internet generated leads

Ginoayn · Joined: 15 Jan 2006 Posts: 6 Location: CA

It looks like this is one of the most popular topics in this forum. But for some reason, people keep trying to post ads and as a result the string gets "locked" =)

Anyway, because of my need to contribute at least a little to this forum (and beat a long dead dog to death yet again) I rewrote this in the hopes that it seeds some useful responses from those more experienced then I.

The best way to find quality lead sources is word of mouth. Ask around for legitimate companies. Try to find out what lead sources the best “shops” are using. If all fails, yahoo/google “mortgage” or “home loans” ect...and see which vendors are putting up the money to buy the best “keywords”.

Solid internet generated lead sources should hover around 4-6%. The quality of the lead source makes all the difference.The lead provider should be able to explain how the lead is generated. (If they cant name their sources, especially when it comes to affiliate marketing, then you might want to question the value of end product/lead) Genuine leads have to come from somewhere..right?

Test with companies that don’t ask for long term commitments. The ideal partnership should be a win/win. Lead sources that sell quality shouldn’t have to lock their partners down with a long term agreement and should be confident enough to earn your business over time.

“Good leads aren’t cheap and cheap leads aren’t good” since vendors are businesses too, they would be foolish to undercut themselves without a good reason.

Real time leads are preferable because it implies less competition and a more interested customer. The hope is that your not calling on a customer that has already been bombarded with dozens of calls. Go with a two week test campaign and see if you like the contact, app and close ratios.

Hit your leads hard, fast and often and use some sort of email autoresponder. Larger shops/national lenders have call centers that call till contact is made. Smaller shops and Brokers have more products to offer.

When you speak to your leads/prospects, ask when and where they filled out their online forms and make sure its consitant with your vendors explained marketing techniques.

Run simultaneous tests with a couple of reputable “vendors” and track your results. After a month or so, evaluate your “cost per funded loan”, average loan size and overall ROI against your other providers and methods. Maximize volume with the lead source and methods that performs best.

A fraction of a percent on the CPFL can make or break the campaign. If your not getting an acceptable ROI, try to work with your account rep and seek improvement. If the account rep is not willing to work with you, ask for another or simple drop the vender! Look into “lead management systems”, either in house or out sourced, to help maximize the potential of your campaign. One of the most established LMS costs as little as 25 cents per lead/ with a $500 set up fee.

A good LMS can help your LO’s organize and work the leads and allows you to track performances of both your LO’s and various lead sources and speed up/expedite your returns.

Regardless of which “partners/vendors” you decide to stay with, continue to track your numbers through out the life of the campaign to make sure quality doesn’t decrease over time.

Never leave all your “eggs in one basket” and don’t be afraid to increase volume with the best performers/ and decease volume with the poorer vendors.

There is learning curve to all this. I’ve seen solid/established brick and morters stumble a bit till they hire experienced talent or painfully climb the curve.

Guys/Gals, what’s your experience?

chow · Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 12:57 pm Post subject:

did you see this? :roll:

http://www.brokeruniverse.com/grapevine/thread/?thread=235839

contents:

Buying Live Transfers? Wow are you GETTING SCREWED!!!!!!

Then it goes down hill from there.

Ginoayn · Joined: 15 Jan 2006 Posts: 6 Location: CA

Ginoayn wrote:
When you speak to your leads/prospects, ask when and where they filled out their online forms and make sure its consitant with your vendors explained marketing techniques.

I agree Chow. Theres lot of bad vendors out there.

So if you find a good one (or two) tell your friends and if you sniff out a bad company, tell even more people!

chow · Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 11:48 am Post subject:

I just never had much luck with buying leads. We had a in house telemarketing area at my first LO job and it worked fairly well because we could QC them better.

I caught a couple of people selling leads to me and a few other brokers at the same time. It's pretty bad when we all walked in the door to their office together and formed a united group of mad people- who all paid for exculsive leads and all three of us had the same names.....Of course we all asked for our money back and proceeded to tell everyone about it.

You'd have to be a complete idiot if you thought a broker from the south side of Indy never talked to the other brokers in the hood......(we are social people here in Indy)

BryanMar01 · Joined: 07 Feb 2006 Posts: 8 Location: Santa Ana, CA

Internet generated leads = waste of time and money. I recommend you invest the money in microsoft publisher and hit the streets. It will be harder in the beginning, but will pay off down the road.

Guest · Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 4:22 pm Post subject:

BryanMar01 wrote: I recommend you invest the money in microsoft publisher and hit the streets. It will be harder in the beginning, but will pay off down the road.

Good point Bryan,

Organically generated inbounds and referrals are always the better way to get customers though the doors, however I know of quite a few medium to larger brokers/shops who make a good living thought internet derived leads.

Im not fully convinced that this form of marketing is an across the board “waste of time and money.”

National lenders seem to make it work with their "advantages/economy of scale.” Smaller shops seem to make it work as well. I personally know an independent shop with 30 employees, half of which are loan officers, deriving 100% of their business from the top tier lead providers.

A conversion rate of 4-6% makes this work. If you can track the numbers well and the unit economics makes sense, then it can be a viable supplement to any in house advertising program

mortgage_lenders · Joined: 29 Aug 2006 Posts: 2

Here are some suggestions for you:

Tip #1. Make yourself memorable. Give yourself a nickname and use it, shout into the phone and be zany. “This is Mike the Mule calling! It’s freezing cold here in Duluth! I’m calling for Richard Pope!” Why does this work? People naturally associate names and images, beat them to the punch and give them your chosen persona. The shouting is tied to enthusiasm, the phone saps a tremendous amount of enthusiasm from your voice, overcompensate; the crazy random line is again meant to lay the foundation for them remembering who you are (you will not be the only one they speak to about a mortgage) and forms the basis of conversation if need be for those people who like to chit-chat. By the way, never chit chat yourself, time is money, see Tip X for more on this.

Tip #2 . Leave a message. If when you call on a prospect you end up in a voice mail box, speaking to a roommate or spouse, ALWAYS, leave a message. Why? Two reasons, no one else seems to, they have some irrational phobia about doing so it feels like, capitalize on this insecurity and secondly, assuming the lead is semi-exclusive your not doing yourself any service by letting the competition get their name in the prospects mind before you do (see tip # about creating a memorable impression).

Tip #3. Make it seem like a coincidence that you are calling. A casual, well timed ‘coincidence’ is better than a rigid sales call, always. Do not call and say,” Mr. Jones, I am calling because I have received information indicating you are interested in lowering your monthly mortgage payment.” Call and say, “Mr. Jones, I was calling homeowners in the area to tell them about the new opportunities in the residential mortgage refinance market, have you thought of refinancing as a way to fund a child’s college education, etc.” Why the roundabout way? Let me explain this by way of an analogy. If your best friend told you your next door neighbor had a crush on you, would you approach this opportunity by waltzing up and saying, “Jim says that you have a crush on me and I’d like to take you to the movies.” No! You’d take this knowledge and use it in a more suave manner (at least I hope you would) You’d hopefully use this information to set up the moment, to make the other party feel as though they are in control and thereby not be intimidated or put off by your advance; you would say, “Polly, I’ve been meaning to check the creek for crawdads, care to join me? If you happen to be older than 12 years old this example probably is not appropriate, so make up your own scenario.

Tip #4 . Do not put a $10 an hour kid on the phone to call your leads. Do you let your 16 year pimple faced next door neighbor kid drive your Corvette? I hope not. Same principle, a lead is valuable, when you get a prospect on the phone; you do not want to lose the opportunity by having some kid mess it up. PS I love kids, they are great, put them on calling $2 1981 Volvo leads, not $15+ Cadillac leads.

Tip #5. Quote a rate if asked. Tell them something, quote whatever crazy Negative Amortization product you have and tell them you do not necessarily recommend it, but use it to illustrate the point that you have 100’s of program and options available. Nothing turns a borrower off by your ‘refusing’ to quote a rate.

Tip #6 . Offer a Guarantee. If the prospect tells you that s/he is already working with a broker, you need to put some cash on the table and offer a $50 dinner voucher (or something to catch their attention) if you can’t save them an additional $50 a month on their payments.

Tip #7. Ask for Referrals on the first call. Might as well try, can’t hurt.

Tip #8. Setup an E-signature enabled website to obtain the borrowers signature authorization while on the phone, enabling you to run their credit. Get their SSN on the first call. Be proactive, do not say, “Well, think it over and I’ll call again tomorrow.” Offer to drive over right then and there and tuck their kids into bed. Enough said.

Tip #9 . Be in a rush. People like to chit chat for hours if you let them, that’s why they have a 589 FICO and 6 60 day late mortgage payments, they would rather sit and talk than act. Be the opposite, the worst that happens is that you seem too fast a talker, too bad; they’d probably be more headache than they are worth in terms of a payday, on to the next. Remember, keep moving, the worst thing is to get bogged down with an unresponsive borrower who is not in the same rush you are.

Tip #10. Recognize that the prospect will lie to you. Surprised, I’m sure your not. So what do you do? When you sense your being lied to, call them on it, “Mr. Jones, lie to your spouse, your doctor, the IRS, I do not care, but do not lie to me!” If they do not come clean, you do not want top be working with them, it will be far more trouble than its worth.

Summation: So, I hope that this spurs some ideas in your own mind how to improve your sales skills. Remember, a lead is a valuable ‘boost’ to facilitate the sales process, but it will do you no good if you lack competitive products, superior sales abilities and a value adding service mind set.

Nuked the potential ad at the bottom of all of this.
~Haplo

marketmaker · Joined: 22 Aug 2006 Posts: 6

lo's need to work their leads- any of them and constantly be looking for new ways and sources. The ability to have a pipeline full, is two fold. Getting the refi business and a steady mix of purchase. The purchase are usually a longer process, but will always pay off in the long run

carlo@GetLeads · Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 51 Location: Sunny San Diego, CA

my advice is just to close your mortgage shop, go back to work and just let bank of america, wamu and all these major banks do the loans. that should save you stress and worries.

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