The mortgage industry is highly competitive. And for the most part, mortgage brokers and loan officers are on their own for prospecting new clients, so generating great leads is critical.
Generating fresh leads on your own is the best way to ensure your success. Companies who generate their own leads experience as high as 50% more sales-ready leads and spend 33% less to get them. In this article we give you 5 techniques to find free leads. Put these tips into action and watch your career take off in the right direction.
5 ways to generate new mortgage leads.
1. Build the best website possible
Great content is key to bringing in fresh mortgage leads. Think of your website as a fisherman’s net. Cast it out to catch as many fish (leads) as you can. If you use the right bait, you will gather the most fish. What are people attracted to when they are thinking about a mortgage? First, they are seeking information. So, give them what they want.
A website can provide blogs, videos, images, charts, and newsletters. Offer a free newsletter in exchange for their email address, and you’ve gathered your first leads. These people are interested. They are also shopping right now. They may be in the fact-finding stages, but they are a fresh lead. You have an opportunity to win their trust by giving them answers and thorough information.
Sometimes, it is considered a bad thing to give too much information without forcing a call or meeting. These high-pressure situations can be off-putting to many. The truth is that people don’t want to feel pressured. In fact, high-pressure sales tactics are considered a form of bullying that is frowned upon in today’s sales world.
People love to get answers to questions without pressure. They will be pleased to have access to information with a pushy salesperson. Make contacting you easy, and mortage leads will flow as part of your business plan.
2. Focus on your niche and find your mojo
Niche marketing helps you to whittle your list of leads down to those that are most likely to choose you. Market your ability directly to them. Focusing on a particular loan type will help you give all your attention and knowledge to the people who are looking for that loan. If home mortgages are your expertise, focus on that niche.
This hyper-focused marketing plan will increase your closing rate on the deals you propose. By focusing on one niche, you’ll soon become the expert in your area and will be able to generate a nice flow of free mortgage leads.
When you focus on a niche you:
A. Become a leading authority on that topic
- Provide more value to your clients
- Avoid spreading yourself too thin
- Have less competition
Paring down to a niche is done by taking more than just the types of loans into account. Also consider your market by:
- Gender – Who makes the buying decisions? (It’s often women)
- Age – Do you want to focus on retirees or first-time buyers?
- Income – Can you help low income families?
- Hobbies – Golfing community sales only?
- Habits – Focusing on outdoor enthusiasts looking for raw land?
- Location – Catering to the city loft buyers or country farm buyers?
- Relationship status – Can you help single moms more than others?
** These are just the beginning of all the ways you can slice your market and choose your slice.
3. Write an article for the local paper
Call the paper ahead of time and arrange for your writing to appear somewhere in the newspaper. As a professional in your field, you may want to get an op-ed piece printed? Any local newspapers or magazines will suffice. Getting your name in print, where it appears as the authority on a mortgage loan, is all that is important. Show you are an expert by:
- Reference research, case studies, and other known authorities.
- Add links to other authoritative sites within your article.
- Use quotes that you can cite to lend credibility.
Write an article on something specific to those in your area and tell them why they should value your opinion. Let everyone know how to find your website and reach you. This advertising is not just free, but it also paints you as an authority and expert in your field. If you are not a proficient writer, consider hiring someone to do the work for you.
Everyone wants to talk to the expert. People inherently want the best. It’s human nature to ask for the “manager” because people want to speak to the person in charge. Make yourself the person in charge.
4. Work with local real estate agencies
While it seems to be a no-brainer, many mortgage brokers forget to reach out and build alliances to local realtors. Most people will look at homes for sale via publications and websites, before they contact a potential lender. Why not make it easier for them by working through their real estate agent to get a plug?
Yes, it takes time to develop this sort of lead building because you have to get to know the agents. They like to recommend mortgage brokers who go the extra mile and get their clients the financing that they need. It is a win-win for them and you when a home is sold and you’ve provided the loan. Show agents that you’re trustworthy, and don’t forget to recommend them to everyone you know as well.
Using these alliances for shared advertising is also a way to reduce your total cost of advertising. When the full-page ad in the newspaper is reduced by half by splitting it with the local real estate agency, you can put more toward your bottom line when deals are closed. These alliances also go a very long way in building your reputation, which means a great deal in smaller towns and cities.
5. Get organized and capture leads more effectively
Being a highly organized person is not just necessary to perform at your best, but it is also part of the image that you portray. When people see you as disorganized, they trust you a little less. Your professional image, as well as your organizational skills, is of the utmost importance.
Webchat by Podium
Make the best possible impression by utilizing technology such as Podium. Their Webchat feature, reviews, and text messaging inbox help to bring in leads for mortgage brokers. When integrated with your website, it’s a powerful tool, and they are offering it for free. Free tools aren’t always great tools, but this one is. Take advantage of it while it is still available because you’ll kick yourself if you miss out.
Podium Interactive Platform Puts All Your Messages In One Place
Podium Interactive platform can help you bring every facet of your business together too. You can manage all your social media account messages in the same place as your website chat. Keep track of conversations with ease so that you never forget a name or the context of a conversation.
You can quickly and easily look up the conversation you had with someone because it will all be in the same place. This means that you are better prepared and organized at all times.
Get Great Reviews By Using Podium Reviews
Your mortgage clients can also leave you reviews more easily with Podium and you can prompt them to do so through text messages that they simply click on to leave their review. When you have a lot of reviews, your business will rank higher in search engines, which also goes toward building your reputation, website traffic, and lead generation.
Gather a lead’s phone number right at your website. Text information and have conversations with them. You’ll even be able to send them documents via text messaging, enabling you to gather loan information and documents so that closing deals is faster and convenient.
Tools that bring your mortgage loan business into the modern era are necessary to set yourself apart. Too many companies forget to take advantage of modern technology that is available to them. Customers love technology that makes things easy. Match their enthusiasm for technology and leave competitors behind. Lead generation will become far better when you use these tools.
Putting It all Together
Leads are your bread and butter. They must be gathered and used as quickly as possible. The best way to know your leads are fresh (hot) is to gather them yourself. When you are able to find a way that generates hot leads that you can act on immediately, you’ll close more deals and waste less time.
Don’t forget to use niche marketing. KarmaSnack uses the term ‘deep niche marketing’ and talks more in-depth about how to go deep into your niche, saving you time and money by finding the leads that will pay off right from the start. When it comes to leads, you want to cut through the fluff and get to the solid leads. Spend some time learning more about this as well.
These above techniques, with a focus put on niche marketing, are all pieces of a bigger puzzle that, when put together successfully, can catapult your sales far beyond what you’ve done up to this point. None of these techniques are hard, they just take some time and effort. Don’t forget to use Podium because it’s free and will help you balance it all. You’ll begin seeing results in just a few weeks, so begin your plan of action today.
