The second most important thing you can do today is to find a new client.

The most important thing you can do today is to build and implement a marketing system that consistently brings clients to you.

“The heart of your business success lies in its marketing. Most aspects of your business depend on successful marketing. The overall marketing umbrella covers advertising, public relations, promotions and sales. Marketing is a process by which a product or service is introduced and promoted to potential customers. Without marketing, your business may offer the best products or services in your industry, but none of your potential customers would know about it. Without marketing, sales may crash and companies may have to close.”

Bilal Jamal Eddine

In the Mortgage Broking industry, we have Aggregators and Franchise models that sit behind the businesses of the Mortgage Brokers who are in turn dealing directly with the borrowing public.

The primary support provided by both Aggregators and Franchises are the operational systems that you need as a Broker, the engine of your business – specifically, broking and customer relationship management software, licensing and access to lenders. Some also provide post-sales marketing support to promote you to the clients you put on their CRM systems. For the purposes of our discussion, the main difference Franchises and Aggregators is that the Franchise model also provides you with a brand name that you operate under and likely does some advertising in that brand, whilst with an Aggregator you operate under your own business name.

This is something of a simplification as obviously within Aggregators and Franchises, and between them, there are very different types of services and commission levels. Personally, I have been with a few aggregators, but have been with the Australian Finance Group (AFG) since 2003 and their support of my business has been exceptional.

The point I am trying to make is that the businesses that sit behind you as a Mortgage Broker are primarily focused on giving you the tools to be a Broker and provide a service to your clients, and possibly also a brand to trade under. However, they are to a lesser degree focused on giving you tools to generate new clients directly yourself, and ultimately for any business, being able to create your own client base is what it is all about.