There are two big things brokers need to get right if they want to scale up their mortgage broking business – do more work in less time and win new business from old clients.
These are key growth strategies, says financial professional and former brokerage franchisee Christian Paterson (pictured above), the director and owner of broker coaching business, Auctus Coaching.
Paterson said it doesn’t mean brokers shouldn’t make phone calls because they were a great way to maintain relationships.
“But calls are also very time-consuming because they’re a one-to-one marketing activity, so the only way to reach 1,000 people is to make 1,000 calls,” Paterson said. “Emails, by contrast, are a one-to-many marketing activity, so with one email, you can simultaneously reach all of those 1,000 people.”
Paterson said there was no denying that a typical phone call was more effective than a typical email, but brokers could have tremendous success with emails if they are sending well-written, interesting and educational (not sales oriented) emails to their database once per month.
“This is because email marketing is an ultra-efficient way to remind past clients you’re still alive and demonstrate your value,” he said. “So, when your past clients decide they need to refinance or get a new loan, or their friends and family ask them if they know a good broker, you’ll be the first person they think of.”
Paterson said many of his broker clients combined their years of experience and expertise with up-to-date financial and property insights and become a trusted source of information for many of their readers.
“Who do you think those readers will come to when they, or one of their contacts, needs a mortgage broker they can trust,” he said. “They will of course come to someone who has been consistently delivering content that they have enjoyed over the past few months/years, so all that hard work does pay off eventually.”
Mortgage broker Melissa Wright from Zest Mortgage Solutions understands the importance of building a trusted brokerage brand. She told Australian Broker when she was building her business, she wanted to focus on creating a brand that locals could trust.
“I invested time and energy into building relationships through charity events, community groups and building a brand that the local community would recognise,” Wright said.
“We are now at the point where our brand carries us forward, so instead of me going to seek business from accountants or planners, I have people contacting me saying we have heard about you and can we refer your business. Building a brand and a good reputation is so important in this industry.”
Paterson said email marketing works best when a system is created.
He has shared his Top Five Email Marketing Tips for Brokers:
Who you target
Are you going to send each email to every single member of your database or are you going to send different emails to different groups (e.g. residential clients, commercial clients, referral partners etc)?
What topics you cover
You need to decide what to write about, whether that’s the property market, personal finance, the economy or something else. You also need to decide whether you want your content to be up-to-the-minute news, timeless education or a mixture of the two.
Who writes the emails
If you want to write the emails internally, assign the task to a particular member of your team. If you want to outsource the job, find a trustworthy partner.
When the emails are distributed
Pick a regular date, such as the first of every month or the third Friday of every month.
How the emails are distributed
It’s best to use an email system that is set up for your mortgage broker needs. Paterson said Auctus loved ActivePipe because it automated a lot of the work, tracking who opens your emails. “Plus, you can customise the emails for your customers to deliver value that they will actually want to read about,” he said.
Paterson said the great thing about email marketing was that it lets brokers touch base with their entire database every single month.
“With the right system, you can do more business development in less time and win new business from old clients,” he said. “If you’re not already doing email marketing, my advice is you should start immediately.”
Paterson said his mission was about turning average brokers into great brokers, telling Australian Broker how he showed brokers the tools they needed to reach the top 1% in Australia. He identified the issues that he saw most commonly amongst mortgage professionals – the number one issue was brokers not having clearly set goals.
“They just want to ‘write more loans’ or ‘create a saleable asset’ but they don’t factor in what it takes to do this effectively (without burning out),” he said.
“If they’re coming from a corporate, banking or big brokerage firm, they might be brilliant brokers, but to run a successful brokerage they also need to learn how to attract, motivate and retain staff, build systems and create operational processes. They also underestimate the power of repeat business and instead focus on getting new clients rather than nurturing their existing ones.”
