HOW TO EFFECTIVELY

COMMUNICATE VIA EMAIL AS A

MORTGAGE BROKER

During the last 10 years email has become one of, if not the most widely used form of communication within the business community and society as a whole surpassing the more traditional forms of Faxes and Letters, which now almost seem a distant memory.

If you’re a qualified mortgage broker in Australia, meaning you’ve attended a certified mortgage broker training qualification you’ll learn about the importance of communicating with clients.

The speed with which you can communicate using email has had a massive impact upon the way both businesses and consumers interact, however the effectiveness of this communication varies significantly.

When used correctly, email can increase your productivity, enhance client and personal relationships and build your personal and mortgage broking business brand image, however if not used professionally it can cause irreparable damage.

Access to email has been significantly enhanced in recent times with the introduction and rapid uptake of internet-enabled Smart phones, PDAs and laptops giving us the ability to receive and respond to email virtually anywhere and anytime.

Key Types of Email Communication for Brokers

To increase the effectiveness of your email communication it’s important to understand the type of email you’re sending, and receiving for that matter, and to tailor various aspects of the message to suit.

In broad terms, email can be grouped into 3 main categories:• Business• Marketing and• Personal

Business emails are primarily communication you have with business colleagues, clients, suppliers and other mortgage broking business associates.

They are directed to either an individual or a small group and it’s this type of email that has the most impact upon your business from a day-to-day basis and the type we’ll focus on here.

Marketing Based Email as the name suggests, are used to promote yourself and your business services to a wider audience.

These emails can be sent using various tools including:

• an email marketing service• mass emailing using the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) function• mail-merge linking Microsoft Word, an Excel Spreadsheet and Outlook and• sending individual emails to each person in your “list”

The use of email for marketing is highly effective and has the potential to significantly grow sales, increase brand awareness and strengthen mortgage broking client relationships.

Creating effective marketing based emails follows essentially the same fundamental “rules” of all good email communication, however with a few key added components…which are a topic for another day.

Personal email is clearly messages that you exchange with family and friends and are of a non-business nature.

The 5 Essential Rules of Effective Email

Irrespective of the type of email you’re sending as a qualified mortgage broker there are 5 key rules that you should follow at all times.

Think about the number of times you have received an email message that was unclear, poorly written, left you wondering why you even received it in the first place or worse still, just looked plain ugly and unprofessional.

The manner in which you construct an email conveys a significant message to the recipient and reflects upon your own personal brand as well as your company’s brand image.

Don’t underestimate the damage that poorly written emails can have upon your business and personal reputation, which is why the number one rule of effective email is to…

…always be professional.

Irrespective of how well you know a person, when communicating by email always ensure that it’s written in a professional manner and uses appropriate language and tone.

The second rule of effective email is to remember that every message you send can be forwarded on to anyone by the recipient – so even if you’re emailing someone you’ve known for years still keep it professional…and especially resist on-forwarding those “funny” messages.

The third rule of effective email is to write with a clear purpose – know exactly the key points you want to convey and construct the email in a manner that clearly articulates them.  Using short paragraphs and bullet points as these improve readability and comprehension.

The fourth rule is to carefully re-read your emails before sending them, not simply to check spelling and grammar (always turn your the spell-check feature on) , but more importantly to ensure that the way you’ve worded the email conveys the right message. No doubt you’ve received emails in the past, which have left you with the “wrong impression” or “confused” simply because the message has been poorly worded causing a misinterpretation.

The fifth and final rule of effective email is to create an email template and standard signature which reflects your mortgage brand and presents a professional image.  Avoid those fancy “stationery” templates that are provided with most email programs, create your own template which is clean and simple using a standard font of normal size, use coloured text sparingly and ensure that any images are consistent with, and build, your brand recognition and awareness.

Intellitrain provides online and face-to-face training courses for the 

Certificate IV in Mortgage Broking, Diploma in Mortgage Broking, 

Diploma in Financial Planning as well as Cert IV in Bookkeeping and 

Sales Training Courses in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and

Sydney.