Top broker Wendy Higgins shares the two values she says are her keys to success.
Top broker Wendy Higgins shares the two values she says are her keys to success.
There are two things in mortgage broking that will keep you ahead of the game, says Mortgage Choice’s Wendy Higgins: Urgency and honesty.
Urgency, says Higgins, means starting on tasks as soon as you’re made aware of them, even if that means answering emails late at night or working weekends.
“This is a 24/7 job and you have to realise that if you’re going to stay in the industry,” she says. “Customers expect fast, efficient service; you need to respond to their needs quickly and effectively, regardless of the time or your other commitments.”
Higgins lives by the motto 'Do the right thing, every single time', and this means really listening to your clients and taking their entire situation into account, she says.
“If a client comes in and says they want to do something, and we know it hasn’t worked for someone else in the past, we make sure we tell them that, and they know that risk,” she says. “We don’t refinance customers unless it really is in their best interests.
“We’re not trying to do ourselves out of business, but it’s about giving professional advice and letting that advice speak for itself.”
With individual settlement figures nearing on $100m per year, Higgins’ tactics clearly aren’t scaring customers off, and she says the client loyalty gained from honesty far out-values any deals that may be lost.
“I’ve had clients come back to me and say ‘I wish I had have listened to you’,” says Higgins. “I’ve been in the business nearly 40 years now and I know enough not to let my clients fall into traps.”
