Last Thursday (July 5th) at our weekly SBCN Coffee Connect I had a great conversation about social media video marketing with our latest SBCN member, Angela Kafadar of Video Power Up.
After learning about Angela’s video marketing service, it got me thinking about how to promote what I do as an independent mortgage agent. Angela mentioned a potential opening line, “Did you know ….. ? ” Because of where I am with my mortgage business right now, that little phrase really resonated with me and it’s why I wrote this short article. Let me explain a little bit.
During my first career as an independent financial adviser I was fortunate to be able to teach a ten-hour course called “Planning for a Worry Free Retirement” at Conestoga College part-time through their continuing education department. Ten hours is a long time to get to know people, and at the end of the course I would offer the graduating students a free “Second Opinion”, at no cost or obligation, to find out what they are doing toward planning for their financial needs and goals. I believe this approach was unique in that I would literally put my money where my mouth is by showing potential clients what I had done personally, and explaining the why and how I implemented strategies. In this way, I was able to discuss my personal 10-Step financial planning priority process by sharing what I did, and this built the relationship and trust before I asked my new clients to fill out a detailed questionnaire about their personal situation, needs and goals, which was the topic of the second meeting.
To be clear, I knew that before people would decide whether they would work with me I needed to establish a relationship based on trust, and I needed to differentiate myself from the crowd. So, how do I reinvent myself in my second career as an independent mortgage agent to stand out from the crowd now ?
I think we can agree that money issues are can be highly stressful to many people. For me, it’s no different with my current mortgage clients who are dealing with what is often the biggest purchase of their lives. I’ve found that the best way to overcome the stress is to discuss the pros and cons of all available options in order to narrow down the best strategy and the most appropriate vehicles to achieve each individual goal. But, how do I get the potential client in front of me in the first place ?
My discussion with Angela made me realize that I can't use what she calls the "Whiskers" approach by just talking about myself. So, I'm going to learn how to do some short videos to talk about the solutions I have for common debt and home financing related problems. The "Cheese" in this approach will be my value-added information.
My motivation for writing this short article is that I beleive that where I find myself right now in my second career as a mortgage agent is not that different than where many entrepreneurs and small business owners find themselves too. We may be really good in what we do, but how do we get that message out to our potential clients?
The solution that I’m looking forward to sharing is to use short videos to convey my accumulated education, knowledge, wisdom and experiences to continue helping people, not just in achieving their most important personal lifestyle needs and goals, but doing it with peace of mind.
Over the past year through face-to-face networking I have made many new friends, especially through the Small Business Community Network (SBCN) as their social ambassador. The cool thing about the SBCN is that many of us know each other on a deeper level, and we know what the other does as a profession, so we are supportive in recommending each other’s products or services whenever the opportunity arises.
Last week’s SBCN Coffee Connect meeting on the patio was just the latest example of how other people can help us move forward in our careers. Thanks to Angela Kafadar, I am looking forward to a new video marketing approach to get the word out to more potential clients whom I can help solve home financing and/or debt-related problems and leave them with peace of mind. Look for my new videos starting in a few weeks and let me know what you think. I’ll be doing short videos under 2 minutes long on many different mortgage and debt-related topics.
Meanwhile, if you have family, friends or associates that have any questions about home financing for personal or investment properties I would genuinely appreciate your referrals and I will treat everyone according to the “Golden Rule”.
Hope everyone enjoys the beautiful, warm and sunny summer weather we are having and I look forward to seeing you at our weekly SBCN Coffee Connect on Thursday afternoon and our monthly meetings starting again in September.
If you wish to speak with me about anything, I can be reached directly on my cell phone at 519-222-8349 or by email at Mark.Benkovic@ExcelMtg.ca .
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