Matt McLean first started his South Australia-based business, McLean Home Loans in January 2021. It was his first venture into building a business, and he did so from scratch.
“Having worked as a Lender and then a PAYG broker with another business for many years, I made the decision to branch out on my own. I’ve always had a dream of building a business and brand that was my own and saw this as the perfect opportunity and time to do so.”
“I reached the point in my career where I wanted to run things my own way and deliver a customer service experience that was full of moments of wow.”
Matt’s journey into mortgage broking
Matt explains how he developed his passion for helping clients reach their financial goals through his experiences working in financial services:
“Straight out of High School I had always worked in finance and banking. I always liked numbers, money and property and saw lending as the perfect way to be involved in all three. From my early days as a lender, I would get a buzz out of helping my customers and seeing the joy and change I was bringing to their lives” he says.
This customer-centric work ethic, combined with limitations Matt observed in the banking industry, led to him entering the world of mortgage broking:
“As a lender with a bank I started to get frustrated with only having one set of products and policies to work with and found I was having to turn quality customers away. This is what led me to turn to broking. I wanted to be able to help more people and provide better solutions.”
The challenges of starting a new business from nowhere
Matt’s success story is made all the more impressive, when we consider where he initially started – which was square one:
“Starting out as a new business completely from scratch was a lot of hard work. I previously worked as a PAYG broker with a business through another aggregator. I had no ownership of my previous trail book or customer base – so I was starting completely from zero,” he says.
Going from strength to strength
In just over 12 months, McLean Home Loans has seen massive growth. Matt has opened an office in South Australia and hired two staff members. In total he has 118 settlements valued at $45 Million. In the past four to five months alone he’s seen a jaw-dropping 50% increase in applications and settlements.
However, Matt is quick to tell us that this is just the beginning:
“We are getting some great traction, building a large and loyal band of followers, and haven’t yet scratched the surface on some of the marketing and promotions we want to do.”
Matt attributes this quick success to his love of processes and technology and using this to provide a great experience for his customers:
“Our whole journey so far has been a business success. I am really big on systems and processes. I’ve built a process (which I continuously refine) that means we can be as efficient as we possibly can and deliver an exceptional and consistent experience for our customers. This has turned our customers into raving fans and why a large percentage of our business comes from customer referrals.”
“This has been a big task getting it set up, but the automation and workflow management through the technology we use has been a game changer and a big reason why our recent results have had such a large uplift. It has allowed us to take more work on and ultimately deliver a higher level of service to our customers.”
Valuable support from AFG
Matt shares with us some kind words on the quality of support he’s received from AFG along the way:
“AFG has provided us great support and we wouldn’t be where we are now without that,” he says.
“I found the on boarding and accreditation process to be quite good, and whenever we need assistance with any of the systems or marketing – we’ve always received quick responses.”
“There is so much I am yet to learn about running a mortgage broking business, so having a local team here and a network of great AFG brokers has been and will be incredibly important to our journey.”
Thinking of joining us?
If you’re interested in becoming a broker with AFG, then why not contact us for more information about how we can support you on your journey.
