1. Email - If you conduct business using a free email provider such as Google, Hotmail, or AOL (example: yourname@hotmail.com), STOP IT! You instantly lose credibility among potential clients and peers. Why, you ask? Because it is NOT professional. You may think otherwise, but that is not the point, your prospects are the real judge and they will hands down respect and trust you less if you use a free email provider. If you are a customer in a high dollar transaction, would you rather work with tom@schwabb.com or tom@hotmail.com ? If you still aren’t getting it, just trust us on this one and consider outsourcing your marketing activities.
2. CRM / Lead Management Software – If you aren’t using professional grade CRM software to manage your leads, then at the very least use your LOS to manage your leads and prospects. Excel is not good enough, you need to be alerted when follow up calls need to be made in the future, whether it is 6 months, 12 months, or 24 months from now.
3. Use Your CRM Software – Every prospect you speak to, every day, should be entered into your CRM / Lead Management software with a follow up Follow Up alert set so that you are alerted when you need to follow up.
4. Lead / Prospect Follow Up – Repeat after me: I will brush my teeth every day and I will follow up with my Leads / Prospects every day. Repeat Daily. Twice for brushing.
5. Set Up a Drip Campaign – Every lead or prospect you encounter should be entered into your email drip campaign. You will need an email mortgage newsletter manager that you can input each lead email address into. When you input the address, the prospect is instantly sent out a welcome email. A week later this lead is sent another email with general refinancing tips. A week or month later another email is sent with useful information. This way, if you are not working with the prospect, they are reminded about you and your services, if you are working with them, they still receive helpful information.
6. Client List – You MUST keep an organized list of all past clients in your CRM. This list must include the details of any transactions you have completed for this person, notes, and complete contact information. This list will be used for future email and direct mail campaigns.
7. Save the Whales and Stop the Full 1003 Online Application – If you are using a Full 1003 application on your website, your website is a dead end for prospects and you will never receive the valuable lead information that you so badly desire. It is also important that when a prospect clicks “Apply” on your website they are not taken to an intermediary screen where they can choose between application types or are forced to create an account. If the prospect asks for an application form, give it to them NOW! Do not make them jump through hoops.
8. Postcards – Every person on your client / prospect list should receive a postcard from you no less than once a month. There is no excuse for this simple exercise which will prove to be some of the best marketing money you will ever spend. How many times have you followed up with a past client, only to find out they have already refinanced with somebody else or referred a friend to somebody else because they lost your contact information. This is one more way to prevent this from happening. Again, this is some of the best money you can spend, hands down.
9. Invest in Your Business – The most successful mortgage professionals are those that are not afraid to spend money on marketing. Not only are they not afraid to invest in marketing, but they are willing to experiment in different mediums because they know that not all mediums will work and sometimes diversification between mediums provides a steady stream of business without having all of your eggs in one basket. On the other hand, a former employer of mine spent every marketing dollar on AM Radio and he was extremely successful, so if something works well, you can’t argue with results.
10. Don’t Be Cheap – Dress for the money you want to make. Don’t send cheap or hastily prepared marketing materials such as direct mail, flyers, or business cards. Don’t have a cheap looking or cheaply built mortgage website as it will cost you money, you are better off with nothing. If you, your services, or your marketing materials look cheap, you will lose business and you will perform poorly. You are better than that!
11. Set Goals – What are your goals for the year? What about for the month? For the week? If you can’t answer these questions, you aren’t doing your job. Setting goals is essential for performance. If you do not set goals you will underperform and can lose track of where you want to be and how to get there.
12. Be Consistent – Set a work schedule and stick to it. If your employer allows you to come and go as you please, still set a schedule. This is especially important if you are self-employed or work from home. I know this better than anybody. Your productivity and profitability are often directly correlated with your consistency.
13. Listen to Bob Marley – Really, it is good for your health. If you aren’t feeling Bob, then think POSITIVELY, that is the real goal. There is a direct correlation between your mindset and your performance, your health, your happiness, your life, your love, etc. I know this isn’t news to you, but it is so true. Make a concerted effort to break negative habits related to thought, your temper, and how you react to bad news and situations that don’t turn out as you would like. Be proactive in your thought and spend more time acting as opposed to reacting.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Trace, I was just listening to Waiting In Vain, No Women No Cry, One Drop, and Three Little Birds while driving home today. No better music than Marley while driving in a blizzard.
I kind of wonder about you first post though. I used to think the same thing, but these days, when someone is using a gmail email, I don’t even think twice about it. If it’s dixiedoo@aol.com, then yea, that looks unprofessional. But JohnSmith@gmail.com seems perfectly acceptable to me.
You have a point with gmail, when I see aol or hotmail that just sketches me out. Context is also important, when an AE for a Bank or Lending Institution is using “jerry@hotmail.com”, many people will interpret that different ways. I usually interpret it to mean that the Bank is small, new, or the AE is working for them on a part time or referral basis or some other weird scenario.
Many times the people I see using free services are using them because they don’t have a website or domain name and this can be a warning sign. If you aren’t established enough to have a website and I don’t already know you, I will more than likely not want to work with you….especially if it again, involves high dollar transactions, it doesn’t pass the smell test….
In a tough market like the one we’re in, it’s a risk that no Mortgage Professional should take with borrowers who may have the same thoughts or hesitations….there is a level of sophistication that many borrowers expect and you can risk setting off a red flag when trying to build trust with borrowers who are already too willing to distrust you before they even know you.
I use todd@mariah.com because I know many people share your perception. I also use it because it’s nice and short.
I was just think this regarding the e-mail addresses. I have been looking to place 3 apartment loans, since my preferred bank shuttered their doors, and every time I see joebob@genericorfreeip.com I do not even bother to contact them. It reeks of part-timer or hack. It costs a couple of bucks a year to have a “real” e-mail address. Get a “memorable” address like tucsonloantips or livelocalrates or iwantanewhomenow or tulsasoldtoday. This kills two birds with one stone. 1. It looks legitimate 2. It is marketing that reinforces what you do.
I am glad to see this fine list of simple, common sense activities.
Cheers,
Bryant Keefe
What CRM are you using?
Wonderful List Trace!
CRM is the hot button for me, but you will get the most comments about email.
I’ve been trying to get the AOL and Hotmail out of my real estate agents for years. These are the same people who are savvy enough to own their own vanity website (SusieSells.com) but can’t seem to break away from their amateur beginnings.
For Contact Management - I’ve used ACT for years. I’ve created countless fields, and have layers and layers of screens. It’s the first that I start up on the ‘puter.
Drip systems - no problem.
Birthday and anniversaries - automatic.
What was the rate and loan product that we financed you last at? - No need to pull a file, it’s right there.
Need me to write a pre-approval letter? I already have that template written.
On the newsletter - might I suggest that instead of a canned version (i.e. Realty Times) with articles written by others - why not use the actual posts you wrote yourself over the last month.
I have only one change. Bob is good - for me it’s Jerry.
I like the tip about the once per month postcards. This is the tip that Joe Girard (the world’s greatest car salesman) gives. He sends something by mail once per month to everyone he meets with for life. He is the only car salesman I have ever heard about who meets with people by appointment only.
@Mike: I have a deep dirty secret. 90% of the music I listen to is Jerry… please do not tell anybody. I was lucky enough to spend a handful of summers travelling the greatest nation in the world listening to the boys…..
@Wade: when I first became a mortgage broker working for myself, I had a around a 4% response rate (compared to the .2 to .4% my other direct mail was getting) from existing / past clients with postcards…which probably cost me around 50 cents a piece or so… complete no brainer, especially for anybody on a tight marketing budget… Once I learned how much sense this made, I realized how much business I had lost during boom times by not keeping my name in front of past clients on a monthly basis…. this is just mandatory in my experience…..Even if I called past clients every 3 months, I still found that sometimes I missed a deal or a referral because they lost my contact info….
This is a great post and great tips. I am printing this one!
I have begun implementing several of these items into my system, but am finding the process to be very time consuming. Any one have ideas on how to shorten that up a bit?
Ed
Particularly interested in any feedback from anyone in regards to CRM’s (affordable ones) and Drip Campaigns via email. Just looked into Constant Contact and iContact… any others?
Ed: We have a product worth taking a look at, it is called ListCenter. It is available on a lease or purchase basis (in case you have huge lists…) and includes autoresponders for drip campaigns, unlimited lists and email campaigns, automatically deletes bad email addresses that bounce, etc. You can find more info here: http://www.ipagio.com/mortgage-newsletter-marketing.html
Hi Todd,
I am a mortgage broker in Colorado and just came across your blog. You have some great points and look forward to your future posts. Luckily I have not been hurt by the housing slow down. In my opinion this is a great time to establish yourself in the industry by providing your clients and realtors service that is second to none. While many are not happy that we have lost so many products, it allows those that are serious about the industry to concentrate the basics of any business, customer service and integrity.
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