Like entering any new market, it takes time, patience and ambition to succeed.
But it is possible to manage alongside the needs of your residential business – provided you have a strong plan, the right information and tools, and the right partners.
If you were to break commercial diversification down into steps, there are six to consider.
Step 1: Make a plan
It’s important to have a plan in place for your diversification strategy. This doesn’t need to be a complex task, but rather some general guidelines for how you’ll approach your move into commercial.
Step 2: Educate yourself
Education is necessary in order to understand the basics of commercial debt products and have the right conversations with customers.
Step 3: Choose a technology partner
Most brokers understand the value of technology in managing customer relationships, connecting with lenders and supporting the end-to-end financing process.
You may already use a technology solution that can be applied to commercial scenarios. If not, consider investing in an aggregator designed to offer small business borrowers a broad range of finance options.
A good aggregator will support you through getting accredited with a panel of lenders and provide you with software, training, marketing, business development and compliance support.
Step 4: Get accredited
Like residential broking, you can only start recommending commercial products from a lender once you’re accredited with them.
You can do this by seeking accreditation with the lenders on the panel of your chosen aggregator. In most cases, this will involve taking part in training modules to receive your accreditation codes.
Step 5: Identify prospects
Building a qualified prospect list can be daunting. Fortunately, some of those prospects will exist within your existing customer base.
Depending on your aggregator, you may be able to identify those prospects using customer analytics such as occupation, income and employment data. Try filtering customers by those that are self-employed, have an ABN, or own a business as an asset.
Your first port of call as a commercial broker should be to go out and talk to those customers you have a relationship with and understand their business requirements.
At the same time, think about ways to reach new prospects.
Step 6: Market your new offering
Marketing is a key component of any successful business and commercial lending is no exception.
Once you’re accredited, you’ll need to get the word out that you’re operating in the commercial space.
Thinking about diversifying into commercial lending?
Then why not download the better broker’s guide to diversifying your business into commercial lending! You will get easy to follow practical steps to set you on the path to future proofing your income strategy.
