Mortgage Broker Broadcast
Developing your knowledge to help you build a successful Mortgage Broker business. Craig Skelton shares his thoughts and experiences on all aspects of mortgage advice covering everything from operating in the banking world, estate agency based advisers all the way up to working as a self employed broker. He will be joined by experts from within the industry and other business sectors which all play a key part in becoming a successful mortgage broker in the modern world.
Mortgage Broker Broadcast
Local Domination: The Mortgage Broker's Secret to Success
Every new mortgage broker faces a crucial strategic choice that can determine their long-term success: go broad immediately or build deep local foundations first. Through practical insights and honest advice, this episode dismantles the myth that rapid national scaling is the path to broker success.
The local-first approach offers undeniable advantages that ambitious brokers often overlook. There's something powerfully effective about becoming the recognized mortgage authority in your community before attempting to conquer broader territories. Local markets naturally foster faster trust-building, face less competition, and generate word-of-mouth momentum that's nearly impossible to replicate at a national level.
When you dominate your local market, you create a business ecosystem that practically runs itself. Consistent lead flow, high-quality referrals from satisfied clients, and strategic partnerships with estate agents, solicitors, and accountants become your growth engine. The episode provides actionable steps for establishing this local dominance - from optimizing your Google Business profile and collecting powerful reviews to creating location-specific content and meaningful community involvement. Most importantly, it outlines how to eventually scale the right way: replicating your local success model one territory at a time, ensuring each new location has the same solid foundation as your first.
Ready to become the go-to mortgage broker in your community? Book a discovery call at craigskelton.co.uk and let's discuss how to build your local authority and create the mortgage business you've always wanted. Remember: run your own race - but make sure you're running it on the right track.
The Mortgage Broker Broadcast on
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxXEaYQYmRFg4as3o6uafzq6WP3-omp4N
Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mortgage-broker-broadcast/id1560964722
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3xmMdDcgmYh4A74wxeXnCV?si=cbc8f8b024fc4c98
Looking for one to one mentoring, visit my website to see how it works craigskelton.co.uk
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Hi and welcome to this week's the Mortgage Broker broadcast. This is the podcast that's made for mortgage brokers every single level. Whether you're just starting out in your mortgage broker journey or running your own mortgage broker firm, or focused on growing and scaling your existing business. This podcast is for you, and today's episode well. It's all about why you should focus on local brand, especially when you're first starting out as a self-employed mortgage broker. Too many brokers make the mistake of trying to go too big too soon. They want to be national, to scale fast, to reach every corner of the country, but the truth is, if you can't dominate your local market, you have no foundations to scale from. Before we get into that, I'm your host, craig Skelton. I'm a mortgage business owner mentor and coach, and I'm here to help self-employed brokers and business owners build the business that they want. This podcast is all about giving you practical advice and the right mindset to help you grow personally and professionally. You can expect informal discussions, actionable tips and plenty of motivation to keep you moving forward. If you're enjoying the podcast, I'd really appreciate it if you could subscribe, leave a review, share it with other brokers who would find it helpful. Your support helps us reach people within our industry. So why should you focus on your local brand first? So we're going to get into that.
Speaker 1:Today. We're going to talk about why going local is the smartest move when you're first starting out, the benefits of becoming the number one mortgage broker in your town or city and the consequences of trying to scale too fast, and the key components of local branding and business relationships, and how to build a strong local reputation with reviews, how to scale the right way and by replicating your success town by town. So why is going local, first of all, the smartest move? Well, as a self-employed mortgage broker, your local community is your biggest opportunity. This is where you can build your brand, get known and start generating leads quickly. Think about it people want to work with brokers that they trust, and trust is built much faster on a local level than a national scale. When you go local first, you sort of tap into existing trust. People feel more comfortable working with a broker that's in their area. You have less competition. Instead of competing with national firms, you're going up against local brokers. You can leverage word of mouth. Your reputation will speak quickly within your community. You can create targeted marketing. It's much easier to target customers, to market to local audience rather than a national one. You can build strong relationships. You can network with local estate agents, solicitors and accountants. So, simply put, it's easier to become a big fish in a small pond first than move on to the bigger water.
Speaker 1:So what are the benefits of dominating your local market? Your goal should be simple become the go-to mortgage broker in your town or city. Why does that matter? It matters because you get a consistent lead flow. If you're the top broker locally, you'll never struggle for business. You'll get higher referral rates. Local clients refer friends, families, colleagues. Keeping that pipeline full. It'll help with increased authority. When people think of mortgages in your area, they think of you. You have better relationships with local businesses. Estate agents, solicitors and accountants could send leads your way because you are the trusted local broker, which also leads to higher conversion rates. Local clients trust local businesses more, meaning they're more likely to work with you. So if you can build a stronghold in your local market, you've got a solid foundation to grow from.
Speaker 1:So what about the negative? What are the consequences of trying to scale too fast? Many brokers make the mistake of trying to scale nationally before they've even established themselves locally. This can lead to spreading yourself too thin. You can't effectively market the entire country when you're just starting out. That then has a negative effect of weak branding. A generic national brand won't resonate as much as a strong local one will, which then leads to poor lead quality. Casting your neck too wide means attracting unqualified leads who are harder to convert, and we have all been there in that situation. And then you've got no referral network. If you don't have a strong local relationship, you won't get consistent local referrals and you'll be wasting marketing budget. You'll burn through money trying to reach people who don't know you or trust you. Scaling before you're ready is like building a house without solid foundations it's going to collapse.
Speaker 1:So how do you build a strong local brand? Well, your brand is how people perceive you. When you're starting out, your local brand should be your priority. So how do you establish yourself? Well, first of all, optimise your Google my Business profile. Show up when people search for a mortgage broker in your area. Have a look at your business profile. What does that look like? Are you collecting reviews? Does it give a true reflection of you as an individual and your values and your business? And then be active in local Facebook groups. Answer questions, give value and position yourself as the expert without pitching. So just give value without actually saying. Reach out to me as a mortgage broker. I can help you with this. Just give value and then create localized content. Write blogs, make videos, post social media content specific to your town or your city. Then attend local networking events. Get to know estate agents, accountants, local business owners. Sponsor local events, sponsor local to sports. Increase your visibility in the community. Make your website location specific. Use keywords related to your town or your city. Remember, local branding isn't just about visibility. It's about trust and familiarity.
Speaker 1:One of the biggest advantages of focusing locally is the ability to build relationships with other local businesses, people like estate agents yes, they might already have a mortgage broker they work with, but you can be there. Make sure that they know you're connected with them. You see them on Facebook, you see them on Instagram, you see their social media content and they're more likely then to see yours. And then solicitors they handle, as we know, property transactions and can send clients your way. Accountants as well. They work with self-employed clients who need mortgages. And also like local influencers, bloggers, business owners and community leaders can spread the word about your services. These relationships will become your referral engine. The stronger that they are, the more business you will generate.
Speaker 1:So let's look at the power of reviews in your local brand and if you want to dominate your local market, reviews are the key. When someone searches for a mortgage broker in your area, who has the best reviews will win. So how do you get more reviews? Well, ask every single client. Make it as part of your process. Make it as part of your habits to request reviews from clients. Do it. Make it as part of your process. Make it as part of your habits to request reviews from clients. Do it at the mortgage offer stage. So you need to make sure it's part of the process and it's at the mortgage offer stage. Make it easy. Send them a direct link to the google reviews and make sure you showcase them. Put your reviews on your website, social media, any marketing material. Respond as well to our reviews. Engage with positive reviews, addressing a negative feedback in a way, too, that is very professional. If you do get any negative review, a broker with 50 plus five star reviews will always outshine one who's only got a handful on Google.
Speaker 1:So then how do you scale the right way. Once you've dominated your local market, you can start to expand strategically, instead of trying to go national overnight. Just replicate your success one town or one city at a time. Strengthen your local base. Ensure that your first location is thriving before expanding. Identify the next best location. Look for areas with demand but limited competition, and then leverage your existing reputation. Use client testimonials to build trust in the new areas and then partner with local businesses in the new area. Build new relationships, just like you did in the first location, and then keep your brand consistent. Maintain your identity while adapting to each new market. By following this approach, you're scaling on solid foundations instead of gambling on rapid expansion. So just my final thoughts is become the local authority first.
Speaker 1:If you can just take one thing from this today's episode, one thing from this podcast before you try to scale nationally, become the number one mortgage broker in your town or your city. By focusing locally first, you build trust, generate referrals and create a strong brand that people recognise, and only then, only then, should you then think about expanding. Take the time to build a business that lasts one local success at a time. So that's it. That's this week's Mortgage Broker Broadcast. Thanks for listening, if you do like it, please share, please subscribe. So that's it.
Speaker 1:That's this week's the mortgage broker broadcast. Next week, we have got johnny needham coming back on to podcast. Been a while since I've got him on, so I'm getting johnny back on to have a chat and catch up with him. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please make sure you subscribe, leave a review, share it with other mortgage brokers and if you are thinking about becoming a self-employed mortgage broker, launching your own brand or or ready to take your existing business to the next level, go to my website, craigskeltoncouk. Book a discovery call or just get in touch. Send me a message and let's have a chat about how I can help you achieve your goals for 2025. And, as always, remember to run your own race.