Whenever people want to get a mortgage, they search for professionals who can streamline the process. That’s precisely when your mortgage broker business comes to the rescue.
In this article, you will find tips on how to grow your business, as well as five big mistakes that you may be making in the process.
Ways to grow your mortgage broker business
As an owner of a mortgage broker business, you may have already thought of your target audience and customer demographics (e.g. age, gender, income, education level…etc.). You need to know the age group of your audience, their habits, interests and income to understand how to market your business. Also, consider which location you want to focus on. Is it one or multiple areas? Choose multiple if you are sure that your company can handle it and you are licensed to provide services in all of those areas.
Here are three tips that you can check to start growing your mortgage broker business.
1. Set realistic goals
You can have big goals, but don’t forget that they need to be realistic. How big can your mortgage broker business grow? How much budget do you have to invest in this expansion and marketing efforts? Think of these questions and set realistic goals. Believe in your company’s efforts and be confident, but don’t take on too much work that you probably cannot manage to do. With that in mind, you need to have a long-term business growth plan. Plan all the steps and activities that can help you achieve your goals and grow. Break down your steps into smaller ones that you should take for accomplishing your goals. Establish key performance indicators (KPIs). Also, think of ways that you can evaluate your progress. It takes time to grow as a business, but you’ll have success over time once you stick to realistic goals.
2. Show what your brand is worth
When new clients come, they want to ensure that they chose the right mortgage broker or brokerage, as their success depends on you. You need to calm down your clients who are stressed and overwhelmed by the process. Show you certifications and awards and put them in your office. Use your Linkedin page and website to generate mortgage leads and highlight your accomplishments. Collect written endorsements from your clients and previous customers to put them on your website.
Before choosing a mortgage broker, customers conduct thorough research and your reviews, awards and certifications can help them choose you over your competition. Show your current and previous clients that you care for them to get even more positive reviews. Through it, you can get referrals from them which, in its turn, will bring new leads. Whenever you help them have success in home financing and getting a mortgage, ask them to leave a review for you. Reviews are a vital approach to demonstrate to prospective borrowers that you’re the greatest fit for their needs.
Remember: Don’t rely solely on referrals to market your business because they can bring a lot of leads, but they are also unpredictable and you may get fewer referrals over time.
3. Market your business
If you want to promote your mortgage broker business effectively, you must first identify the right audience which we’ve discussed before, such as their interests, habits, age…etc. Consider how your company differs from your competitors’? What’s unique about your company? Why should they choose you? Get answers to these questions before marketing your business.
Here are effective marketing tips that we’ve compiled specifically for you to get the most out of your marketing efforts:
- Build your website if you don’t have one and make it user-friendly and easily navigable. Keep it up-to-date and regularly analyze your content, including statistics, product descriptions, company contact information, customer reviews…etc. Help them find what they look for on your website quickly and easily. Put the most crucial information on your homepage.
- Have a blog section on your website and write SEO-friendly and educational content to show your mortgage knowledge and build trust.
- Create a content calendar to stay organized and remind your customers about you through regular posts and content, which they can share. In this way, your prospects will create a habit of reading your content.
- If you want to help potential borrowers know about your company, you need to improve your social media presence. This is one of the best ways to communicate with your prospects as they can use your platforms to give you questions, tag you, leave reviews…etc. They will know about your brand, company news, industry changes, blogs and more through your social media accounts.
- Send targeted email campaigns that are brief and interesting for your prospects. Don’t forget about a monthly newsletter that can help your clients know that you are a professional in your industry and tell them about your company updates or industry news.
- Most importantly, analyze all your efforts through Google Analytics to improve your marketing activities.
- Consider incorporating a customer relationship management (CRM) system into your workflow if you haven’t already. This software can help you keep track of your clients, meet their demands, establish automated marketing campaigns, and provide personalized approaches.
- Optimize your website and make it more SEO-friendly so that your business will appear on higher rankings in search engines, which can make more people know about your company and will increase website traffic. Opt for digital marketing service providers, who can offer you a package for SEO, copywriting, SMM, email marketing and more for your marketing success.
Your five biggest mistakes
As promised, here is a list of the top five mistakes that mortgage broker organizations make, and perhaps you as well:
- Not learning — Many mortgage businesses don’t encourage their employees to read books, learn as much as possible, be aware of the best tools and apps for running a successful business, and attend networking events. If you want to have a competitive edge, you need to be aware of current industry trends and adopt new ways of reaching your audience. Stay up-to-date and apply best business practices in your industry.
- Not having a unique selling point (USP) — How can you expect your clients to pick you above the competition? Do you want to leg up on the competition? Then, have a USP. Show your clients that you offer more value than your competitors. It should be evident how they will profit from working with you to find mortgages. Communicate your USP with users to generate leads and increase conversion rates.
- Not maintaining relationships — Many businesses forget to keep connections with their previous clients after the closing. Customer experience should be your ultimate goal. Follow-up with them and show that their experience matters to your business. Relationships are the key to getting more referrals and taking your company to the next level. So, build relationships with both your current and previous clients. Keep in mind that your past customers may want to return to your firm for getting another mortgage.
- Not leveraging marketing — If you don’t market the business correctly, you may fail. You already know about the effective marketing tips that we’ve provided before. Double-check them and leverage marketing efforts as they will definitely pay you off by driving traffic, increasing brand awareness, and boosting conversion rates.
- Trying to be top in all — Don’t attempt to compete on all aspects at all times, as you may end up copying your competitors and losing your business uniqueness. Do a few things differently from your competitors which will bring value to your customers.
Double-check all these tips and mistakes and grow your business starting from today.
Jodi Habel is a contributing writer to HousingWire. She works as a content writer and strategist for Jhabel Mortgage Company.
