Last week was probably the most anti-climactic government goat ropes in history. Replete with drama, chicken littles, and pronouncements of Armageddon; the end of the week brought a passed $700 billion bailout. Now the kicker. After all of this the stock market plunges again, Congress confesses this may only be the first step, and economist say, “I told you so.”

Now, back to important stuff. If you are in the mortgage or real estate industry you have a business to run in all of this mess.

Here are some tips to wade (efficiently) through all this muck and confusion politicians and media are causing:

Flood of Customer Inquiries

The first order, logical effect of the media coverage is a flood of customer inquiries (mortgage leads and debt leads) trying to figure out what the heck is going on. These means that your opportunity to talk to customers about mortgages and financing options will go up.

However, if you want to increase your sales production, instead of just increasing your sales activities you are going to have to work smarter.

Here is the first warning: You may feel like it is a good month, it will feel good to talk to a lot of leads, but if you are only playing for the short-term gain you will be left unfulfilled at the end of the month.

Increase in Unqualified Leads

Most of the increase in leads will be from unqualified borrowers and potential home buyers that are stoked with hope from all the media hype around “bailouts,” “rescues,” and “loosing credit.”

We know that government passing legislation does not all the sudden trigger money falling from helicopters.

So, if you are smart set up a pre-qualification team that quickly follows-up and triages all of your leads. Transfer the qualified prospects into your loan officers and skillfully transition your unqualified leads into a credit repair, smart homeowner, or future borrower lead nurturing marketing program–they will be customers some day.

Educate Your Loan Officers

Get your loan officers ready to turn leads into smarter consumers. Remember, all of these leads over the next several months–qualified and unqualified–are coming with questions. You can try to baffle them with bullshit, push the same verbal gymnastics to induce a close, or you can have an informative conversation.

Believe me if you educate your loan officers to have intelligent and informed conversations you will double your sales. You will close the qualified leads immediately and you will turn unqualified leads into smart, credit fixing, down payment saving future customers.

Ramp Up Your Lead Nurturing

If you build your bailout strategy correctly you will be using the volatility in rates and mortgage programs to stuff your database full of relationships.

A majority of Americans will continue to own homes now and in the future. If you harvest this flood of customer inquiries and questions, putting them into a capable lead nurturing program, you will be creating a long term growth strategy.

Categorize you customers into purchase mortgage, refinance mortgage, credit repair, downpayment savers, and possibly a few other segments. Then design custom email, mail, and call back strategies to inform and educate these customer segments into referrals and future clients.

The great news is that confusion, volatility, and fear create an incredible opportunity to build your business with integrity and really add value to your clients.