Have you decided to make the leap from bank lender or lending manager to navigating the world of finance broking on your own? Marketing your business and gaining those crucial first few clients can seem difficult, especially if you’re having trouble getting your lending panel off the ground.
The difficult element of being a broker is that traditional banks or lenders won’t join your lending panel because you’re too small and unproven, regardless of whether you’ve come from the large banking sector or not.
If you’re struggling to take your broking business to the next level, here are some tips to get you started.
Use broker aggregation
The first thing you should do is consider your asset finance aggregation service options.
Aggregation gives you quick access to a “virtual” lending panel that is already in place instead of chasing them up yourself. These aggregators are stocked with Big 4 and smaller banks, non-conforming lenders, and even insurance providers. These all enable you to give your clients the same amount of choice as the major brands that can afford to spend a lot on TV advertising and highway billboards.
In order to serve your best interests, aggregation services frequently provide professional development and compliance training. In order to pre-screen applicants for loans, it may also set up consumer credit compliance-ready document acceptance and linkages to credit reporting agencies.
Go as lean as possible
Even if you are a one-person broking band, it’s likely that you have external help for certain tasks such as bookkeeping and tax accounting. Going lean means hiring contractors instead of full-time staff, which can cut down your overheads significantly. Working from home and using energy-efficient appliances such as laptops instead of PCs (which also need power for an illuminated monitor all day). You may even hot-desk at a shared office or use their amenities for meetings or professional development; which can all reduce costs that you can reinvest into marketing the business.
Amp up your digital marketing
If you’re not online, you’re invisible. By focusing attention on your digital marketing, you can take your broking business to another level – sometimes quicker than you had originally anticipated.
Your firm may gain a leg up on the huge competition by combining digital marketing tactics such as Search Engine Optimisation, Pay Per Click advertising, social media marketing, and content planning. Pay Per Click advertising has an average return on investment of $2 for each $1 spent – and learning or outsourcing these efforts could help you return even more if done correctly.
Offer value-additions
If you’re offering loans for homeowners, you can easily add value additions to your website or service offering.
Value-added services you can install into your site in minutes are loan calculators, so clients can make approximate calculations on how much loans will cost them over time. Another is to use white-label energy comparison, to help them find a competitive deal on energy before they move in. You could also partner up with a removalist company to offer discounted moving services.
If you’re offering personal loans, you could offer a fleet-car buying service; or partnerships with travel agencies if people are taking out loans for holidays or honeymoons. Finishing a master’s in financial planning should broaden your knowledge in the field and further enhance the business.
Yes – these strategies take time and effort. But small incremental changes can ripple into huge benefits down the line!