Find out eight ways to draw in new leads that you can act on today.
Director of Discovery Finance Group, Joshua Vecchio has written over $250m, using techniques and tips being shared on his website Top Broker.
Who doesn’t want to do more business? Or better yet who doesn’t want smarter ways to create more opportunities with less work?
If you’re a mortgage broker that’s fresh in the industry or one with a bit of experience you know we could all do with more, better quality opportunities. These are the best ones that don’t take a lot of time to create and can be easily implemented in your hectic work day.
Let’s face it from time to time when business starts to slow down we’ve all hit the panic button and done letter box drops, sent out email blasts and smashed it out on social media to try to rev the business back up – but the reality is using these reactive and laborious lead generation methods means the quality opportunities come few and far between.
There are hundreds of ways to generate leads and you’re only limited by your imagination, but here are my top 8 favourite ways to help quickly and easily generate leads now and ongoing.
1. Newsletter
Newsletter = Referral Machine. Do you have a monthly or quarterly newsletter? If not you are missing out on one of the simplest was to generate more business. Make sure you have somewhere on your website to sign up people and also have an automated process where every new customer contact with their consent is input into your newsletter database.
I use a combination of Zapier and Mailchimp to do this and find once you have your clients and prospects subscribed don’t just give boring RBA updates – in your newsletter make sure it has some personality! Share your own insights, news stories, social info and recent client success stories from within your own business! I find the more personalised the better!
2. Develop an Engaging Video
Nowadays people are busier then they have ever been before, and they are seeing more advertising than ever – according to recent stats we see over 5000 marketing messages per day! So we are all bombarded with boring marketing and an information overload, so if you videos are boring then no client or customer is going to watch them, but alternately if they are amazing people will like, love and share them with their friends.
George Samios from MADD Loans in Brisbane does this incredibly well and finds this is a really good way to generate leads – check out his videos here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWyiKz2KDAw – but remember not only can they be engaging but can be a useful tool for customers wanting to find out more information as well as a way to generate new opportunities.
3. Blog
Having a blog can be an amazing lead generator because it effectively gives you a soap box to voice your opinion and gives you complete control over what you want to publish. It also establishes you as an authority in your field and enhances creditability. It’s another way to capture new customers so be sure you’ve optimised the website to capture new opportunities that might be browsing and gives Google more reasons to put your page towards the top!
4. Referrals
This seems to be the one brokers always forget! Apparently over 85% of Financial Advisers do not ask for client referrals and I don’t think Mortgage Brokers are much better – This is probably one of the simplest and effective strategies going around, in my experience I am surprised at how many brokers overlook this. Do you currently ask every customer that you’ve settled if they have any friends or family you can assist? If not, it might be an idea to start asking.
5. Your email signature
If you’re anything like me you send hundreds of emails each and every week – but are you getting the most out of all of this traffic and amazing exposure? Most brokers have email signatures with their contact details and critical information, but are you using this to also get referrals? It might be time to kick this up a notch like the British Red Cross!
Interestingly the British Red Cross tried rejigging their email signatures by putting clear calls to action at the top of their emails and found that prospects engaged with this optimised signature were 20% more likely to end up making a donation –Pretty amazing hey? For brokers this might mean a call to action to a competition you’re running, your Facebook page or a free RP Data report.
6. Networking events
Go out there and press some palms – sometimes kicking it old school can come with benefits. You’ll be able to meet people, expand your network and gain referrals. I use networking events as ways to grow my referrer base, so go out there. Make sure you bring your business cards and don’t be afraid to ask people for business. It’s also another way to establish yourself as ‘the mortgage broker’ in your local area and helps build your brand! So what are you waiting for, get out there!
7. Webinars
Often forgotten webinars can be effective ways to get your messages out to potential customers. You could also use this as a way to get in front of referrers as there are a lot of services that could complement your webinar (e.g. accountant, real estate agent, etc). At the end of the webinar you can ask the users to like your Facebook page or subscribe to your newsletter to keep in touch. This will keep the leads flowing in.
8. Hosting client events
I personally love keeping in touch with my clients. At least 1-2 times per year I hold a client even where I get 40-50 clients together for a property market update, I get a real estate agent to talk about the local market and also an economist to give an update on the broader market and I obviously present about the finance market. It doesn’t cost much but I find this is a great way of keeping people engaged, clients ask to invite along their friends and it helps you give much more than a loan to your clients.
I’ve seen other brokers do movie nights at the cinemas for their clients, Christmas and End of Financial Year parties of course and also dinners/lunches – but what are you doing to keep in touch and see your customers ongoing? Remember if you aren’t getting in front of them then you are leaving yourself open to let the competition do so.
So what are you going to do this week to better engage your clients, or improve your lead generation processes to get more bang for your buck when it comes to getting new business now and ongoing?
This article originally appeared on Top Broker, a growing online space where tips and strategies are shared by Australia's top mortgage brokers.
