The recent Federal Economic Stimulus package and now the more permanent Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 is opening a whole spectrum of new people you can help. These programs are not simple for consumers to understand, but therein lies the opportunity. Put on your mortgage adviser hat and get to educating. [...]

If you are a mortgage broker and you haven’t already figured this one out I will state it bluntly–no one trusts us! Sure there is an enormous amount of finger pointing going on. From Wall Street to Main Street everyone has an opinion on who got us here. Guess what? The customer thinks it was [...]

The visionaries behind The Cluetrain Manifesto prophetically summed up our current market opportunity in the first of 95 theses–”Markets are conversations.” The folks you want as customers are increasingly expecting conversations. Your challenge? Figure out how to make an introduction. And I am going to give you the secrets–step-by-step…Listen FirstSince markets are conversations, the nice [...]

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 [...]

I will officially confess my affinity for productivity porn. I have read David Allen’s Getting Things Done and enjoy the pearls at 43Folders and LifeHacker. I have even been known to fill a few moleskins in my day. Luckily, I appear to be in good company with Marc Andreessen, whose modified GTD is closer to [...]

Social Media, Community, and Conversational Marketing is all the talk in tech circles. It is not just a geek topic. It should be effecting your mortgage business. Stop sending out handwritten fake personal notes and mindless email blasts to your clients.
Get personal, get real, and get social.
Chris Brogan, a social media mogul (wouldn’t you say [...]

I have been thinking about a resource like this for months. Being in the business of providing lead management software to hundreds of sales forces, I am constantly ask for resources on how to get the best out of lead management and build top performing sales teams. So, here it is the top 100 answers [...]

Ah Ha! Got your attention. Believe it or not there might be a loan producing strategy in that headline. Two great pieces this morning on how specializing on niches in your mortgage and real estate businesses might be the down market strategy you have been looking for:

Real Estate agents serving dog-lovers, eco-friendly, and nudists 
Mortgage brokers [...]

Anyone in the mortgage business, especially during the latest refinance boom, has learned a habit of teasing borrowers with payment. It is certainly not a horrible practice if done with integrity. It is certainly what every home owner or prospective home owners want to know and can most quickly grasp.
However, when it gets down to [...]

Chris Johnson, an Ohio mortgage professional, just spent the early hours of his Tuesday morning increasing his pipeline closing rate.
The technique was simple, but powerful. He sent a quick and courteous email to all of his applicants in underwriting or processing, letting them know that he was working hard for them, he cared, and letting [...]