Now the word ‘sell’ triggers a lot of loan officers. You think of the used car salesman and the hustler trying to do a deal.

And while it doesn’t need to look like that, you must be able to ‘win’ your own clients to have any chance of success.

2. Believing that “I’m not good at marketing or business development”

Everyone has a sweet spot in branding and marketing, you just need to find it, and then play to that strength.

I’ve worked with the most unlikely finance experts and professionals who have gone on to successfully grow their business simply by discovering what they were good at and liked doing in this marketing space and investing their efforts into that. 

This is a common but unsustainable approach. As a loan officer, you are the brand. You are the face of your business. Sure, a marketing team can add fuel to the fire and accelerate your strategy if you have access to those resources, but ultimately you are responsible for your own brand and business growth.

When you take full ownership of your brand, you foster authenticity and connection with your target clients, and this will start flowing through your messaging and your marketing, and you’ll start seeing results quickly.

4. Relying on anecdotal evidence instead of being data-driven

It can be shocking how many loan officers make big, often expensive marketing decisions based on a ‘feeling’.

Believe it or not, even the largest firms with enormous budgets do it – in fact, they’re often the biggest culprits.

Not having marketing metrics, or understanding what metrics matter, is extremely costly. It is crucial to make smart decisions based on relevant data, instead of simply trusting your gut.

Loan officers get emotionally attached to their marketing. It might sound bizarre but it is true, and I understand why.

Sometimes loan officers have sunk so much money or energy into a marketing campaign that they don’t want to accept that it failed.

Sometimes they stick to what they know.

But we want to take emotion out of marketing – we want to test ideas, we want to make decisions based on real data, and either “fail fast” or double down on what’s working.

There’s nothing wrong with getting a marketing idea wrong if you learn quickly. The mistake is allowing it to continue to bleed out your business.

6. Fear of the unknown

Those who work in professional services industries can be creatures of habit, making conservative decisions based on what has worked in the past or is typically accepted by the industry.

But the unknown is where the biggest opportunities are, because that’s where your competitors fear to tread, and there is often an untapped pool of potential clients.

So failing to embrace the unknown is placing a ceiling over the growth of your business.

  

I have worked with many professionals who think growth works like a tap – ‘business is quiet, so I am going to turn on the tap and get some more clients, then when I’m busy I’ll turn the tap off and stop investing in marketing’.

But this is a huge trap. The best way to build a brand and sustainably grow a business is to commit to being consistent, irrespective of how busy you are.

It takes time to build a brand. If you constantly stop and start, you’ll never gather the momentum needed to build a thriving practice.

8. Making it about me, instead of our my clients

Again, this alone does not work. Don’t get me wrong, building a strong brand around your skills and experiences is fundamental, but it is secondary.

First, you need to make it about your clients. They should be at the center, their problems and how you can solve them should be your main message, then you can talk about why you are the right person to help. 

Every loan officer is under-investing in their client network as a source of new work.

Despite the fact that 92% of people trust referrals from people they know, only 10% of professionals ask their clients for referrals and recommendations. That’s crazy.

Based on this, every loan officer is likely sitting on a gold mine of new business.

10. Caring more about what peers think than potential clients 

Over the years many professionals have told me they didn’t want to write a blog or social media post because they were concerned about what their peers would think. For example, they might think the content is ‘dumbed down’, or simplistic or doesn’t cover everything that needs to be covered, and their reputation in the industry would be impacted.

While peer reputation is important, this concern is rarely important or relevant. This is where it is crucial to remember your target audience.

It is your clients, the everyday people reading your content who don’t know much about finance and property, who you are speaking to. It is your referral network, who are experts in other fields, who you ar engaging with.

What your peers think of your content matters a lot less than you think.

When you’ve addressed these common mistakes, you’ll notice a fresh mindset and approach to your brand-building and marketing efforts.

You will have overcome key barriers that are stopping you from achieving the growth that is available to you. 

The next step is to get equipped and empowered with the knowledge to build your brand and grow your business.

With Reverse Focus, I’m running a Brand Growth Boot Camp for loan officers with four action-packed sessions over just two weeks.

You’ll come away with the insight, direction, and confidence to build a brand that connects with your clients and develop an action plan for growth.

Numbers are strictly limited. Find out more and sign up now.