When you place brochures from every mortgage company side by side, you can’t help but notice the similarities. Each piece mentions that they have every possible loan program available, proven & experienced professionals, fast & friendly service, a list of documents needed to process the loan, a promise of individualized attention and a commitment to professionally serve the client.
This is fine and dandy for consumers, but what about your brochure for real estate agents? If you’re giving to agents the same brochure you give to clients, does it help you stand out? Probably not - and even if you do have a separate brochure for agents, does it avoid the 3 most common mistakes?
Loan Officer Marketing: Brochure Mistake #1 - Feature-Driven Messages
This is the colossal mistake with most brochures. Here’s a quick list of features often mentioned in mortgage brochures; loan rates, APR, quality service, mortgage insurance, points, refinance, payments, purchase, full service, originate, retail, interest-only, option-only, ARMS, free quote, to name a few.
Features don’t tell the reader anything. Sometimes it only confuses them more about your service. When an agent reads your brochure, they’re reading it for one reason. They want to know, “What’s in it for them.” If you’ve been in sales for a length of time and have been a good student of it, you know that people are interested in hearing benefits, not features. But wait, there’s a twist.
If you sell widgets, your brochure follows an old school formula. It describes what the widget is (feature) and than tells the customer what the widget will do for them (benefits). Pretty simple, isn’t it?
But you’re in the mortgage business. Or better said, you’re in the service business. Wherein lies the caveat, when you sell a service, it’s invisible. You can’t touch, smell or see it. Even though describing the benefits an agent receives from using your services is helpful, it’s not enough.
If you want your brochure to make a difference, the kind of difference that gets noticed by agents, than describe the problems they have that you can solve for them.
It’s a strange phenomenon, but dreadfully true. Agents are more interested in reading about their problems than reading about the benefits of your services, or features for that matter.
Loan Officer Marketing: Brochure Mistake #2 - Use of Jargon
Jargon is like, “Swahili,” a confused, unintelligible language. It’s words that you understand, but leaves an agent clueless. Jargon comes across as obscure and pretentious. Instead, keep things in simpleton terms. Your brochure should focus on expression, not impression. Using buzzwords, stylish words or phrases can come off as pompous.
Jargon slows down or stops the reading process. Avoid it by writing your brochure in a casual voice, as if you’re having a conversation with the reader. In English class you were taught to write very formal, remember, your brochure isn’t a term paper, it’s an opportunity to persuade and shape one’s perception.
Make use of pictures to communicate, they’re only worth a thousand words. Agents understand with their eyes. Graphs, charts, photos, and pull quotes are examples of conveying or supporting key points.
Everyone’s brochure mentions good customer service. As an alternative, use a flow chart to demonstrate your service, and than support it with satisfied client testimonials.
Loan Officer Marketing: Brochure Mistake #3 - Me-tooism Disease
Don’t take offense - most of us have this disease. You see what might be working for someone, so you copy it for yourself. It’s easy to grab the leading competitor’s brochure and copy some or all of it. Years ago for instance, rate sheets were a hot marketable brochure. You could distribute a few hundred and get a respectable response. Well, when you have hundreds of loan officers copying it, guess what happens? It wears out, but we keep using it.
Me-tooism isn’t worthwhile. Look at how much mail you’re still getting from other mortgage companies trying to get you to refinance. And they use the same formatted letter as everyone else. The letter specifically states, in bold print, how much you could be saving, and includes an advertised low rate. Sometimes it’s printed in the form of a fictitious check ready to be cashed.
Don’t be afraid to be different. It’s easy to use what others have and challenging to come up with originality. But it’s originality that can earn the biggest reward.
The Power of a Well-Crafted Brochure
Like a good movie plot, a well-crafted brochure sets the storyline in motion. It shapes an agent’s perception before you sit down with them - curtailing rejection and lessening resistance. It provokes thought in their mind, making you more memorable. And it helps you stand out and be noticed among a huge crowd.
By: Jeffrey NelsonAbout the Author:

As the entire world succumbs to the historic unraveling of the financial markets, borrowers across the UK turn to
bad credit loans to rescue them, explains Andy Hygate from
www.loansbadcredit.org.uk. In their time of need these special lenders offer loans, mortgages, and credit to people who have damaged credit history, lower credit scores, or a lack of assets.
They are not new to the financial world, but remain relatively unfamiliar to most borrowers because during happy economic times most consumers do not require a bad credit loan. But as the credit situation worsens, bad credit lenders are now coming to the forefront to offer solid financial assistance as more conventional lenders retreat - leaving their customers to fend for themselves.
Banks are afraid to lend because they first have to solve their own credit problems. These days confidence in their ability to manage money has deteriorated so much that they are even refusing to lend to one another, and the governments of the world have to give them handouts.
The UK government has had to inject up to £37bn into the Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS, and Lloyds, and central banks around the world are having to pour similar cash into their own banks to keep them from failing.
The UK Treasury recently unveiled a wide-ranging emergency rescue plan that will cut shareholder dividend payouts. That can hurt shareholders, including pensioners and those companies who manage retirement funds for their employees.
The government will also buy up a majority stake in RBS, but the bailout will cost UK taxpayers as much as £20 billion. Meanwhile Lloyds will get a package worth as high as £17 billion, and taxpayers may wind up also paying for a government bailout of Barclays to the tune of nearly £7 billion.
At the same time, UK Treasury officials are negotiating with the Ambassador of Iceland, to try and figure out a way to recoup millions of pounds that were invested by British local authorities in Icelandic banks that have since collapsed as that nation totters on the verge of outright bankruptcy.
Although the stock markets may rise - or fall - the fact remains that those living in the UK face a looming crisis that may go from a recession into a harsh depression. Already companies are starting to cut back on their overheads by trimming the workforce, and social service support systems for newly unemployed citizens are feeling an increased strain on their own limited resources. While ordinary consumers struggle to make ends meet, lenders continue to make it harder to borrow at affordable rates. Nationwide raised its mortgage rates considerably, despite the Bank of England base rates being cut by half a point.
Britain’s second largest mortgage lender also said that all new borrowers except for first-time buyers must come up with a down payment deposit of at least 15 percent, and first-time buyers must provide 10 per cent. Nationwide used to routinely lend up to 90 percent of the value of a property, and gave first timers loans for up to 95 percent. Those days are over, though, and the number of lenders willing to offer inexpensive loans is dwindling fast.
But providers of
Loans for Bad Credit have not suffered the same kinds of severe losses that their traditional counterparts are experiencing. For that reason these bad credit lenders are able to continue offering a variety of different loan products to help UK homeowners mortgage or refinance their houses, buy Cars, pay tuition, or pay off high interest rate credit cards.
By: Andy HygateAbout the Author:
Andy Hygate writes for Loans Bad Credit, a leading UK provider of Loans for Bad Credit
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Most experts say that your housing costs should not be more, and preferably less, than 30% of your income. Is that a reasonable figure for most Canadians? The answer is a resounding “no”.
The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) prepares annual research on the number of work hours in one month, at an average salary, required to bring mortgage payments down to 30% of income. Based on a 37.5 hour workweek, there are 162.50 available work hours in a typical month, yet in cities of all sizes, the hours required to reach the magical 30% figure exceed those available, sometimes by a huge margin:
? Vancouver - 469
? Calgary - 301
? Toronto - 299
? Hamilton - 213
? Saskatoon - 206
? Halifax - 195
? Montreal - 193
? Ottawa - 187
What does this tell us? Many Canadians are faced with housing costs well in excess of the recommended 30% cost-to-income ratio. Money that is spent on housing cannot be spent on other essentials. For low and middle-income earners, this situation can lead to the accumulation of debt as families try to make ends meet while balancing huge housing costs.
In the worst-case scenario, debt problems can spiral out of control, leaving many people overburdened and facing serious financial troubles.
Bad Credit and Bankruptcy
When trying to get their finances in order, many people seek to use the equity in their homes as collateral for debt consolidation. The problem is, those deemed a credit risk or, in severe cases, having experienced bankruptcy, are often shut out by traditional lenders.
Mortgage bad credit loans have become increasingly necessary in today’s economic climate. Housing prices are off the charts, and the costs for everything from food to gas have increased substantially. It is very easy for people to become overwhelmed while just trying to stay afloat financially.
How Mortgage Bad Credit Loans Work
People seeking mortgage bad credit loans are often in dire straits. They have usually exhausted all possibilities of borrowing from traditional lenders and need another way to help them with either a 2nd mortgage refinance or a home equity loan.
Enter private lenders. There are many individuals and companies in Canada that are willing to take on the role of mortgage lender. Private mortgages, whether for a primary or secondary mortgage or refinancing, are an option for people with very large debts.
About Private Mortgages
Private mortgages involve risk, so they come at a cost. A private lender will typically charge between 10% and 13% interest. This level makes the mortgage game attractive to investors, while still making it possible for those with bad credit to obtain a second mortgage.
A private mortgage is not necessarily a long-term fix. Because of the higher rates, most borrowers use private mortgages to re-establish their credit rating. After a solid period of repaying on time, most borrowers can then approach a traditional lender again with an improved credit rating and a better chance of success.
Connections to private lenders for mortgage bad credit loans are typically made through mortgage brokers. As with any higher-risk financial decision, be sure to check the lender’s record carefully before securing a loan to ensure that they are ethical and reliable.
By: Crystal MateAbout the Author:
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