A mistake that I regularly see new (and experienced) brokers making, is to be so keen to get a sale that they start to offer pricing and solutions to the client - before they fully understand the client's needs.

I'll make it plain and simple - if a client only goes with you because of pricing - then they're not your client - they will always go with whoever offers them a better deal.

Don't offer clients solutions until you have taken the time to understand their needs and the transaction.  Don't offer solutions until you've built a strong rappoire with your client.  People don't recommend brokers to their friends and families based on price - they recommend based on service.  This is a major financial transaction and as their broker, you should be aiming for the status of "Trusted Advisor", up their with their accountant and financial advisor. 

In our team, we advocate a 4 stage Customer Solutions Process.  Discover, Investigage, Research, Recommend.  I've uploaded the first of our four part tutorials on delivering the Customer Solutions Process to YouTube - this is part one Discover.

Sometimes it's challenging to get the most out of a servicing calculator.  We've create a couple of quick tutorials to help you to get better servicing for your investor clients.  View the first tutorial here and then the second in the series here.

Send us your feedback on tutorials you'd like to see us create at info@visionms.com.au

As another tool to help our team we've started recording a number of short (less than 5 minute) tutorials on YouTube. We'll keep on adding to these over time and try to cover everything from the basics through to advanced topics in broking.

You can view an introductory video here.

A group of our brokers in South East Queensland recently took advantage of funding through the Department of Education and Training to work towards their Diploma in Financial Services (Mortgage Broking).  Given that the industry requires all of us to have our Diplomas before 1st of July 2012, this is a great step forward.

I have returned from holidays today to some positive developments.

First, the signage on our new office is now all complete, so we are officially up and running.  There are some busy weeks ahead of us for promotional activities. (BTW, we're definitely looking for new brokers in the South East Queensland area as we're starting to get very busy!)

First, we're having a function this Friday afternoon for the local business people - celebrating the opening of the new office.  We have Shane Webcke coming along to do the official opening se we're expecting a decent turnout.  Again, I'll refer back to my previous blogs about launching your business - don't just dribble into it - give it a launch.

Secondly, we have a space at the local shopping centre for the remainder of the week, simply spending time down there letting people know that we're in town and we're doing business.

Third, we've taken a spot at the Brisbane Home Show, the week after next.

Finally, we have letterbox drops and newspaper ads starting this week.

The letterbox drops and newspaper ads aren't my normal practice, they're simply to let the local population know that we exist.

The next exiting news is that we've finally received our credit licence.  It's official now, so that's a relief to have that finished.

It's looking to be an exciting few months.

We're now up and running in our new head office.

Of course, by that I mean that we have our desks and files.  Signage, phones and internet won't be in place until the end of next week (sigh!) and so in meantime we're finishing the fitout and getting everything else in order.

Our new office is branded "Homeloans" as we have created it through our affiliation with the publicly listed mortgage manager Homeloans (formerly Homeloans Ltd).  We're delighted with the location, as we're situated in the middle of the financial services area in Beenleigh's CBD - with Westpac, Bendigo Bank and Bank of Queensland as our neighbours.

Our brokers and credit representatives will be operating from a number of "hot desks" which we have set up in the office, and our new training room at the rear of the office will provide us with the space to conduct training sessions and product info days.

After a rainy, dismal start - this is looking to be a great year.