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chadweber

Mortgage Marketing - Things Are Changing…

by Chad Weber on April 6, 2009

Think back to 3 - 4 years ago. What was it like being a loan officer? What sort of mortgage marketing strategies did you have in place? Judging by what I’m told when loan officers call me up desperate for a marketing solution, many had very little in place, or at least they didn’t have to try so hard!

Things certainly do change in evolving markets don’t they? But there’s something else you need to be aware of. Something that you need to be ready to take action on. One of the first questions I like to ask when loan officers tell me how tough the market is, is this:

“What sort of mortgage marketing are you doing to generate more business?

I can easily sum up the answers I get:

Direct mail

Cold calling

Met with a realtor

Flyers

Newspaper ads

It’s quite rare that I hear anything other than these 5 responses. Did you spot a pattern in the 5 marketing strategies above? That’s right, they are all what we would consider “traditional” mortgage marketing! Direct mail, cold calls, newspaper ads etc. These are traditional methods that loan officers flock to when they need to “get back to the basics.”

I applaude those who take action instead of sitting around twiddling their thumbs and staring at the phone with an intense gaze hoping to somehow influence it to ring. (Ring darn-it!)

But there’s a hidden problem here. Things are changing. What worked 10 years ago, or even 3 - 4 years ago is becoming less effective in todays market. See, a very important statistic was released early this year. That statistic showed that “2008 was teh first year that more people used internet search engines to find local businesses than the Yellow Pages.”

Wow! All along the Yellow Pages have been the 1,917 pound gorilla on the block. Nothing touched the Yellow Pages. But studies reveal that for the past number of years, Yellow Page use has been slipping, while search engine use has been growing.

It only makes sense though. A static peice of paper doesn’t tell me much. A website on the other hand can answer most of my questions through text, audio clips, video clips, active links, blogs, feedback from clients and much more.

People in general don’t trust the way they used to I’m sure you’d agree. This is even more true in an industry such as ours that has a black eye, egg on its face, and more to deal with. People need reassurance before just picking up that phone.

It only makes sense that your mortgage marketing plan should incorporate a plan to give this reassurance. Online marketing makes it easier to deliver. One of my latest projects has been to call up happy clients of mine and ask if they’d be willing to leave me an audio testimonial. I have about 10 of them now.

In adding them to my site, (Will be complete shortly) now visitors can listen to the voices of my happy clients instead of just reading words that skeptical visitors are probably imagining “I bet he wrote those himself… These sound too good… Probably had his brother write that one…” Ever found yourself having those type of thoughts?

I know I have as well. It’s natural to be skeptical. In todays market, you need to push harder to cater to what you know people are concerned about, and understand the way they are shopping. This means getting online, and this means establishing yourself as a credible expert.

Mortgage marketing does not need to involve a lot of spending. With more and more people going online to do their shopping, you need to make sure you’re there to be found. Are you?

CW - Mortgage Marketing

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Mortgage Broker Training and Time Travel…

by Chad Weber on February 17, 2009

Mortgage Broker Training + Time Travel = interesting blog post that you gotta read!

What if you could just start all over? What would you do differently? What if you could go back in time, and shake some sense into yourself? Laugh all you want, but as I was sitting back and vegetating this past weekend (I had a busy week - cut me some slack!) when Back to the Future came on. I enjoyed the show as a kid, so I decided to watch it again to see if I would still enjoy it.

The week previous, I had picked up a book from Borders called Time Travel in Einsteins Universe. An amazing book that details some of the most fringe scientific theories today regarding time travel, (Go figure) and what it would would be like based on current understandings. It’s a lot more fun to read than I’m making it sound…. No really!

So what has this got to do with loan officers, mortgage brokers, and lead generation? The combination of the book, the movie, and a whole lot of Cherry coke and wine ice cream (Wine ice cream sounds gross doesn’t it? It was better than I anticipated. You should try it sometime) got my imagination burning: “What would I do differently in my career if I could go back in time?”

While some things never change within a sales and marketing industry, some things have evolved quite a bit. If I were a loan officer training to get started ASAP, here’s what I would do:

1. Start building Realtor relationships the right way

    When I first started working with Realtors, I was a machine. Nearly 40 Realtors in 90 days is a heck of a lot of agents to have. But would I choose to go that route a second time around? Yes and no. Yes I would still use the same techniques to market, and yes I would still want as many agents as I could handle. The no comes into place when we look at why there were so many realtors.

    See, as I got started, I was not aware of that all important figure that can be found at NAR: “Around 70% of real estate agents close fewer than 4 transactions per year.” I learned this the hard way! By the time I reached the 6 month mark, I had taken that group of 40 agents and filtered it down to 25. I reduced the number further still as time went on.

    I took my lumps and learned from them. Real estate referral business was my primary source of business, but I had to learn how to be picky. If I had an opportunity to start over, I would be much more selective and target my efforts to market to agents who were closing at least 3 – 5 million per year in production. If I’m going to work my rear off to add value to the relationship, I want to know without a doubt that they have something to reciprocate with.

    2. Create and use a database/follow up system earlier

      I laugh when I look at how much business was wasted in my early career. They’re not laughs of joy though. More like chuckles of the near deranged as I contemplate just how oblivious I was to the large number of loans just slipping through the cracks as my antiquated hand written records laughably served as my follow up system.

      It’s not that I was unaware of what a database was, or how valuable it could be. I simply thought I was “too busy” to be bothered with the details of selecting a system and writing the follow up messages. It wasn’t until my 3rd year in the business that I got serious about follow up, and I’m still angry with myself!

      In today’s market where every single lead matters - you cannot afford to keep ignoring follow up! There are 139 excuses not to setup a follow up system, and only 1 reason to set it up: Because it will make you more money. There… Is that a good enough reason for you?

      I’m bombarded with all these question and reasons for not proceeding with a follow up system. “But I don’t know what my follow up emails should say” is the most common.

      Something is better than nothing as long as the email does not say “I’m just checking up on you,” (Shudders) that’s a quick way to get people to stop reading your emails. Put pen to paper imaging what you would want to hear from a service provider… That’s a start.

      3. Online Marketing

      What Mortgage Broker Training issue would be complete without at least 3 “Here’s what Chad regrets” examples? I was for all intents and purposes a ‘technophobe’ until 2003 - 2004. Even after setting up my first website, I did not truly understand the finer points of online marketing.

      I was one of those guys who thought that online marketing began and ended with setting up the site. After paying over $1,500 for a website, and $150 per month for nearly 6 months without a single lead to show for it, I decided that I needed to find out what was wrong. (Notice I didn’t scrap it because it wasn’t working? I decided to troubleshoot!)

      My biggest revelation came from reading how important it is to get good search engine rankings. I thought “Wait a minute… I’m already on the front page of the search engines!” I went to Google, Yahoo, etc, and typed in the name of my site, and poof! There I was!

      It took a phone call to my “SEO Guy” to learn what now seems an embarrassingly simple concept. If I could go back in time, I’d shake myself while saying “Hey Chad! People don’t already know who you are! They’re typing in keywords such as st louis mortgage, st louis loan officer, and st louis real estate! Those are the words you want to be on the front page with!”

      If I could push that restart button, I’d have my website up and running at least 1 year sooner, and have it optimized for search engine marketing right from day 1. I would then use it as a tool to funnel in dozens of extra leads each week, and show off those leads (I would target home buyers, not just refi leads) to my local real estate community to attract the heavy hitters earlier.

      Ahhhh… What if, what if… Would you like to know what the real great part of this article is? You can learn from my mistakes and take action right here and right now.

      We may not be able to jump back in time, or restart the cycle, but we can sure as heck make certain that we’re not looking back a year or 2 from now frustrated that we wasted a bunch of time not doing things the smart way!

      This issue of Mortgage Broker Training is officially over with! I hope you learned something. If not. Well, if only I could click the restart button and rewrite thi….. Naaaah…


      Mortgage Broker Training

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      Loan Officer Websites - A Lead Generator?

      by Chad Weber on February 5, 2009

      I get asked about loan officer websites quite often. As more and more people make the shift to shopping online, it’s become all but impossible to ignore! So what do you need to be aware of if you’re planning on setting up your own website?

      Super Important Loan Officer Websites Tip #1

      A website is not a marketing strategy! A website is an electronic storefront or sales person for you. Unfortunately, without people stopping by to chat with your new found sales person, it’s useless! Most loan officers spend good money to purchase a website package. Excited at the thought of all this new business they’re about to get, they are soon disappointed when none is forthcoming!

      What’s happening? There’s no traffic! See, when someone goes to a search engine to type in what they are looking for, your website is most likely not showing up. This means no traffic, no leads, no closed loans.

      Super important Loan Officer Websites tip #2

      If you’re not on the front page of Google, then you’re missing out - big time! Yahoo ROBO, DMA, and other recent organizational research studies confirm that 91% of individuals do NOT click past page number 1 of the search results! Is your site on the front page of Google? If not, then 91% (Or more) of the targeted prospects searching for your services are going elsewhere… Not a good way to generate business.

      Super Important Loan Officer Websites Tip #3

      Is your website a pre-written purchased package? I’m sorry to tell you, but chances are a lot of money was wasted! See, one of Google’s primary criteria for ranking websites is “unique content.” It only makes sense, as how valuable would a search engine be if it kept displaying results full of the same material over and over?

      If you have a pre-written website that was also purchased by other loan officers as well, then your chances of ranking well on the search engines just dropped into the basement. This is coming from Google’s mouth, not mine. If you’re violating this rule, then you need to rethink how badly you want business from the web.

      There’s lots of business to be had, but you need to know what is required to rank high on the search engines for proper keywords. Want to learn more about this concept? Here’s a great video I have prepared - Click the Loan Officer Websites link below to watch. (About 10 minutes) :

      Loan Officer Websites

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      Mortgage Loan Marketing - What Makes Blogs So Effective?

      by Chad Weber on January 22, 2009

      Mortgage loan marketing:

      Did you know there are an estimated 175,000 new blogs created every day? There are more than 1.4 million new blog posts on an average day as well. Why so much activity? What is so darn special about blogs that so many people invest time by the bucket full’s to create these curiosities? (These statistics are a year old by the way)

      Because they work. There are inherent benefits to having a blog. But to understand these benefits, we first must understand what a blog really is. Have you ever asked yourself that question? What makes a blog -  a blog?

      A blog is by definition, a website. The difference in this website (Or “web log” as the term was coined) – is that it is dynamic. A blog is designed to allow the author to update quickly and easily. These updates are referred to as posts.A loan officer can manage his/her mortgage loan marketing strategy with hardly more than a push of a button. (No HTML code to remember)

      To further contribute to the dynamic nature of the blog, commenting from readers is typically made available. What this means is that you now have 2 way communication between the author and the readers.

      Why is this so important? Here comes the “money” part of this post! This is so important because search engines such as Google absolutely love new content. You may have heard the phrase “content is king” when it comes to marketing online. This is true, and very powerful for those of you serious about generating business on the web. As we get deeper into 2009, mortgage loan marketing will evolve - More people are just “googling it” to pre-shop and research financing options…

      Let’s look at this from the search engines perspective. You have 2 websites. 1 website is static, and the 2nd website is a blog with a fair amount of posting and commenting going on. How do they compare in the eyes of the search engines?

      1 – A static site changes little. (Typically) – The search engines have no incentive to visit when the site stays the same.

      2 – A blog is dynamic. With regular posting, new content is added frequently. Commenting from readers also helps increase the popularity of the site. It doesn’t hurt that with proper setup, each post can be viewed as a new “page” by the search engines, and thus improves the blogs standing. Search engines stop by frequently to gobble up the new content.

      Does this mean a blog will always be superior to a standard website? No it does not. But when it comes to quick search engine rankings, a properly used blog is a powerful tool.So let’s look at the original question again. “What makes a blog so effective?” When it comes to mortgage loan marketing, the answer lies in the fact that you can get your site to the top of the search engines much quicker, and arguably much easier since a blog is designed to make adding content simple.

      Till next time!

      CW - www.loanofficermarketinglab.com - Loan Officer 2.0 training coming soon!

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      Welcome to 2009! Now Get to Work!

      by Chad Weber on January 6, 2009

      Welcome to 2009! As I struggle to retrain my tiny brain to write 09 instead of 08, I eagerly look forward to what this year will bring! I hope all of you are putting together a solid marketing plan. I know it seems to be the same song and dance year after year, but what are you going to do differently this year?

      I want you to take some time and examine your current situation and ask a tough question. That question is “Why?” Why am I in this situation? What behaviors, habits, and events have worked together to land me into my current situation - be it good or bad?

      Straight answers work best here, even if it’s not what you want to hear or admit. I’ll give you a little peak into a few of these “self chats” I’ve had with myself. I put everything on paper or into files on my PC, so I can always go back and find my habits. Here’s one from a few years back:

      Negative habits:

      - Too many activities going at once

      - Find it difficult to say ‘no’ to new ventures

      - Organization of files

      - Too much time spent online

      - Checking and responding to non-critical emails

      - Work too many hours

      Those were the negatives I found in myself. (Stop laughing at my admission that I work too much!) I’m sure this is by no means a conclusive list. haha - But I had to come to terms with the fact that those seemingly small issues were working together to limit my income and productivity. Here were the positives I came up with:

      - Take action quickly

      - Not afraid of cold calls or prospecting

      - Creative with marketing and sales approach

      - Proficient with online marketing

      - Straight forward with prospects

      Now I had to find a way to enhance my positives and minimize my negatives. Of course when doing this exercise I expanded on each item so that all the facts were on the table staring me in the face. Once you’ve identified your positives and negatives, you will be better equipped to structure your marketing plan for 09.

      It is of vital importance that your plan for 09 addresses your negative attributes/habits or else you’ll simply repeat 08 as the same mistakes are made over and over again. Been there done that…

      Make it a great year!

      CW - Loan Officer Marketing Lab

      Loan Officer 2.0 - Dominating the Search Engines

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