This is a good time to become a loan restructuring advisor. Most businesses depend on loans. However, the financial markets are so volatile that it has become quite common for both organizations and individuals to file for bankruptcy.
Those that are determined to avoid such an outcome are forced to hire loan restructuring advisors. But if you want to succeed as a loan restructuring advisor, you need to understand that you are not the only one. The competition is overwhelming.
If you want to secure all the lucrative clients and contracts, you have to stand out from the competition. That means making effective use of eCommerce and all its related tools.
What Do Loan Restructuring Advisors Do?
Debt restructuring advisors are the people that individuals and companies turn to when their financial situation deteriorates. They enter the picture when you have a debt you cannot repay.
Their objective is to keep you from defaulting on your debt. If you have a competent advisor, they will bring you back from the brink of insolvency by engaging your lenders and renegotiating your contracts to secure more favorable repayment terms.
The best financial experts will compel creditors to cancel your entire debt or part of it. They could also reduce the interest on your loans. Along with granting you more time to pay your debts, these gurus will create a path that you can use to recover from your financial woes.
Is The Loan Restructuring Advisory Field Right For You?
Loan restructuring isn’t for everyone. Just because you have a head for numbers doesn’t mean you are cut out for this business. This is because specialists in the arena require several difficult skills including:
1). Sales
Can you sell yourself? if you cannot, you need to learn. You have to market your abilities to the people that need your help. As was mentioned before, there are plenty of loan restructuring advisors on the market. Don’t expect financially desperate individuals and organizations to automatically seek your services out. You must promote yourself.
2). Communication
You need interpersonal skills. Financial advisors spend a lot of time talking to people. Every client has a unique need and you must engage them personally before you can identify the best way to help them. Once you analyze a person’s situation, you must also find the best way to communicate your solutions to them. If you hate dealing with people, this field might present a challenge for you.
3). Numbers
Naturally, you require financial knowledge and experience. Debt restructuring experts are analytical and detail-oriented.
4). Passion
Like every career, you will find that it is much easier to get ahead as a financial expert if you are passionate about the field. Take a moment and find out whether or not you want to help people with their finances.
It takes a lot of time and patience to communicate complex financial ideas in a manner that the layperson can understand. Without passion, this process will wear you down. The same goes for the rigors of marketing and promotion.
You have to promote your services actively using eCommerce if you want to succeed. When things get tough, your passion will keep you going.
5). Decisions
Are you decisive? Experts in this area are expected to make decisions that have dramatic consequences for their customers. Some clients have fallen into such a deep financial hole that all you have are painful decisions. If you cannot act decisively despite your fears, you are better off finding a different field to pursue.
Starting a Loan Restructuring Business
Before you can worry about eCommerce and all the ways it can help your business, you need to first start your debt restructuring business, a process that includes the following:
1). Business Plan
Naturally, you need a plan. You have to take into account the costs involved. That includes the cost of renting an office, paying for legal documentation, insurance, employee salaries, and the like. You should also plan for your target market.
Many experts prioritize middle-income clients. However, your focus will depend on the area out of which you have chosen to operate. Your target market will determine your fees. But this is an issue that also requires careful thought beforehand. How much are you willing to charge your clients?
Your decisions in this area will determine the amount of money you can expect to earn in the long run.
2). Registration
Once you have a plan, you can go ahead and register your business. The process will depend on the type of business you want to start (Partnership, Corporation, Sole Proprietorship, or an LLC). Your legal obligations will vary accordingly.
3). Taxes
Once you establish your company legally, you can register for taxes.
4). Banking
You need a business account. You shouldn’t use your account to hold the earnings from your business. Such a practice will endanger your personal assets in the event of a lawsuit. You are better off getting a business account as well as a business credit card.
5). Permits
Like every business, yours requires several permits and licenses. Otherwise, the authorities will punish you. Don’t forget to secure insurance.
Once your business is up and running, you can start promoting it using eCommerce. This is quite easy to do if you have taken the time to define your brand, a step that many loan restructuring advisers skip.
How to Promote Your Loan Restructuring Business Using eCommerce?
The average loan restructuring expert understands that they have to establish a presence on the internet to enjoy all the benefits that eCommerce has to offer. But how does one do that? You have several options at your disposal:
1). Website
This one is obvious. Your business needs a website, especially if it is new. Because so many people use the internet to search for financial experts, companies without websites will go largely unnoticed. If you want to establish some sort of foothold in the industry, start by creating a platform online that people can use to access your services.
2). Social Media
Businesses used to shun social media. They thought it was a trivial platform that had nothing to offer serious organizations. But then they realized that a significant portion of the public spent most of their time on social media, which meant that there was no better platform to reach clients from all corners of the globe.
If you don’t understand social media, hire an expert. They will open accounts for your business on all the major platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. They will also show you how to use social media to build relationships with clients as well as other financial experts in your field.
3). Blogging
People think that blogging is dead but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Organizations use blogs to keep customers abreast of the changes in their products and services. They also use them to provide insight into their operations.
A blog post is basically a conversation between a company and its customers. If you don’t have a blog, start one. Use it to tell people what you do, how you do it, and all the ways you can help them in their time of need.
Your blog will give people a reason to visit your site. The more time they spend on the website, the more likely they are to hire you the next time they need a loan restructuring advisor.
4). Events
People spend most of their time on internet resources that can add value to their lives. If you want to grow your online presence, give people a reason to visit your websites and social media platforms by organizing events.
These days, it has become quite common for people to organize conferences and workshops over the internet. Events of this kind enable organizations to connect with potential clients. You can use them to humanize your company and the work it does.
All it takes to convince some people to do business with you is to show them that your company has real human beings working behind the scenes.
5). Networking
Find other financial advisors on the internet and work with them to increase your exposure. You can collaborate on workshops and webinars. You can do the same for competitions and promotions. This will attract traffic to you and your partners.
Increasing the Popularity of Your eCommerce Platform
If you have a platform that sells your loan restructuring products and services to consumers over the internet, you have to promote it. Otherwise, people won’t find it. Consider the following:
1). Landing Page
People stumble across websites by accident all the time. When a curious visitor comes across your website, it should give them a reason to stay. This is where the landing page enters the picture. It should tell visitors what you do.
Include video content. Text is all well and good but some people do not want to read. A video telling them what to expect is more likely to capture their attention. Use the video to tell the people who you are and what you do.
2). Social Media
Your websites should link to your social media platforms and vice versa. Connect all your online resources so that potential clients can jump from one to the other with ease. You never know where you will find clients. The easier it is for them to reach your website, the more likely they are to hire you.
3). Mobile Technology
Many people use computers to access the internet. However, they are the minority. Because phones have become so ubiquitous, you need to make your company website mobile-friendly. That way, anyone with a phone or tablet can access it.
People don’t have the patience for sites that are not mobile-friendly. They are not only ugly when accessed via a mobile device but they lose some of their functionality. If you want potential customers to view your eCommerce site with favor, you have to make it mobile-friendly.
4). SEO
Every website requires proper search engine optimization. Google is the biggest search engine in the world. People rely on the entity to point them in the direction of financial advisers they can trust.
If you want your website to attract traffic in significant quantities, you need to optimize it. Find out what Google wants and use that information to make your platform more attractive to the search engine. That normally means tweaking your titles and meta descriptions, using high-quality content, injecting the right keywords into your text, and linking to authoritative sites, to mention but a few. If you can secure a strong Google rank, you are guaranteed more visitors.
5). Local SEO
It isn’t enough for you to utilize general SEO tactics. You have to apply local SEO. This is where you take steps to ensure that your website is the first among the results whenever a customer searches for loan restructuring advisors in your area.
Make it as easy as possible for potential clients in your region to find you. There is no point in attracting the attention of internet users in other countries when the people in your own community have no idea that you even exist.
6). Email
Email is still relevant despite the introduction of a plethora of online communication services. Don’t ignore it. Send regular promotions and updates to the email addresses of your clients and visitors. This will ensure that your financial services remain at the forefront of your customers’ minds. The next time they encounter loan restructuring, they will make you their first call.
Of course, this is only possible if you have a database of email addresses to which you can send your newsletters. Email marketing cannot work otherwise. This is why the landing pages of many websites encourage visitors to volunteer their email addresses.
People are not always willing to sign up for newsletters. You have to give them a reason to do so by using the landing page to show them how your newsletters will benefit them. One way of collecting email addresses is to entice potential clients with special discounts and promotions.