mortgage sales

Oct 31
0

Consumer Habits Have Changed So Too Must your Business Plan

By | Mortgage Business Tips, mortgage coaching | No Comments

Business is good, right? The phones are ringing, people are buying homes. You’ve got more refinances than you can shake a stick at and things don’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. But like any great run, at some point, the sprint will turn into a jog and the jog will turn into a slow walk and the last thing you want to have happen is to allow your business to suddenly stall and cramp-up!

While Mortgage Professionals have been enjoying the influx of business, things have changed overnight that will affect HOW they go about earning new business from referral partners and direct consumers in the immediate future.

Here’s what’s changed:

  1. The number of people engaging in new technologies has sky-rocketed due to the simple fact that they were FORCED to in order to earn a living, remain healthy, learn and be educated and maintain relationships with loved ones.
  1. Consumer sensitivity and sensibility can be likened to a hairpin trigger and because of this, marketing, advertising, scripting, messaging is being scrutinized & scrubbed of any language and imagery that may offend.
  1. The amount of time people are spending on social media has doubled, if not tripled during the Pandemic, creating more opportunity than ever before to expand one’s brand and marketing footprint exponentially.

What was once a “go-to” business earner for you may now be null and void. Where you’ve been marketing yourself may no longer have as many visitors and viewers. What was once deemed, “an offer of value” to your consumers may now appear trite or worse yet, offensive.

 

“People shop and learn in a whole new way compared to just a few years ago, so marketers need to adapt or risk extinction.”

–Brian Halligan, founder & CEO of HubSpot

What does this all mean? OPPORTUNITY!

Keeping  these changes in consumer attitudes and habits in mind while developing your 2021 Business Plan, will put you well ahead of the curve, create huge separation between you and your competition and ensure you keep your pipelines percolating with new business throughout the new year.

First, I highly recommend reading the following article which is rich with statistics regarding social media, digital and Internet trends and can greatly aid you in determining how and where to market. Global Social Media Research Summary July 2020

Next, here’s a great list of various business growth methods & modes, as well as, marketing items you may want to revisit, revamp/re-tune, or re-imagine when building your 2021 Business Plan:

Learn to enjoy the discomfort of CHANGE!

Remember, your business is always changing, so being flexible, accepting change and tapping into your creative genius is simply part of being a successful entrepreneur. You’ve done it before and you can do it again!

“To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.”-George Santayana

May 30
0

Do You Manage Loan Officers in Need of a Boost?

By | Mortgage Business Tips | No Comments
helpupHave a few of your loan officers fallen off the track in terms of their sales, engagement and activity? Try pulling them back on course by offering to act as a power production facilitator. Every sales person needs a boost now and again. Be the type of leader willing to provide structure, ideas, the space and time to help others to help themselves.
Here’s an example of how to immediately kick-start and facilitate a successful Power Production Group:
Invite your select loan officers-Send out a recurring meeting invite to meet twice a month for a period of 6 months. Express in your email invite that you feel they are on the cusp of greatness and you want to help push them over that edge and unearth solutions for what may be holding them back from hitting their goals.
Communicate expectations- Each loan officer who agrees to participate in the Power Production Group will NOT focus on excuses, frustrations & complaints, but rather they will focus on solutions, accountability, sharing, possibility and opportunity.
Ask for commitment-Agree to become a part of this group ONLY if you can commit to the meetings, leave your frustrations/excuses at the door and be open and willing to exchange ideas and try something new.
Share your agenda-The agenda should include, but does not have to be limited to the following: brainstorming networking strategies, sales strategies, building referral relationships and marketing ideas, follow-up strategies & scripts, hands-on training for tools & technology, time management best practices and organizational tips, product & industry knowledge.
Feb 13
1

Business Growth Opportunities You May be Ignoring

By | Mortgage Business Tips | No Comments

IgnoringIf we aren’t regularly evaluating our business growth efforts, our modes and methods, then there is a high likelihood that we are ignoring the obvious and have some pretty good lumps on our noggins from hitting that brick wall over and over again.

It’s natural to want instant results, an easy path, comfortable, daily routines and absence of confrontation, BUT growth isn’t experienced without some measure of strife and challenge and that goes for both our personal and professional lives.

What you are ignoring the most, in your business, is likely the place where you will find your best opportunities for growth.

Here is a list of things I have found mortgage professionals ignoring the most, regardless of age, tenure in the Industry, or personality type:

  • Speaking in public
  • Past Clients
  • Asking for referrals
  • Social media
  • Follow-up activities
  • Tracking Marketing R.O.I.
  • Building new referral relationships
  • Networking

If you find yourself having an instant gut-level response to any one of these items, a strange tingle of guilt or annoyance, it may be just the thing to start warming up to immediately.

When you uncover what it is that you are specifically ignoring, commit to taking one action, regardless of how small, every single day to fully embrace this new task.

Keep the task in front of you, write it on your white board, set a daily alarm on your iPhone, ask your Coach, mentor or a peer to email you daily to report on the task! After 30 consecutive days, assess your return. Look for the opportunities that sprang from your efforts.

I’ll make a bold prediction… Your daily commitment to this one thing that you’ve been ignoring the most in your business WILL bring you some aha moments, results and growth!

If I’m wrong, then just hit me up for a complimentary coaching session! I’m committed, are you?

 

Sep 06
0

Stay Connected, Stay Social, Stay Relevant with your Leads

By | Mortgage Business Tips | No Comments

buildingtrustNobody will refute that a lot of blood, sweat and tears goes into gaining leads from Realtors, past customers, your website, Zillow and other lead-generating sites.

At first, each lead is treated like a sudden jackpot and you pour plenty of excited energy into each one and this produces results. Then you get busy. Then you get choosy. Then you even get a little bit annoyed at those, “not-so-hot” leads…you know the ones with overly complicated financial scenarios, the ones you called once or twice and never heard back from, the ones you pre-qual who go totally M.I.A. These leads just hurt your brain and so you conveniently leave their contact info and some scribbled notes in a drawer or folder some place and they never hear or see your name again.

The key nowadays to converting more leads is to stay connected and to stay social. And, even if that lead never becomes ready to buy or refinance for whatever reasons, drawing these leads closer to you out of the gates will gain their referrals to their very-ready friends, family and co-workers and why will they do that?… because they will feel like they know, like and trust you.

P.S. you cannot achieve the, “know, like and trust you factor” just with an email drip campaign.

Here are three tools to easily stay connected and social (And, RELEVANT, by the way)with every lead you gain:

Let’s say all you’ve got is a cell number and a name, you can always take that info and upload it to SlyBroadcast.com, which is a great time savings tool, and then send out pre-recorded messages to that entire group of long lost leads so they can hear your voice. A quick tip about leaving messages and using SlyBroadcast type messaging-Always keep your messages brief, very upbeat and speak like you’re already well-acquainted. Again, you want to bridge that, “know, like and trust factor.”

Always immediately look for your leads on LinkedIn and Facebook and connect there so you become familiar to them on a regular basis through your own postings. Again, this draws them closer to you on a more personal and social level, helps to build-up the trust factor and creates no extra work for you.

Lastly, rather than emailing, try mass texting tools like Mighty Text for Androids (there are apps for iPhone, too!) where you can send one general message out to an entire group from your smart phone. The message will look like an individual, personal text to your receivers. Texting is an immediate communication avenue, much more so than email and absolutely will gain more response.

Voice broadcast tools like, SlyBroadcast.com, connecting via social media avenues and utilizing mass texting services are all superior time-savings tools to bringing the leads you’ve worked so hard to get, closer to you (with much less effort/time) and will absolutely increase referrals, as well as your lead to close conversion ratio.