Started working as a Mortgage Broker need advice with marketing myself

Is real estate seasonal where you are? Are winter months dead?

Then you need 2 kind of lead sources: refinance and sales.

For sales, real estate agents. Don't accept any ol' crappy deal thinking you're going to prove yourself to them. A lot will give you the crappy ones, you'll take a long time to get to the closing, they'll conclude you're slow and will never give you their best deals.

That said, don't say no just because they're extra hard. Just pick carefully, have a spine, say no.

You are your best resource, your time is valuable, don't waste it.

Specialize... Do you like residential or commercial? I don't know the loan programs in Australia, but if you were in the States, you'd either specialize by area and product (VA or FHA or Jumbo) or at least by product.

With agents, select successful ones... I know some who've never had a deal over $150,000, get a deal once every 6 weeks or so, which makes them desperate and annoying and willing to break rules... which ends up wasting your time.

Refinancing... post cards work well if you target... All people who took an FHA (Federal Housing Authority) loan 7 years or more ago... You can buy lists...

We've tried hosting educational events onsite, had good attendance, no buyers. Educational events about VA (Veteran Affairs) loans at the closest military base... 50 in attendance, half stayed after event to ask questions, no buyers.

We tried educational events in churches, introduced by pastor/priest... not well attended... produced buyers.

Internet... we tried... it works... have to be careful with compliance and wording... It's easy to attract only rate shoppers, or people with extremely serious problems... Takes at least 1 minute of someone's time to deal with them... You get too many of those, you're wasting days a month.

Ads in various language publications... Need to really understand who's reading... Just because it's in Polish and you speak Polish is not enough reason. Pay attention to where most of the audience lives... If they live in the poorer neighborhoods and you're located in a posh neighborhood, they'll discount you, even if your ad is a great match otherwise. And vice versa.

With ads in publications in various languages, promote one product/loan type per ad. Also, the ads with grammar mistakes outperformed, for us, the ones with perfect grammar.

The best ever, by light years, a big ass sign on the front lot of a property for sale, next to the listing agent. "Want to buy this house? Call me to find out how to do it with X% rate. " Or closing costs. Or: "Think you can't qualify for a mortgage to buy this house? We might prove you wrong" Call xxx-xxx-xxxx.

None of the calls were for the house the sign was on. The sign was about the same size as that of the real estate agent... a bit wider, a bit shorter...

We shared all the leads with the agent, for letting us put the signs... With the understanding they don't push them towards another lender.

Stay away from
We're the fastest... We have the lowest rates... and all the 'We're great, we love you, give us a try' things.

Have a referral system in place... Anyone who's done business with you or wanted to should get an encouragement to refer regularly.

To keep in touch with past clients, in a nice manner, have a monthly 'newsletter' where you help them get something cheaper... Arrange with a garage door company to give them an additional 5% off if they use a coupon you send in your newsletter. Or a deck and patio company... Or a roofer... You know, Hey, I arranged with X company to give all my past clients and additional $x off this month... Just present this coupon... The coupon has your name and logo on it, so they don't forget who's getting them free stuff.

Which means you should have at least one system for attracting refinancings at will and know how long it takes before you start the system till you get full speed and what you get (in gross revenue, at least) when you're at full speed.

Where I am, sales start do slow down mid August, and they're pretty much done by the end of September, picking up again in March. You could easily have a $0 December.