Moving away from commission-only could help give the industry “oomph” and attract young brokers, but it comes down to business owners to make it work, says Outsource Financial CEO Tanya Sale.
Moving away from commission-only could help give the industry “oomph” and attract young brokers, but it comes down to business owners to make it work, says Outsource Financial CEO Tanya Sale.
Sale says past attempts by larger broker groups to offer salaries to new brokers “ended in tears”, despite the fact that the brokers seemed a perfect fit at interview.
“We even supported them on a lead-generation side, and the individual just didn’t have that fire in their belly, they had no desire to go out and drive and look for new business. You know why? Because they were quite happy getting a salary in their hand,” Sale told Australian Broker TV.
A model that has consistently worked well is to offer new brokers commission-only, but to assist with lead-generation, says Sale.
Offering a retainer could help to give the industry “a big oomph” in terms of new entrants, but only if business owners are prepared to closely manage performance.
“It would have to be small, because you don’t want them to lose that hunger and you don’t want them to lose motivation, but then you have to put targets into place.”
And the responsibility to make sure those targets are met rests squarely on the shoulders of the business owner, says Sale.
“Don’t rely on the newbie to drive it, because it’s just not going to happen.
“As the owner of a business, you have a responsibility and the accountability to make it work, you have to manage the process and you have to manage setting the targets. And then who’s going to drive those targets? Don’t think the newbie is going to, it’s going to come from the owner of that business.”
