When asked how many hours she spends per day or per week on Facebook, Sarah Bloxham laughs. But it’s not because she’s aimlessly scrolling through pictures of her connections’ vacations and families.

Rather, the five-year MDRT member from Auckland, New Zealand, views specialized Facebook groups as a room full of ideal prospects, eager for her to answer questions in her area of expertise. It’s why Bloxham, who handles mortgages for first-time homebuyers and insurance, estimates that 98% of her clients come from the social network.

That’s not to suggest that these benefits happen quickly or easily.

“Some people message me on Facebook saying, ‘I’ve been watching you reply to posts for two years,’” Bloxham said. “‘We’ve made the decision to buy a home, and we can see you’re knowledgeable and not hard selling.’”

Bloxham’s dedication to first-time homebuyers comes from their openness to learn and their need for someone to help them navigate the biggest purchase in their lifetime. Plus, there’s the likelihood that they don’t have insurance. She also handles life, income protection, critical illness and medical coverages. Her commitment to Facebook stems partly from her background in IT and a routine of seeing clients virtually since entering the financial services profession in 2015. It’s also because a brief willingness to see people in person led to an incident in which Bloxham nearly walked into the wrong house in a neighborhood that wasn’t especially safe.

“I thought, I’m never doing this again,” Bloxham said.

Since her mission involves creating security and efficiency for clients, it only makes sense Bloxham would achieve the same for herself. But how does this work, when other advisors can post to the same Facebook pages, and prospects might take information they receive and go directly to a bank for their mortgage?

Bloxham has several strategies:

Replying quickly and regularly. Bloxham keeps track of when her preferred pages (two of which have 70,000 members) publish posts and arranges her day to take action as early as 6:15 a.m. and as late as 10 p.m., often replying during dinnertime as well. This routine occurs year-round on weekdays — excluding 2.5 weeks when businesses close over Christmas during New Zealand’s summer — to maintain a consistent presence.

Creating professionalism and motivating action without being pushy. Some other advisors are too formal in their replies, Bloxham says, while others are too casual, calling everyone “mate.” Instead, she often begins replies with something like, “Hey, great question …” and provides answers without necessarily offering everything someone might want or need to know. If people connect through her Facebook business page (because posts are anonymous, Bloxham can’t reach out first, instead inviting the prospect to contact her for further discussion), the subsequent communication and Zoom meeting (following completion of the fact-find) can lead to becoming a client as opposed to someone looking for quick answers from a bank where they won’t receive the same service about how to make an offer and interest rates.

Demonstrating confidence without confrontation. Recently, Bloxham added to another advisor’s post and clarified information about advice for first time-buyers that no longer applies in New Zealand. She was careful not to disparage the other advisor but merely said that the answer is incorrect for this person. She then provided the accurate information and invited the person to message her for more details.

Working to identify the right clients. If a prospect says they are considering multiple advisors before selecting one, Bloxham won’t meet with them as every advisor has their own style, and she prefers not to compete for individual clients in that way. Before a meeting, she sends a questionnaire (the fact-find) to learn more about the prospects. Meetings are only booked after the fact-find is completed. She also ensures they don’t have really bad credit that would slow them from getting a mortgage. If before or during a meeting the prospects show that they have bad credit, Bloxham offers to connect them with a different advisor who handles people in that situation. She also avoids working with people who are collecting numerous investment properties, as they are more resistant to the type of help she provides.

Patience, connection and balance. While Bloxham recently got a client into a house after working together for three years (an extreme case), the average is six to 12 months. But she believes strongly in not waiting six months to reconnect with a client. She’ll schedule the next appointment at the end of each meeting and keep in touch with a monthly newsletter and additional touchpoints every three months to see if they are ready to move forward. (Clients often wind up obtaining insurance from her before getting the keys to a house.) Yet with a technologically driven business that could extend to all hours, Bloxham is careful to have her last meeting at 5:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, with the last meeting on Fridays being at 1 p.m., so she can prep during the rest of the afternoon for the next week. She also lets clients know that their session will last 30 minutes.

Bloxham doesn’t engage on TikTok or Instagram because those platforms are more about putting out unrequested information than replying to questions. Plus, by having a personal page and a business page, Facebook provides numerous places for people to connect and get to know her.

When Bloxham sends her fact-find, she asks prospects to like her business page, where she posts three times a week. Ultimately, the goal goes back to her efforts to make homeownership more attainable and less stressful.

“I call every client the night before they close on their house, and last week a client said, ‘I’d never have been able to do that without you,’” Bloxham recalled. “I get off those Zoom calls thinking I made a difference.

“When you have an advisor, you’re never alone.”

Knowing your audience

Like Bloxham, Bhupinder S. Anand, ACII, Dip PFS, has seen enormous success from replying to financial questions on Facebook. The 28-year MDRT member from London, England, UK, perceives it as free marketing with an important and highly promising public component. “The audience I was addressing was not the person asking the question,” Anand learned early on, “but all the other people who would be reading the answer.”

In addition to sending a fact-finder to prospects, he asks them to watch a one-hour video that takes them through an estate planning presentation and prepares them for the jargon involved. If they don’t do the homework and/or watch the video, Anand doesn’t meet with them, a necessary way of filtering the large number of prospects.

Plus, Anand has been asked by some owners of Facebook groups to run live webinars, with the sessions becoming permanent guides on the group’s homepage. His Facebook activity also has led to invitations to guest on podcasts and do TV interviews. “This third-party endorsement is priceless,” he said, “and makes my credibility sky-high.”