Brokers fail to generate leads online

A straw poll conducted last week found that 17 per cent of the 300 respondents said they do not have a web page to promote their business.

Interestingly, of those that do, the majority said they do not generate leads from their web presence.

Of the bokers surveyed, 52 per cent said their web page provides them with zero leads, while just 31 per cent said they do generate business from their online presence.

Complete Home Loans Steve Bowers said he wasn’t surprised to hear most brokers fail to generate leads from their web presence.

By his own admission, 90 per cent of Mr Bowers’ business comes from existing clients and referrals from established networks.

“People may like to shop around online, but as far as I’m concerned people tend to want to talk to somebody as a referral,” he told The Adviser.

Mr Bowers said most broker web pages are cluttered and impersonal, which ultimately confuses and deters any potential leads.

“If you give most average people too much information it can overload them, that’s why they come to us in the first place to decipher and distil that information into what is relevant for them,” he said.

But while Mr Bowers generated most of his business through existing cluients and referral partnerships others are generating significant revenue in a largely untapped online space.

Finance Made Easy’s Tony Bice said while there was an excuse not to be online a decade ago those without a web presence in 2012 are behind the eight ball.

“I guess the main thing I’m seeing is people are time poor and tech savvy. This means they need a faster method of finding information, and they’re going to look online for it,” he said.

Up to 80 per cent of Mr Bice’s business comes from his online presence.

“Brokers need to know about search engine optimisation.

"Without an SEO strategy you’re in the dark. Most brokers only have two options, referrals or playing in the online space. They understand referrals because they have dealt that way for years and are more comfortable with them. But many don’t understand the power of the net.”

Zoran Malesevic from Harzed Finance told The Adviser that brokers who aren’t online will not be able to effectively compete for business down the track.

“As the next generation of borrowers comes through, we’ll see a huge shift towards online services. If you don’t have an online presence, you will miss out on potential business opportunities.”

But while brokers without a web presence are closing themselves off to new business opportunities, Mr Malesevic said these people should not be written off just yet.

“Having a website is not something required to be a good broker. Even things like having an email with your own domain name is no indicator of how good a broker you are. I know plenty of great brokers with @Hotmail.com emails,” he said.