now, more than ever, is the right time to be working with you.”
Jason Sabine, Managing Director of CGS Financial Ltd
Your Next Step…
What set Darren Pescod apart from the competition four years ago was his willingness to embrace new ideas and take action.
If you find yourself wondering what you could achieve if you were stretched, we need to talk.
