Bill Rice Internet Marketing > mortgage leads

Bailout Passes-Prepare Your Lead Management and Sales Teams

October 6, 2008 By

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.

Filed Under: Lead Management, Sales Management Tagged With: bailout, mortgage, mortgage leads, mortgage rescue

5 Simple Steps to Own Your Internet Market Niche, for Free

June 14, 2008 By
At no point in marketing history has it been so easy to own your market. If you have a product, service, or personal interest to offer and want to be the Internet leader in this space the path to success is relatively straight-forward. The strategy is really as simple as: If you want to be the expert, BE the expert. Fill your niche market with the content, discussions, and answers and then make them authoritative. Here are 5 simple steps to filling the void and becoming the expert.

Start with a Niche

This is where I work the hardest and spend the most time with my clients–discovering and finding their first niche to attack. Your starting point should be an inventory or survey of your business. What are the products and services you offer? Who is your ideal customer? How did your current customers find you? Are there any similarities in your customers’ personal interests? What makes your approach unique?

This inventory should have given you a few key concepts. Those concepts contain keywords that define you and your current expertise. Refine these concepts into a list of keywords and take the next important step–find out if anyone cares!

Go to Google’s Keyword Tool and see which of these keywords or phrases get a significant amount of search inquiries. Once you have a few picked out that have a reasonable number of inquires per day it is time to begin taking control of those terms.

Build a Foundation

Owning any space on the Web is solely about authoritative content. Internet consumers go to the Web with their questions. Search engines index, sort, and prioritize the answers they get. They do that by what their little automated “spiders” conclude are authoritative. Your challenge is to convenience these little pieces software code and your curious Web searches when they arrive you are the expert on topic.

To become the authoritative source in your chosen niche you have to create the center point for your authority. That focal point, of course, is a website. The quickest and simplest strategy to build an authoritative repository of content is a blog. Depending on your expertise you can host your own or create a free one at WordPress.com. Once you have your site you should systematically begin posting (blogging) articles that tell readers (and the search engines) what you know about each of those keywords and phrases that you know they will query when faced with the problem you can solve (i.e., an FHA mortgage, finding short sale bargains, setting up a day trading business, building a downline in your network marketing business, etc.).

Now that you have your foundation, don’t forget the two final important pieces: give them something free to take away (and pass around to friends), and a way to contact you.

Create a Network

With a focus on what your niche is and where you are going to send people to prove it, you need to build a fan base. Don’t get confused. These are not customers. Your network should be “sneezers” and entertainment. Your network serves three purposes: promote, validate, and entertain people when they arrive. Understanding your goal(s) in building the network I will share a few of my favorite techniques:

  • Promoters: the quickest way to build an initial base of promoters is using your Blogroll, MyBlogLog, StumbleUpon, and Digg. Find like minded (content and topics) individuals and promote their stuff. That means links at first and traffic over time.
  • Validators: This takes a bit more time because you need to build a bit of credibility. Once you have a good base of quality content, drop an email to some of the top experts and bloggers in or related to your area of expertise. If they like it you will begin to see yourself mentioned, linked to, and promoted.
  • Entertainers: Most of the time these will come on there own. They are the colorful personalities and commenters. They are the rivals. Sometimes they are bloggers or commenters that take your counterpoint. Or, my favorite, competitors that validate you are a threat to their business.

This group of folks swirling about your websites widen the funnel and opportunity for customers to find you and be confirmed that you are the expert.

Become Authoritative

Being authoritative is sort of the capstone concept. It is the result of creating a solid foundation of quality content and creating a validating and promoting group of people around that content. This powerful combination creates an obvious authority to visiting consumers looking for answers and a strong link structure that tells Google, Yahoo!, and MSN’s little search bots this is the place to find out about [fill in your niche here].

Expand the Niche

Owning your little niche of the market is only the start of the opportunity. You may start with how to create mind blowing email campaigns and expand to all of direct marketing. You might start with FHA loans in Livonia, MI and expand to the Nations’ “Home Loan Experts.” You may start with how I use Twitter and expand to a social media guru.

Design your approach with expansion in mind. Create milestones and benchmarks to assess where you are and where you are headed. And don’t forget what you are attempting to do. This is not your teenager’s MySpace page. You are not looking to gather a bunch of meaningless followers and funny quips on your web pages. You are running a marketing campaign and business website. You are demonstrating that you are the professional, the expert, customers want providing the solution to their problem. You want to generate solid leads for sales.

Nothing generates more leads and produces better sales results than being the best in the business. The Internet creates an infinite space to work within, frame off your niche and become the expert. Then build on that platform to whatever success you can conceive.
Filed Under: Lead Generation, Lead Management Tagged With: business opportunity, internet leads, Lead Generation, mlm, mortgage leads, network marketing, online marketing

Here is a Quick Way to Own Your Local Mortgage Market

May 7, 2008 By

Are you still fighting against using the Internet in your mortgage marketing plan? That stubbornness is most likely losing you new opportunities and even worse past clients. The facts are clear, up to 75% of borrowers go online to research their mortgage. And the current market, rate, and home value volatility is only going to make that a more solid trend. Why would you jeopardize your mortgage business?

The Internet is more than a strategy for big National lenders. In fact, more than ever the hyper local Internet strategies are the most effective. People are going to do their research online. People are going to submit their name and telephone number for more information. Why would you let the competition have that opportunity?

Here are 5 easy steps to own your local mortgage market and make sure you have a shot at every local borrower that uses the Internet to look for a mortgage:

1. Get a Website

There are a lot of very simple ways to do this from Google Page Creator to finding a local web savvy high schooler. My personal suggestion is launching a blog with WordPress. Online customers are increasingly expecting to engage and interact with businesses. A blog allows you to demonstrate trust, personality, and give value first (mortgage education).

2. Submit Your Mortgage Business to Google Local and Yahoo! Local

Add your local mortgage business to Google Local and Yahoo! Local. Both take a matter of minutes and are guaranteed to put you into a prominent position on every search for a local mortgage broker or lender.

3. Submit Your Mortgage Business to Local City Directories

This needs to be done on two levels: (1) National big directories like InfoUSA, YellowPages.com, and CitySearch.com; and (2) Local city, township, or county government listings, rotary directory, and various other small Internet listings of local businesses and services.

4. Incorporate Your Online Presence Into Your Offline Mortgage Advertising

Your website address should go everywhere your telephone number goes. Often it is easier to remember a Web address than a phone number. And visit to your website can also be far informative and less intimidating than a cold call into your business.

5. Buy Local Purchase Mortgage Leads

These are typically very reasonable (big lenders like the easy, short-term refinance leads) and more likely to use a local lender. Buy everyone in your local area and you will be surprised how many Realtors start showing up at your door for referrals.

These are only starter steps and will probably cost you less than $100. As you get more experienced and savvy at marketing on the Internet there are a lot of opportunities to blow this solid foundation up into big success that will have you hiring an assistant, then a processor, then a couple of additional brokers. Who knows what you might become, but the certainty is no one in your local mortgage market will be stealing your clients off the Internet any more!

Filed Under: Lead Generation Tagged With: local mortgage marketing, mortgage broker marketing, mortgage lead generation, mortgage leads, mortgage marketing

Is the Internet Important to Your Local Real Estate or Mortgage Business?

May 1, 2008 By

Is the Internet important to your local real estate or mortgage business? Apparently, the answer is a big–YES!

I know I already hear the comments:

“Bill, all my business is referral business.”

“Internet leads suck!”

“People on the Internet are only window shopping. They never buy anything.”

“Internet only works for the big National guys with lots of money.”

Well, I think Missy Caulk and her Team in Ann Arbor, MI might tell you are headed to the poor house with your stubbornness:

The Missy Caulk TEAM had 9 of those closings in April, making us with about 11% of the total closings. Of the nine closing we had in April, three of the clients were referred to us, and six were buyers from the internet.

My thoughts are, if you are a Realtor and not working the internet you are missing out. Since 77% of all buyers are going on line to look for houses, you must have a STRONG internet presence. When I say strong, I don’t mean a web site. Everyone has a web-site. Your web presence must include PPC ( pay per click) campaigns, and a good follow up system to nurture those initial leads and most important a home search site that is so good the buyers come back again and again.

Is it an important part of a down market mortgage or real estate strategy? At 11% market share Missy Caulk might tell you it is a real estate and mortgage survival strategy, and the 918 Realtors in the Ann Arbor, MI market might believe her:

If you include the entire MLS for the Ann Arbor Board of Realtors, this would include all the way from Brooklyn in Lenawee County to Brighton, down through Western Wayne County, there were 373 closings in 2007 in the month of April and only 82 for April 2008.

This means that out of the 1000 Realtors in Ann Arbor Area Board of Realtors, only 82 got a paycheck of any kind in the month of April.

Notice the other key point she makes: “a good follow up system to nurture those initial leads.” You knew there had to be a least one opportunity to stump for the importance of lead nurturing and a good lead management system.

Congrats to the Missy Caulk TEAM. Keep working the Internet to gain market share and growth in this tough market.

Filed Under: Lead Generation, Lead Management, Social Selling Tagged With: internet leads, Lead Management, lead nurturing, mortgage leads, real estate leads

Big Success is about Stocking Your Private Fishing Hole

April 30, 2008 By

I remember growing up and my Dad always talking about his secret to fishing success. He would say, “Billy, the biggest and the best fishing is in these little private ponds.” He was on to something…

Then, in 1999 Seth Godin wrote his seminal book “Permission Marketing” that touched off so many other innovative marketing mind altering quick-reads. But, the key concept that may apply more today than ever before gets lost in the subtitle: “Turning Strangers into Friends, and Friends into Customers.” This is really the difference isn’t it?

This concept, my friends, is the secret to BIG success.

How Mortgage Brokers Get it Wrong

Often I see sales professionals hop from one hot commodity to the next. You sell mortgages when they are flying off the shelf, then cars, or insurance. You tell yourself, “it doesn’t matter I can sell anything.” Yet, what you really know inside is: I can’t sell anything, I don’t know how to create value, instead I am trying to follow the easy money. Unfortunately, the money probably isn’t really that easy, the pay certainly is not significant, and you find yourself on a treadmill that will definitely drive you mad.

Stop the madness, step off the treadmill, and change your perspective. Stop thinking about making $100,000 and start thinking about stocking a private fishing hole, a pond filled with customers.

How to Start Stocking the Pond

Now that you know you need a stocked pond, how do you start?

If you have been in the business for a while you probably have some fish to seed the pond. Dust off those old files in the corner and get them into your lead managements system (software makes it easier and more scalable, but even index cards can get you started).

If you are new to the business, or even trying to jump start things purchasing mortgage leads may be a good start. Even pond owners buy fingerlings to get their stock their ponds started. However, don’t attempt this until you have prepared your business to work pay per lead business.

Lead Nurturing

Once you have your “feeder fish” past clients and/or purchased mortgage leads you need to start your lead nurturing programs. If you are buying leads, certainly begin by immediately contacting and addressing immediate needs. If you a seeding your customer pond with past clients then make sure you reconnect in a valuable way. Send them a brief update on their mortgage or general state of the market.

Once you have started that initial connection begin to understand how they want to be feed. A key element to this is lead tracking, seeing how your customers react to different approaches and methods. Do they react better to an email newsletter, a blog, regular mortgage check-ups, Twitter? Then design the programs, may be multiple programs, to keep those loyal clients in your private pond.

Keep Stocking the Pond

Once you begin to grow that loyal customer base don’t forget to continue stocking the pond. You will always have natural attrition to your network of customer. That is why it is best to have constructed a system, a mortgage lead management process that can continually fuel your current sales, referrals, and new adds to your stock pond.

Examples of Working Pond Stocking

Lead Generation – LendingTree
Mortgage Industry – Quizzle
Network Marketing (MLM) – Quixtar
Individual – Jason Nation

How do you stock your favorite customer fishing hole?

Filed Under: Lead Generation, Lead Management Tagged With: lead tracking, mortgage, mortgage lead management, mortgage leads, pay per lead

Is Pay Per Lead for Your Mortgage Business?

April 29, 2008 By

If you are a mortgage broker you have certainly received the frequent call from pay per lead mortgage lead providers. They tout high quality, superior ROI, and dramatic growth; which all may be true, but only if fits your business. This type of marketing requires a specific understanding of the marketing used to generate the lead and the unique sales processes that can ultimately convert them consistently. Let’s take a closer look at the factors that may make pay per lead a good or bad fit for you.

Understanding Pay Per Lead Marketing

Pay Per Lead is the ultimate result of a myriad of marketing techniques that produce a customer inquiry or lead, which can be sold to a sales team.

First, let’s look at the marketing that produces a lead. Typically, two primary techniques are used to produce a mortgage lead: email marketing and paid search. Both techniques are highly specialized disciplines within marketing that notoriously require scale (large email lists or significant advertising budget) and efficiency (the simplest adjustments are the difference between boom and bust). In each case, the general principle is to engage the customer with information or advertising creative (marketing speak for a combination of image(s) and value/benefit message(s)) and convince them in a matter of seconds to provide an introductory amount of personal contact data and information about their potential mortgage need.

Second, let’s look at the lead that is produced by the marketing. Now that the customer has provided this information and a lead is produced, what has the lead provider produced? Most simply they have approximately 20 introductory data elements and an indication from the customer they would like to talk to someone about mortgages. However, considering the brevity of these marketing messages and the customer’s low time, risk, and commitment level the percentage of inquires with a high intent to buy is most likely low.

Finally, let’s look at what happens to the lead once it is produced. Although, the percentage of buyers that have a high and immediate intent to buy is low the marketing expense to target and produce any reasonable quantity of  potential borrowers and homeowners with this level of intent is very expensive. Ranging anywhere from $100-$300 per lead produced. Obviously, since the market will not bare that sort of price per lead the monetization of that marketing spend must be distributed. This, of course, is the most basic reason that pay per leads are sold to multiple mortgage companies.

With a better understanding of pay per lead marketing programs and the leads that they produce lets see if this type of marketing program fits you mortgage business.

Multi-State Licensing

Just like the marketing programs and lead providers that produce the leads you are considering buying, your mortgage business needs some level of scale to be successful with Internet leads. This scale begins with the breadth of geography in which you can provide mortgage loans. If you are a single state, or even a single town local lender buying Internet leads is not for you. This is not to say a single individual or small 2-10 loan officer branch is not a fit for lead buying. In fact, in most cases this is a perfect fit. However, make sure that either through your own licensing effort or with the help of a Net Branch affiliation you can write loans in at least 5-10  States.  Fortunately, this is a reasonably low barrier to overcome with approximately 30 States with manageable licensing requirements.

Broad Range of Loan Programs

Prospective homeowners and refinancing borrowers will naturally have a range of financial situations and needs. Consequently, to service the customer inquiries in good faith you need to support several loan options. Attempting to fit every customer into a 30 year fixed mortgage is a recipe for frustration for you and the customer. Really this requirement is not unique to pay per lead programs, but it is important to consider. These inquiries will most likely be sophisticated and knowledgeable borrower and often have more complex past financing or current needs. Therefore, the richer your portfolio of loan programs the higher rate of success you are likely to have.

The good news is that again this is a fairly low barrier to buying leads. Most correspondent and wholesale programs offer a full spectrum of loan programs and capable processing assistance to support your mortgage operation.

Disciplined Sales Process

The level of discipline in your sales process is likely the key determinate of whether pay per lead is for your mortgage business. All of the other factors for success are easily achievable and require little adjustment from the way you do business today. In contrast, your sales process most likely will need to change significantly.

Internet leads come in sporadically and unpredictably throughout the day and the evening. The customer expects immediate and frequent responsiveness. An Internet customer may not be seeking to create a “relationship.” Each of these attributes of an Internet lead will effect how you need to alter your sales process to be effective.

You need a system. Most likely this means lead management software or service designed for mortgage leads, but can be constructed less efficiently from email and spreadsheet tracking. This sales system needs to immediately alert you to new leads, compel you to quickly follow-up, allow you to track contact and customer needs, and enable you to efficiently move the customer to a loan closing with minimal personal interaction.

Pay Per Lead Can Be Highly Successful, But Only If It Fits

Pay per lead marketing programs can be hugely successful in your mortgage business, but only if you are prepared and it fits your business design. If you are veteran loan officer flush with referrals and relationships that have locked you in as the mortgage expert in your community, then Internet leads are probably not a fit. However, if you are an aggressive loan officer, with a young business, and trying to build that solid foundation of referrals for the future buying Internet lead is probably the best path to success.

Filed Under: Lead Generation, Lead Management, Social Selling Tagged With: internet leads, Lead Management, marketing, mortgage leads, mortgage marketing, pay per lead
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