Maximise your hours in a week

Top Broker's Nathan Vecchio shares his top time-saving hacks in the lead up to Christmas

Maximise your hours in a week

Director of Hunter Galloway, Nathan Vecchio, started broking in 2015 and using the techniques from Joshua's Top Broker Handbook, is writing big numbers, leading to Vow Financial naming him Broker Partner of the Year Rising Star in 2016.

I’ve spoken before about time-saving hacks before, but with Christmas coming up things are bound to only get busier. So in the lead-up, I thought it would be relevant to take a look at some further time-saving hacks to maximise your hours in a week.

Pre-position clients on expectations
This one took me a while to figure out, but now that I’ve got it sorted, it’s made a huge difference.

Often clients think that they need to be on top of their application, as this is often the process with banks. However, the first thing I let my clients know is that I will keep the communication lines open and emphasise that they won’t need to pick up the phone throughout the entire process.

In my information package, I map out the touch points that I will have with them so that they can anticipate my calls and emails. I also kindly advise that if they have any questions, to wait for that call instead of impulsively picking up the phone.

Top Broker in action: This process helps clients ensure that they ask you all of their questions in one go, and not constantly be calling you asking how their application is coming along and if there have been any changes.

Use Apps to streamline the process
File invite and BankStatements.com.au are great sites to help you gather paperwork and documentation from clients. These sites do it all for you and allow you to systemise the process along the way.

If you haven’t checked out these sites yet, I strongly recommend you do!

Batching tasks
This one is so important because it can be a little too easy to just do things off the cuff and then wonder where all the hours in your day went. At the beginning of each week, I write out a to-do list and group together tasks that are similar so that I can do them all in one go.

Top Broker in action: If you need to call the bank, save your questions (like asking about three different deals) in one go, instead of calling at different times. Simple things like this will save you a lot of time.

Download Boomerang and pause your inbox
Following on from the above point, now that you’ve created a new habit of batching tasks, queuing emails will be part of those tasks too.

This is a great way to automate your follow-up emails so that you can do them all in one go. Basically, Boomerang gives you the opportunity to write an email and then queue it for a later time or date.

Top Broker in action: If you are planning on sending a reminder through to a client in a few days, or just simply touching base with them, queue it so you don’t have to do it later on.

Make each day specific to tasks
Now that you’ve got your tasks in batches it’s time to segregate them into days for different tasks. This will help you really focus and fully complete a job, and doing this will help you also get into a routine and know how to prioritise between these tasks.

Top Broker in action: For example, Monday I focus on referral partners, Tuesday I call my clients etc.

PS: I’m going to be taking over here at Top Broker for a little bit while Joshua focuses on a few big and exciting projects we are looking forward to bring you in the next few weeks. A quick background, I started broking in 2015 and using the techniques Joshua has given in the Top Broker Handbook I have grown my business in a very short time to writing some big numbers, and was fortunate enough to be awarded Broker Partner of the Year Rising Star in 2016.