Broker Spotlight: Simon Quattrocchi

Professional, friendly, helpful, and demonstrates extensive knowledge of options available - these are just some of the ways Simon’s clients have described him in their testimonials left on the GV Finance Brokers website.

Dedicated Shepparton local, family man, business owner, chairman of an international community group ‘Great things happen here’ and finance professional for over 17 years, Simon admits to not having much time left over at the end of the day but tries to take time out for his favourite hobby, cycling. 

Falling into Finance

With no intention of ever entering the finance industry, Simon candidly recalls “falling into it” 17 years ago when he was searching for a job. After stumbling across an advertised position in finance, Simon thought “I might have a crack at that”. With no prior experience or knowledge, except for a bit of sales experience, Simon is grateful he took the plunge after realising how well suited to the industry he was.

Developing a love of numbers and helping people obtain finance and their dream homes, Simon started his own business, GV Finance Brokers after only a year of working in the industry. Fast forward 15 years and Simon has many trials and tribulations under his belt. 

Finding a formula that works for you

Simon has spent 15 years with aggregator National Mortgage Brokers, has become a trusted and respected member of the Shepparton community, achieved an ALI milestone of over 500 clients protected and in July this year, he achieved his highest settlement to date. All of this, Simon has put down to finding his “formula” and perfecting it.

“My ethos for my business and my dealings with clients always comes down to the communication piece. It’s all about how you communicate with your clients, the initial contact, the constant follow – up, keeping them up-to-date and really educating them. Before a client comes in, we’ve already worked with them to ensure they’re fully aware of the process, the paperwork and documents they will need to bring it, all of it”.

Simon’s advice to brokers starting out or looking to go into business for themselves is to find what works for you and stay true to that. 

What sets Simon and GV Finance apart?

The GV Finance website boasts an array of testimonials left by clients from all ages and walks of life, praising Simon and the team for their expertise and professionalism in helping them achieve their financial and real estate goals.

“What sets us apart is our attention to detail we exude with every client. We are incredibly thorough and when you couple that with the extensive knowledge of the lenders and their policies, we can really help each and every client reach their goal or buy that dream house”. 

“I will ask them to bring in a lot of documents and I will sit and pour over those documents making sure I know all about their financial situation so that we find a loan that suits them and is going to be manageable”.

A catalyst for good Client Care

In the early days of Simon’s career, he settled a large loan for a young family. The husband took out an insurance policy to protect the family if something unexpected happened. It was only three weeks later, the wife phoned Simon to share the sad news that her husband had passed away suddenly and that she needed to make a claim on the policy. It was then that Simon found out that the husband had cancelled his policy a week before his passing, leaving his wife, a stay at home mother and their two young children in dire straits. 

Having seen what happens when clients don’t protect themselves, Simon has made loan protection a crucial part of his process. 

“In every client meeting, at the start and throughout every loan process with a client, I will discuss with them the importance of having a back-up plan and I will present to them the benefits of a Loan Protection Plan (LPP). Even if they’re only up for a pre-approval, I bring it up in conversation”.

It’s not about the hard sell 

For Simon, it’s less about LPP being a hard sell and more about taking the opportunity to educate clients on the risk and the benefits of having protection in place. 

“You will never get commitment straight away because usually when you bring the conversation up for the first time, the clients are a bit shocked because they have more than likely not even thought about it before”. 

Simon’s process consists of bringing LPP into the discussion over different stages – 
“I touch on the importance of protection 2 to 3 times, it’s important to get the client to really think about it”. 
“I start by telling each client that they have absolutely no obligation to take out a policy and when they realise this, that’s when they really listen to what I have to say about ensuring they can protect yourself if the unthinkable happens”. 

Having protected over 535 clients to date, it’s clear what works for Simon and his clients is having a robust, multi-touch process so that loan protection never drops out of his discussions.