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 Nelson
About the Author:
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 Nelson
About the Author:
It is our intention that these marketing tips will help you avoid common mistakes made by the majority of loan officers. Heed this advice!
Mortgage Marketing Tip #1
Make your advertising and print media more effective by having a headline on everything: letters, greeting cards, ads, everything.
Headlines are what get the reader. They make them want to read more. They tell the reader what benefit he/she will get from reading more. And that’s exactly what you want them to do.
Make the headline powerful and include a benefit.
Examples:
3 things you can do today to improve your credit Here’s something you might enjoy… I started thinking of you when I read this article…
Make sure to include a headline in all your media and it will increase your results.
Mortgage Marketing Tip #2
When you do something for a client, brag about it.
What I mean is, if you accomplish something, make it a big deal.’
“Mr. Hity, I was holding my breath for a while, and that collection on your credit report made it real close, but I fought for you and got the lender to approve your loan!”
That’s a lot better than saying, “Hi, your loan was approved today. Congrats.”
Make yourself out to be the valuable professional you are. Make sure that your clients know exactly what you do for them.
Mortgage Marketing Tip #3
Write thank you notes to people everyday.
This one mortgage marketing tool can make you so much money your head will spin. Everyone loves to be appreciated and acknowledged. Being nice and having manners are a thing of the past. But when you take the time to thank someone, you connect to them on deeper level.
Get yourself some thank you cards from the stationery store and thank people who did something for you today. It could be for anything,
Thank your mailman for bringing the mail up to the office. Thank the underwriter for a speedy decision Thank your client for calling to say they would be late Thank the realtor for the referral.
These cards can make someone’s day. And you really stand out from the crowd as a caring mortgage professional when you use them.
Mortgage Marketing Tip #4
If someone answers your phone for you, have him or her use the following line.,
“He/she is working with a client right now, let me see if he can take the call.”
This does a couple things,
1. Makes you seem busy even if you are not. This shows the client that you are in demand and confirms that he made a good decision by choosing you. 2. Allows you to not talk to people you do not want to talk to 3. Allows you to say to the caller, if you pick up, that they are important enough to you to interrupt an important client meeting.
This might not be a “traditional” mortgage-marketing tool, but it will make you more desirable. And while it will not make the phone ring more, when it does, you will get respect from those on the other end of the line.
Mortgage Marketing Tip #5
CANI
Constant and Never Ending Improvement Do something everyday to improve your business. 1 small change everyday can make a huge difference in a couple months. Implement one mortgage marketing tool at least once a week. At least.
Over the course of a couple years, the results will be dramatic.
Just one small thing is enough. Examples are: · Hanging a certificate of completion on the wall · Hanging a testimonial on the wall · Adding a signature to your emails · Adding a small consumer article to your website
Mortgage Marketing Tip #6
Look at other businesses for great ideas to adapt to your business
Most innovations come from other businesses.
Like the drive thru window. Who knows who started it, but fast food places use it, banks use it, pharmacies use it, and even restaurants are experiencing success with it.
What new services do you use that make your life easier? Can you adapt these to your business? How about emailing potential customers the interest rate everyday if they request it? Or Providing a Post-Closing Kit with items clients will need when moving?
You can use the marketing tools from other businesses too. If you see a marketing piece that really gets your attention, think about how to adapt it and use it in your business.
Mortgage Marketing Tip #7
It doesn’t matter how good a loan officer you are - if you **** at marketing, you will starve.
Knowing how to get clients is infinitely more important than any other knowledge you may attain.
Tony Robbins is not the best NLP trainer out there, but he is the richest because he knows how to market himself.
The Men-Mars, Women-Venus guy is not the best marriage counselor out there, but he sure made a killing in books, tapes, and seminars.
How much money you make has very little correlation to how much you know. Of course you must know the basics, but other than that, it makes very little difference at all.
He who markets best, makes the most money.
By: Ameen Kamadia
About the Author:
Mortgage Marketing Tip #1
Make your advertising and print media more effective by having a headline on everything: letters, greeting cards, ads, everything.
Headlines are what get the reader. They make them want to read more. They tell the reader what benefit he/she will get from reading more. And that’s exactly what you want them to do.
Make the headline powerful and include a benefit.
Examples:
3 things you can do today to improve your credit Here’s something you might enjoy… I started thinking of you when I read this article…
Make sure to include a headline in all your media and it will increase your results.
Mortgage Marketing Tip #2
When you do something for a client, brag about it.
What I mean is, if you accomplish something, make it a big deal.’
“Mr. Hity, I was holding my breath for a while, and that collection on your credit report made it real close, but I fought for you and got the lender to approve your loan!”
That’s a lot better than saying, “Hi, your loan was approved today. Congrats.”
Make yourself out to be the valuable professional you are. Make sure that your clients know exactly what you do for them.
Mortgage Marketing Tip #3
Write thank you notes to people everyday.
This one mortgage marketing tool can make you so much money your head will spin. Everyone loves to be appreciated and acknowledged. Being nice and having manners are a thing of the past. But when you take the time to thank someone, you connect to them on deeper level.
Get yourself some thank you cards from the stationery store and thank people who did something for you today. It could be for anything,
Thank your mailman for bringing the mail up to the office. Thank the underwriter for a speedy decision Thank your client for calling to say they would be late Thank the realtor for the referral.
These cards can make someone’s day. And you really stand out from the crowd as a caring mortgage professional when you use them.
Mortgage Marketing Tip #4
If someone answers your phone for you, have him or her use the following line.,
“He/she is working with a client right now, let me see if he can take the call.”
This does a couple things,
1. Makes you seem busy even if you are not. This shows the client that you are in demand and confirms that he made a good decision by choosing you. 2. Allows you to not talk to people you do not want to talk to 3. Allows you to say to the caller, if you pick up, that they are important enough to you to interrupt an important client meeting.
This might not be a “traditional” mortgage-marketing tool, but it will make you more desirable. And while it will not make the phone ring more, when it does, you will get respect from those on the other end of the line.
Mortgage Marketing Tip #5
CANI
Constant and Never Ending Improvement Do something everyday to improve your business. 1 small change everyday can make a huge difference in a couple months. Implement one mortgage marketing tool at least once a week. At least.
Over the course of a couple years, the results will be dramatic.
Just one small thing is enough. Examples are: · Hanging a certificate of completion on the wall · Hanging a testimonial on the wall · Adding a signature to your emails · Adding a small consumer article to your website
Mortgage Marketing Tip #6
Look at other businesses for great ideas to adapt to your business
Most innovations come from other businesses.
Like the drive thru window. Who knows who started it, but fast food places use it, banks use it, pharmacies use it, and even restaurants are experiencing success with it.
What new services do you use that make your life easier? Can you adapt these to your business? How about emailing potential customers the interest rate everyday if they request it? Or Providing a Post-Closing Kit with items clients will need when moving?
You can use the marketing tools from other businesses too. If you see a marketing piece that really gets your attention, think about how to adapt it and use it in your business.
Mortgage Marketing Tip #7
It doesn’t matter how good a loan officer you are - if you **** at marketing, you will starve.
Knowing how to get clients is infinitely more important than any other knowledge you may attain.
Tony Robbins is not the best NLP trainer out there, but he is the richest because he knows how to market himself.
The Men-Mars, Women-Venus guy is not the best marriage counselor out there, but he sure made a killing in books, tapes, and seminars.
How much money you make has very little correlation to how much you know. Of course you must know the basics, but other than that, it makes very little difference at all.
He who markets best, makes the most money.
By: Ameen Kamadia
About the Author:
Ameen Kamadia, “The Millionaire Loan Officer” is a mortgage consultant, coach and trainer. For more free tips and strategies visit http://www.mortgagebrokertraining.com
How do you compare to your competitors? To you, the differences may seem obvious, but to a Realtor, all mortgage companies seem alike. When you meet a Realtor, they automatically assume that you are like every other loan officer they have met. This can make your loan officer marketing incredibly frustrating.
How can you develop your loan officer marketing plans to change the mind of Realtors? Simple, loan officer marketing has to include brand image as an essential component. What do Realtors see when they look at your flyers, newsletters, postcards, brochures, website, ads and even your business cards? Are you clearly communicating an image?
Click on a competitor website. If you took their name off the site, would it be virtually identical to your site? Unfortunately, all too often the answer is yes.
It does not matter whether you are a small broker or part of a large financial institution. You still have to establish an identity that is unique from your competition. That identity is your brand image.
If you are not sure how to develop your brand image, there are four questions that can guide you through the process.
Is your name recognized?
Are you memorable?
What do you specialize in?
Are you visible in your business?
Your response to these questions helps focus your brand image.
Name Recognition
How well is your name recognized? Are there opportunities in the local media where you or your business is featured or quoted? In an overcrowded marketplace, it can be difficult to establish that recognition.
When you launch your attempt to establish brand name recognition, you can do so through a step by step process. First you start with establishing a reputation for service excellence, then you tell your story, and finally by building your relationships and working to maintain them.
Make Yourself Memorable
Provide visual cues or slogans that serve as a shorthand for your business. You need either a memorable logo or slogan, something that Realtors will see and instantly make a mental connection with your business.
Specialize, Specialize, Specialize
When you go to a doctor for a particular problem, generally you go to a specialist. The same is true for Realtors. They look for someone who specializes in solving their problem, especially when their income is on the line. Direct your materials towards your specialty, show them how you can help them solve problems.
Visibility
Develop your loan officer marketing plan with opportunities that create exposure for you and your business. Attend networking groups, association meetings, listing tours, etc. Making sure that you are visible to the Realtor, sending out materials on a consistent basis, and actively expanding on your advertising helps keep your image alive.
Creating a brand image takes time and effort, but offers big paybacks for you and your business. Devote your time to establishing your brand, and before long, you will have no difficulty distinguishing yourself from your competition.
By: Jeffrey Nelson
About the Author:
How can you develop your loan officer marketing plans to change the mind of Realtors? Simple, loan officer marketing has to include brand image as an essential component. What do Realtors see when they look at your flyers, newsletters, postcards, brochures, website, ads and even your business cards? Are you clearly communicating an image?
Click on a competitor website. If you took their name off the site, would it be virtually identical to your site? Unfortunately, all too often the answer is yes.
It does not matter whether you are a small broker or part of a large financial institution. You still have to establish an identity that is unique from your competition. That identity is your brand image.
If you are not sure how to develop your brand image, there are four questions that can guide you through the process.
Is your name recognized?
Are you memorable?
What do you specialize in?
Are you visible in your business?
Your response to these questions helps focus your brand image.
Name Recognition
How well is your name recognized? Are there opportunities in the local media where you or your business is featured or quoted? In an overcrowded marketplace, it can be difficult to establish that recognition.
When you launch your attempt to establish brand name recognition, you can do so through a step by step process. First you start with establishing a reputation for service excellence, then you tell your story, and finally by building your relationships and working to maintain them.
Make Yourself Memorable
Provide visual cues or slogans that serve as a shorthand for your business. You need either a memorable logo or slogan, something that Realtors will see and instantly make a mental connection with your business.
Specialize, Specialize, Specialize
When you go to a doctor for a particular problem, generally you go to a specialist. The same is true for Realtors. They look for someone who specializes in solving their problem, especially when their income is on the line. Direct your materials towards your specialty, show them how you can help them solve problems.
Visibility
Develop your loan officer marketing plan with opportunities that create exposure for you and your business. Attend networking groups, association meetings, listing tours, etc. Making sure that you are visible to the Realtor, sending out materials on a consistent basis, and actively expanding on your advertising helps keep your image alive.
Creating a brand image takes time and effort, but offers big paybacks for you and your business. Devote your time to establishing your brand, and before long, you will have no difficulty distinguishing yourself from your competition.
By: Jeffrey Nelson
About the Author:
Go to www.loan-officer-marketing.com to get a free copy of Jeff Nelson’s Marketing Planning Guide, a 20-page workbook designed to help you outline a strategy to become an Agent Magnet.
It usually happens that you hook up with a real state agent who promises to give you business. You work day and night at different strategies but never hear back from that agent. Even if you hear back the agent always comes up with some lame excuse. When a realtor promises you of some business there are two possible outcomes of the word. Either he will or he won’t. May be he is a realtor who has not much deals to close to give you business. Running after such a particular is just wastage of your own time. The last possibility is that probably the realtor has lots of business but is hesitant to it to a new untested loan officer like you.
In such a case or in any case it is always good to market your own talent. Make people and realtors aware of what you can do. The best and cheapest way is to provide Just Listed and just sold postcards for your agents in addition to open house flyers customized with attached reports. On this surface this does not sound like much does it?
Every time you give an office presentation you can log into the MLS (If you do not have MLS access, then you need to either get it, or partner with a title company who does have it.) and identify the agents who have deals in process. From there you can download the agents details and information of the home targeted. Then prepare a sample Just Listed or Just Sold postcard along with an open house flyer customized with each agents information and respective listing or sold property.
You can bring these with to the presentations and seminars and distribute to every agent as a sample of the services you can provide. These cards and flyers will cost you nothing since you will be preparing them in-house. This way every average agent who participates will close additional 4-5 transactions per year because of these little cards. They can show them to their buyers, so that they are satisfied of your services.
After that you can send weekly emails to your agents that you are prepared to deliver any just listed or just sold postcards to the office for any new listings or sold properties. If the agent asks for Just Listed cards then you know there is obviously a new client involved.
While you are making these emails and sending these emails every week you will begin to notice a pattern. Some agents will look forward to your calls and have their orders prepared in advance while others will habitually avoid you.
Just to make certain that the agent is avoiding you as opposed to running a conflicting schedule you will want to try and track this person down and schedule a better touch-point each week. If this still doesn’t work then you will know when it is time to move on.
By: Joe Pahl
About the Author:
In such a case or in any case it is always good to market your own talent. Make people and realtors aware of what you can do. The best and cheapest way is to provide Just Listed and just sold postcards for your agents in addition to open house flyers customized with attached reports. On this surface this does not sound like much does it?
Every time you give an office presentation you can log into the MLS (If you do not have MLS access, then you need to either get it, or partner with a title company who does have it.) and identify the agents who have deals in process. From there you can download the agents details and information of the home targeted. Then prepare a sample Just Listed or Just Sold postcard along with an open house flyer customized with each agents information and respective listing or sold property.
You can bring these with to the presentations and seminars and distribute to every agent as a sample of the services you can provide. These cards and flyers will cost you nothing since you will be preparing them in-house. This way every average agent who participates will close additional 4-5 transactions per year because of these little cards. They can show them to their buyers, so that they are satisfied of your services.
After that you can send weekly emails to your agents that you are prepared to deliver any just listed or just sold postcards to the office for any new listings or sold properties. If the agent asks for Just Listed cards then you know there is obviously a new client involved.
While you are making these emails and sending these emails every week you will begin to notice a pattern. Some agents will look forward to your calls and have their orders prepared in advance while others will habitually avoid you.
Just to make certain that the agent is avoiding you as opposed to running a conflicting schedule you will want to try and track this person down and schedule a better touch-point each week. If this still doesn’t work then you will know when it is time to move on.
By: Joe Pahl
About the Author:
Joe Pahl is a marketing consultant and co-creator of the Loan Maker Gold System for Loan Officers. To learn more marketing strategies targeted at loan officers and orginators, please visit http://www.LoanMakerGold.com/ecourse.html
Do you feel like you are stuck with the same unproductive cold calling techniques? Do you feel like you waste time with agents that are not productive, and find it almost impossible to get into see productive ones?
What if you could come up with a technique that would allow you to consistently talk with high-producing agents, without the fear of rejection or high-pressure sales tactics?
One way to this would be to contact several real estate agents, it does not matter if you know them or not. The only purpose of the call is to find out as much about the agent as you can. Introduce yourself to the them and do a simple, short, telephone survey.
Some of the questions you should ask them are:
How long have they been working as a real estate agent?
Do they typically represent buyers or sellers?
What are their typical activities on a daily basis?
What are their short term and long term goals?
Do they feel like they are on the track to accomplishing the goals?
What are some of the obstacles that are keeping them from meeting their goals?
What causes them the most stress in their business?
What do they need to fix it?
Notice that none of the questions are anything other than real estate related. Do not ask any questions related to mortgages or mortgage clients. You will find that instead of having to pry the information from the agents, you will not be able to get them to stop talking.
Most people have one favorite topic of conversation, themselves. There is nothing they like better than to talk about themselves and the problems their facing. Fortunately, most people never run out of problems to talk about.
Ultimately, you will receive several positive comments from the agents:
The agents will say how much they enjoyed having someone listen to them.
When the agent realizes it is not a sales call, which was stated from the beginning of the call, they will immediately open up.
Almost every survey call will end with the real estate agent asking the loan officer for more information about their mortgage services.
The survey technique is a great strategy for several reasons. It allows you to determine which real estate agents are producing at the level you require. You will gain access to the agent in a non-confrontational, non-selling situation. And it gives you an opportunity to lay the foundation for future sales presentations. Save your sales pitch for your second call. On the second call you can show them how you can solve their problems.
Does the idea of cold-calling agents, even for a survey, intimidate you? Consider approaching the agents with the survey through email. Surprisingly, you will get some response from agents.
Develop the survey into a paper-based form and give to buyer agents at closing. You will be amazed at how many agents take time to complete the survey.
When agents take the time to complete the survey, whether over the phone, through email or in person, you know which agents are receptive to you and are interested in establishing a relationship. Your simple survey will open doors, now and for a future relationship.
By: Jeffrey Nelson
About the Author:
What if you could come up with a technique that would allow you to consistently talk with high-producing agents, without the fear of rejection or high-pressure sales tactics?
One way to this would be to contact several real estate agents, it does not matter if you know them or not. The only purpose of the call is to find out as much about the agent as you can. Introduce yourself to the them and do a simple, short, telephone survey.
Some of the questions you should ask them are:
How long have they been working as a real estate agent?
Do they typically represent buyers or sellers?
What are their typical activities on a daily basis?
What are their short term and long term goals?
Do they feel like they are on the track to accomplishing the goals?
What are some of the obstacles that are keeping them from meeting their goals?
What causes them the most stress in their business?
What do they need to fix it?
Notice that none of the questions are anything other than real estate related. Do not ask any questions related to mortgages or mortgage clients. You will find that instead of having to pry the information from the agents, you will not be able to get them to stop talking.
Most people have one favorite topic of conversation, themselves. There is nothing they like better than to talk about themselves and the problems their facing. Fortunately, most people never run out of problems to talk about.
Ultimately, you will receive several positive comments from the agents:
The agents will say how much they enjoyed having someone listen to them.
When the agent realizes it is not a sales call, which was stated from the beginning of the call, they will immediately open up.
Almost every survey call will end with the real estate agent asking the loan officer for more information about their mortgage services.
The survey technique is a great strategy for several reasons. It allows you to determine which real estate agents are producing at the level you require. You will gain access to the agent in a non-confrontational, non-selling situation. And it gives you an opportunity to lay the foundation for future sales presentations. Save your sales pitch for your second call. On the second call you can show them how you can solve their problems.
Does the idea of cold-calling agents, even for a survey, intimidate you? Consider approaching the agents with the survey through email. Surprisingly, you will get some response from agents.
Develop the survey into a paper-based form and give to buyer agents at closing. You will be amazed at how many agents take time to complete the survey.
When agents take the time to complete the survey, whether over the phone, through email or in person, you know which agents are receptive to you and are interested in establishing a relationship. Your simple survey will open doors, now and for a future relationship.
By: Jeffrey Nelson
About the Author:
Go to www.loan-officer-marketing.com to get a free copy of Jeff Nelson’s Marketing Planning Guide, a 20-page workbook designed to help you outline a strategy to become an Agent Magnet.
As a loan officer, you are always looking for an edge. Tools and techniques to find new business as easy and as quickly as possible, as well as strategies to increase your time to more effectively process the loans that are already in your pipeline. However, with all the choices and technologies now available to mortgage professionals, it can be somewhat overwhelming to find the best options to use.
Through interviews and personal experience, I have come up with 5 mortgage marketing tools that will increase your commission checks and reduce your stress while spending less time working on your business. Some of these tools will be obvious but under utilized, while others will be a complete surprise. I hope that this article opens up your mind to new possibilities for marketing and running your mortgage business.
Tool #1: Business cards. Every loan officer I know has more than enough business cards, but I have yet to find a mortgage professional who is really working this tool to its full potential. Your business card is your own little advertisement, and should be given out at EVERY possible opportunity on a daily basis. Give out more than one. Ask the individual to give them to friends and family. Beyond giving them out, you need to make them more unique and valuable. How do you do this? You can make them unique by making it a different color or shape, making it magnetic, glow-in-the-dark, etc. You can add value to them by making it a phone card or CD-Rom, or by writing down a personal message on the back.
Tool #2: Toll-free 1-800 hotlines. Back in the late 1990s, very savvy loan officers were using this tool to the max. Here is how it worked. The loan officer would place a classified ad in the paper offering a free report. All the prospect had to do was call the hotline and leave their name and address. However, the hotline captured the caller’s phone number as well. So the loan officer would call back the prospect to verify the mailing address and build rapport. It was effective then, and is effective now although it seems that fewer loan officers are using this tool.
Tool #3: Autoresponders. Autoresponders have been around for about ten years, but are just now starting to become mainstream. An autoresponder is simply an email program that responds automatically to any email that is sent to it. They now also have the ability of sending an unlimited number of follow-up messages plus managing your database of email addresses. All automatically. The most popular autoresponder service being used is Get-Response (http://www.Get-Response.com). Using the marketing technique for the 1-800 hotline, loan officers are now directing prospects to send an email to their autoresponder service to get the free report. Once the prospect does that, the free report is automatically sent, as well as the follow-up messages. These messages are not only sent automatically, but you can also decide on the delivery times (ex. one day after report sent, 3 days after, 7 days after, 21 days after, 6 months after, a year after, etc).
Tool #4: Loan Officer Websites. It seems like everyone has a website these days. But 99% of loan officer websites are useless. Why? It’s not because they aren’t professional-looking or lack valuable information about you, your company and your products. It’s because setting up a website is just the beginning of the process. If you don’t know how to market that website and get people to it, it serves no purpose. First, you are going to need to place your web address on all of your promotional and marketing materials. Next, you are going to incorporate your autoresponder with your website. So you place a classified ad offering a free report. The prospect emails your autoresponder, and you start your follow-up series to them. Now in those follow-ups, you need to stress the value of visiting your website. Maybe it’s the helpful mortgage calculator. Maybe it’s the additional 3 reports they can download by visiting. You need to really promote your website through your autoresponder series.
Tool #5: Ebay. Everyone knows that you can sell Beanie Babies and antique clocks on Ebay, but some smart loan officers are promoting their businesses their too. Here’s how they do it. They take that same report used in your other marketing campaigns and put it up for sale on Ebay for $.99, or even a penny. The goal here is not to make a profit selling these reports (you will be lucky if you even break even). The goal is to find people who are interested in doing a mortgage loan. Once they purchase the report from you, you then email them the report and offer to do a free evaluation of their mortgage needs. Or, you can send them to your autoresponder and hit them with a series of follow-up messages. This technique works only if you can originate loans outside of your state (which most originators are allowed to do - if you are not one of these, you can still sell these leads to the numerous mortgage lead companies on the Web).
These are certainly not the only tools available to mortgage professionals, but used effectively, these tools can get you more mortgage leads with much less effort. A few of these techniques really use automation to your advantage. The hardest part is setting up the process up initially. After that, they pretty much runs on their own.
By: Joe Pahl
About the Author:
Through interviews and personal experience, I have come up with 5 mortgage marketing tools that will increase your commission checks and reduce your stress while spending less time working on your business. Some of these tools will be obvious but under utilized, while others will be a complete surprise. I hope that this article opens up your mind to new possibilities for marketing and running your mortgage business.
Tool #1: Business cards. Every loan officer I know has more than enough business cards, but I have yet to find a mortgage professional who is really working this tool to its full potential. Your business card is your own little advertisement, and should be given out at EVERY possible opportunity on a daily basis. Give out more than one. Ask the individual to give them to friends and family. Beyond giving them out, you need to make them more unique and valuable. How do you do this? You can make them unique by making it a different color or shape, making it magnetic, glow-in-the-dark, etc. You can add value to them by making it a phone card or CD-Rom, or by writing down a personal message on the back.
Tool #2: Toll-free 1-800 hotlines. Back in the late 1990s, very savvy loan officers were using this tool to the max. Here is how it worked. The loan officer would place a classified ad in the paper offering a free report. All the prospect had to do was call the hotline and leave their name and address. However, the hotline captured the caller’s phone number as well. So the loan officer would call back the prospect to verify the mailing address and build rapport. It was effective then, and is effective now although it seems that fewer loan officers are using this tool.
Tool #3: Autoresponders. Autoresponders have been around for about ten years, but are just now starting to become mainstream. An autoresponder is simply an email program that responds automatically to any email that is sent to it. They now also have the ability of sending an unlimited number of follow-up messages plus managing your database of email addresses. All automatically. The most popular autoresponder service being used is Get-Response (http://www.Get-Response.com). Using the marketing technique for the 1-800 hotline, loan officers are now directing prospects to send an email to their autoresponder service to get the free report. Once the prospect does that, the free report is automatically sent, as well as the follow-up messages. These messages are not only sent automatically, but you can also decide on the delivery times (ex. one day after report sent, 3 days after, 7 days after, 21 days after, 6 months after, a year after, etc).
Tool #4: Loan Officer Websites. It seems like everyone has a website these days. But 99% of loan officer websites are useless. Why? It’s not because they aren’t professional-looking or lack valuable information about you, your company and your products. It’s because setting up a website is just the beginning of the process. If you don’t know how to market that website and get people to it, it serves no purpose. First, you are going to need to place your web address on all of your promotional and marketing materials. Next, you are going to incorporate your autoresponder with your website. So you place a classified ad offering a free report. The prospect emails your autoresponder, and you start your follow-up series to them. Now in those follow-ups, you need to stress the value of visiting your website. Maybe it’s the helpful mortgage calculator. Maybe it’s the additional 3 reports they can download by visiting. You need to really promote your website through your autoresponder series.
Tool #5: Ebay. Everyone knows that you can sell Beanie Babies and antique clocks on Ebay, but some smart loan officers are promoting their businesses their too. Here’s how they do it. They take that same report used in your other marketing campaigns and put it up for sale on Ebay for $.99, or even a penny. The goal here is not to make a profit selling these reports (you will be lucky if you even break even). The goal is to find people who are interested in doing a mortgage loan. Once they purchase the report from you, you then email them the report and offer to do a free evaluation of their mortgage needs. Or, you can send them to your autoresponder and hit them with a series of follow-up messages. This technique works only if you can originate loans outside of your state (which most originators are allowed to do - if you are not one of these, you can still sell these leads to the numerous mortgage lead companies on the Web).
These are certainly not the only tools available to mortgage professionals, but used effectively, these tools can get you more mortgage leads with much less effort. A few of these techniques really use automation to your advantage. The hardest part is setting up the process up initially. After that, they pretty much runs on their own.
By: Joe Pahl
About the Author:
Joe Pahl is a marketing consultant and co-creator of the [url="http://www.loanamkergold.com"]LoanMakerGold Mortgage Marketing System [/url] for Loan Officers. To learn more marketing strategies targeted at loan officers and orginators, please visit http://www.LoanMakerGold.com/ecourse.html
You invest a lot of time and money in developing a loan officer marketing brochure that will get results. But maybe your materials are starting to have the same look and feel as your competition. What can you do to solve this problem?
First, think about why it is a problem. Maybe consumers are not as focused on differentiating loan officers, but Realtors certainly are. If you focus on building a thriving business (one that relies on them), materials that make you look just like everyone else brings it to a dead stop.
Most loan officer marketing brochures have three common mistakes:
Feature Focused Messages
Most basic sales training programs focus on delivering features and benefits as a standard part of the sales process. But this is a huge mistake when developing your brochures for mortgages.
Imagine writing a brochure that focuses on: quality of service, loan rates, refinance plans, origination, points, APR, mortgage insurance, etc. Developing a list of features does not tell the reader anything. In fact, it may only confuse them.
Basically, you are in the service industry. But the service you provide is hard to quantify. To get the reader to pay attention, you need to talk about problems. And even more importantly, you need to tell the reader how you have solved those problems.
Messages with Jargon
Jargon is such a part of our everyday language that we rarely give it any thought. But many readers lack familiarity with much of the jargon used in loan officer marketing materials. To them, brochures filled with jargon come across as pretentious. If they do not understand, they certainly would not be encouraged to ask questions.
The use of jargon also makes it harder for the reader to focus on your true message. They stop or slow down to try to analyze the buzz words. Your goal is to engage the reader and encourage them to read on.
When you incorporate elements into the brochure such as pictures, graphics, charts and quotes, you make the materials come alive for the reader.
Copy Cat Messages
Have you ever seen your competitions brochure and thought you should copy the work to make your own materials more compelling? Guess what, so have a lot of other loan officers. We all do it, using someone else creativity starts us thinking about how we can incorporate their ideas into ours.
But this simple act does the one thing you want to avoid. It makes you seem just like every other guy. In this instance, it is true. You are just like everyone else or at least, the person you used for inspiration.
It may be more challenging to be unique, but that is what will set you apart in a field crowded with loan officers.
A good brochure is a lot like a favorite movie. It has a storyline that keeps the reader going. It shapes perception and makes the reader think. Just as important, it makes you memorable. It will not be long before you stand out from the crowd with your loan officer marketing brochure.
By: Jeffrey Nelson
About the Author:
First, think about why it is a problem. Maybe consumers are not as focused on differentiating loan officers, but Realtors certainly are. If you focus on building a thriving business (one that relies on them), materials that make you look just like everyone else brings it to a dead stop.
Most loan officer marketing brochures have three common mistakes:
Feature Focused Messages
Most basic sales training programs focus on delivering features and benefits as a standard part of the sales process. But this is a huge mistake when developing your brochures for mortgages.
Imagine writing a brochure that focuses on: quality of service, loan rates, refinance plans, origination, points, APR, mortgage insurance, etc. Developing a list of features does not tell the reader anything. In fact, it may only confuse them.
Basically, you are in the service industry. But the service you provide is hard to quantify. To get the reader to pay attention, you need to talk about problems. And even more importantly, you need to tell the reader how you have solved those problems.
Messages with Jargon
Jargon is such a part of our everyday language that we rarely give it any thought. But many readers lack familiarity with much of the jargon used in loan officer marketing materials. To them, brochures filled with jargon come across as pretentious. If they do not understand, they certainly would not be encouraged to ask questions.
The use of jargon also makes it harder for the reader to focus on your true message. They stop or slow down to try to analyze the buzz words. Your goal is to engage the reader and encourage them to read on.
When you incorporate elements into the brochure such as pictures, graphics, charts and quotes, you make the materials come alive for the reader.
Copy Cat Messages
Have you ever seen your competitions brochure and thought you should copy the work to make your own materials more compelling? Guess what, so have a lot of other loan officers. We all do it, using someone else creativity starts us thinking about how we can incorporate their ideas into ours.
But this simple act does the one thing you want to avoid. It makes you seem just like every other guy. In this instance, it is true. You are just like everyone else or at least, the person you used for inspiration.
It may be more challenging to be unique, but that is what will set you apart in a field crowded with loan officers.
A good brochure is a lot like a favorite movie. It has a storyline that keeps the reader going. It shapes perception and makes the reader think. Just as important, it makes you memorable. It will not be long before you stand out from the crowd with your loan officer marketing brochure.
By: Jeffrey Nelson
About the Author:
Go to www.loan-officer-marketing.com to get a free copy of Jeff Nelson’s Marketing Planning Guide, a 20-page workbook designed to help you outline a strategy to become an Agent Magnet.
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