YesCanDo has opted for a business model which it believes supports customer retention. “We’re completely fee free, which is really, really difficult to remain profitable as you’re growing, but we know that is the right thing to do for our business plan of retaining clients over the longer term,” said Roberts. “We keep just under 80% of our clients.”
Though several of its staff enjoy hybrid working, most prefer an office environment, and YesCanDo invested in larger premises as it initially grew. “We were too quick to get a bigger office, bigger than we needed, and that’s a massive lesson that we learned,” Roberts reflected, adding that it has since downsized a little. “It’s also a balancing act because you want a really nice place for people to work,” he said. “There’s a really great feeling and camaraderie. We can share experiences and best practices. I wanted to bring in some changes into the sales process and thought I’ll do it myself. Every single job within the company right now I’ve done myself at some point, but I soon decided to pull back from that because I’m not Superman and cannot run a company and also deal with customers as well.”
Now, the business is ranking highly on the review site TrustPilot, among the top mortgage businesses in the country. So what, then, would be Roberts’ advice for any other brokerages seeking to grow? “I would 100% say get a business coach, or multiple coaches,” he said. “Ours holds a mirror up to me and my dad because all we think about and all we do all day, every day, is the business, and by sitting with him, he just enables us to question ourselves. If you can’t afford to pay for a business coach, find someone that’s done it. Understand your numbers and get the right people.”
As a businessman, Matthew Roberts is keen on self-development and holds the business strategist and entrepreneur Tony Robbins in high esteem, regularly reading his books and also attending one of his live events. He admits that the family could have opted for a simpler life, if they had stayed small, but the alternative was clearly too tempting. “It would have been easier, less stressful, and by and large, we’d be personally earning more money than we are if we’d stayed as two advisers – and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Roberts shared. “We’re a really good team in that respect, but we want something more, to build this to something that’s incredible, to get to a point where it’s either self-sustaining or ready to sell, years and years down the line.
