3 considerations for becoming a high-performance broker

In a recent episode of Business Accelerator, Jason Back discussed the considerations that must be made if a broker is to achieve strong performance.

The DNA of a top performer

Before even considering the work, Back said that there are certain traits one must be willing to accept are crucial.

“One is understanding what a high performer actually looks like and what are some of the traits we see in our industry. Volume is not necessarily the only indicator of success, but is used as generally as a bit of a flagship in this industry,” said Back.

“But then it’s not just those traits. Then we have to look at what are the motivations that sit behind those traits as well. So, some of the examples of traits that I see in really high-performance business principles, we would call them entrepreneurs, that ongoing curiosity, they’re always high active, so they love being busy, they’re high on use, they love jumping right in and testing and learning.

“There’s One that I see, what we call problem solvers. The example I give is, the business does 100 things during the day. There are 99 things that go right, and they only want to talk about the one thing that went wrong. So that constant curiosity, not necessarily about perfection, but they’re just always looking at how do they get this right.

“They’re very low on what we call sameness. So, they’re not looking for the day to look exactly like copy and paste. They’re looking for variety. That’s their spice of life. They’re looking for challenges and opportunities to constantly push themselves. There are just a few examples of traits or motivational drivers that we see in these really high performers.”

Maximum effort

Further to having the DNA of a strong performer, effort is required to reach the top; achieves heights without putting in the hard work to get there.

“We know that the entry into this industry is really challenging going in. Generally, if you’re coming to a comms-based role, giving up salary, going to nothing, that’s really tough. And there aren’t a lot of commission-based roles out there anymore these days,” Back said.

“So, we understand why that people will seek that pathway. I suppose there’s a couple of things to think about from a resilience perspective. When we think about what the customer wants, they want a preeminent expert in that field. If you’re not an expert in your field in a condensing market, it’s going to get very challenging for you.

“There’s a metaphor that we use which is, a chicken gives you eggs and a pig gives you bacon. You know, the chicken is involved but the pig is committed. I want people to be the pig. So be really committed to this.”

It’s vital to know your stuff because of the power you wield to influence a borrower’s life. A broker is likely facilitating the biggest transfer of cash a person will ever make in their life, placing added weight on every decision.

“The ability for us in the industry to change lives, to be the adviser for that person in their wealth creation journey, their debt reduction journey, it’s such a critical role. To be able to do this part time, to be able to juggle the pressures that then move you from being that critical adviser to a pushy salesperson who’s chasing down sales and gets really clingy to a deal,” Back said.

“I think there is going to be pressure on the industry going forward for those riding very small volumes. I think there was an announcement last week from one of the aggregators about changes to their REM model in relation to those writing sub a certain limit. And that’s probably one of the first dominoes to start falling because there’s a degree of higher risk if you’re not up to date with all the lending policies. Are you doing the best thing under best interest by your clients? If you’re not full bottle, that’s an industry discussion that we need to have.

“A high performer knows their policy. They’re agile when it comes to their advice. Their processes are set. If I look at the anatomy of the best and the best in the industry, it’s ferociously curious. People always looking to learn, they’re constantly reflecting on how they can do things better.”

Organisation

Lastly, Back highlighted how beneficial an organisation is in achieving success: “The most productive brokers are the ones that are most organised. And remember, efficiency is speed, but productivity is volume. So, if you want to be more voluminous, you want to be more productive, then to be organised is absolutely at the core of that.

“So basic tips around, how you colour code your diary and your calendar. It’s 101 sort of stuff. You shouldn’t be rocking up to your desk or to your office on a Monday morning going, right, what’s on for the week? You should already know that the previous Thursday.

“Thursday at lunchtime. I want to now know what my next week looks like, because if I’m short of appointments or I need to go and connect with a referral partner or catch up with a BDM, I can organise that on Thursday or Friday. But if I’m trying to organise sales appointments or meetings on a Monday or Tuesday morning, I know personally, for me, my diary is booked out two and three weeks in advance.”

[Related: Business Accelerator: What makes a top-performing broker?]

Jack Campbell is the editor of Broker Daily. After graduating from the University of Wollongong in 2022, Jack began his journalistic career working on Broker Daily’s sister brand, HR Leader. In August 2023 he was made the news editor and worked alongside some talented journalists writing articles and recording podcasts.

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