Sometimes it's all a matter of being different, and truly standing apart from the crowd.

As loan officers, we tend to get the same advice from our managers, we read the same books and listen to the same audio programs.

We want to find new business, but we are all being told to find new business from the same sources (so the effectiveness of any marketing that we do is diminished to some respect).

I love watching salespeople take bold actions when it comes to marketing and prospecting for new business.

I knew of one loan officer who ordered 100 pumpkins a few weeks before Halloween. He had made an arrangement with a local supermarket to use a portion of their parking lot to give out the pumpkins.

He placed an ad in the paper, put a few flyers in nearby grocery stores, diners and laudromats, and was lucky enough to have the local newspaper cover the story the morning he gave out the pumpkins.

It was a huge success!

The turn out was overwhelming. He ran out of pumpkins with two hours of starting, but he met 100 people and couples that day, and he walked away with 8 good leads for immediate business.

Was it hard work? Sure it was, but it all paid off many times over. And the reason why it paid off was because the average loan officer just wouldn't have done it.

Another young and ambitious loan officer really pushed the envelope.

He had just started out and was looking for a way to break the ice when meeting new real estate agents. So this is what he did:

He went to the local discount shoe store, and purchased 5 pairs of plain black shoes (they were about $5 a pair).

He printed small labels to put on the shoelaces that read:

Hi. My name is John Smith and I am trying to "get my foot in the door." I will be back to your office next Tuesday morning to meet with you.

He then went to a real estate office that he was going to focus on this month, and place one shoe in each of the mailboxes of the agents.

Was this a little much? Possibly. And I wish I could have seen the real estate agents' faces when they pulled their shoes out of their mailboxes.

But the young loan officer did break the ice and he did get a very productive referral source from that office. And even till this day, whenever someone from that real estate office seems, they say "Hey, you're the guy with the shoes."

So think creatively with your marketing efforts. Stand apart from the average loan officer. Be different and be remembered.

Joe Pahl is a marketing consultant and co-creator of the Loan Maker Gold System for Loan Officers (http://www.LoanMakerGold.com). To receive his free eCourse "7 Strategies Loan Officers Can Take to Guarantee an Awesome 2006" please sent blank email to loanmakergold-ecourse@getresponse.com