Here’s a video replay of today’s NAMB Webinar. We had some unfortunate technical difficulties, but overall I think the content is excellent and hope it helps answer some of your questions about the new GFE & RESPA guidelines coming down the pike. We’re planning on recording another follow up session in the next few days to answer even more of your questions.
Mark is President of Top of Mind Networks, specializing in turn-key CRM solutions for mortgage professionals. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Abby and daughter Amanda. Life is great.
I was in the car this afternoon listening to a local talk show on WSB 750 AM. The talk show host took a call from a gentleman with some questions pertaining to his mortgage.
Subject Property: Home on 15 Acres. Bought in the early 80’s. Rural.
Loan Info: 30-Year Fixed, 6.5%
Borrower Information: Never missed a payment. Presumably credit-worthy.
The Situation:
The caller had been asking his bank for a loan modification, but had been rejected at every turn because he admittedly was not experiencing financial hardship and had no problem paying the mortgage each month. The talk show host correctly pointed out that there’s no law mandating banks entertain loan mods.
Next, the talk show host, again correctly, suggested the caller consider refinancing his property. The caller explained that he’d already looked at refinancing but the banks were only offering rates of 5.25% (1.25% below where he’s currently) – and they actually wanted to charge him almost $2,000 in fees for the transaction.
Here’s where I felt things got interesting. The talk show host then told the caller to make several phone calls:
1) To his local Credit Union and
2) To the “big box” banks
The talk show host never broached the concept of a break even point on the refinance. She never explained that, yes, there are typically fees associated with refinancing a mortgage transaction and what they cover. Never did the talk show host recommend shopping his loan with local mortgage brokers, even though it’s possible that’s where he’d find his best deal. The safe route was her to send her caller to a “big box”.
This is the mainstream media’s take on the mortgage industry, and it’s happening like this all over the country. I just happened to catch this 5-minute conversation during my 10-minute commute to work. I’m on the record as an ardent supporter of the ethical third party originator (brokers, regional mortgage bankers). I think it’s a critical channel, and when it’s working properly banks and consumers both win. But we must begin re-educating consumers about the value proposition mortgage brokers provide. It’s not up to the mainstream media. It’s up to all of us.
I hope to see you at Mortgage Revolution. We’re going to take our industry back.
Mark is President of Top of Mind Networks, specializing in turn-key CRM solutions for mortgage professionals. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Abby and daughter Amanda. Life is great.
I could write a diatribe on the merits of this case and how finally Big Bank is being properly reprimanded for not taking negotiations seriously…..or I could write reams and reams on why society needs a swift kick in the seat of their pants about personal responsibility. We could argue on whether you have the “right” to re-negotiate a fixed contract that you signed. We could argue that Big Bank has a right to not have to re-negotiate a fixed contract.
But instead, the purpose of this post is to just share this story and let you think. Think about the direction that society is going in. Think about how decisions like these affect your business and your relationships. Formulate your own opinions on who is right, who is wrong, and what is it going to take to get our society out of the messes that we are currently in.
Take some time, sit back, read the story, think, and have a great week!
Doug is a mortgage professional with over 14 years of experience in the industry. In 2005, Doug founded Jacob Dean Mortgage, Inc. and sold the company in 2008. He is still actively involved in Jacob Dean Mortgage as the Vice President of Operations focusing on compliance, licensing, and legal matters. Doug's other passions include flying and aviation. Doug is married to Michele and has two boys, Jacob and Dean, hence the name of the company!
Today someone asked me a question regarding the appropriate or best method to calculate return-on-investment for social media marketing activities. Truth be said, it is something I have often thought and pondered. Subsequently, the more I investigated, the more I found the answer became fuzzy at best.
During my research, I came upon a very insightful AgentGenius.com post by Ben Martin regarding the tricky and slippery slope of calculating Rate of Return in Social Media.
For anyone who has asked themselves the same question, I recommend you read Ben’s post:
Taking this conversation one step further and providing further illumination on the fuzziness (is that a double negative?) of social media ROI, Alex Bogusky, Chairman of Crispin Porter & Bogusky explains:
“You can’t buy or measure attention in the traditional means anymore. Having a huge budget doesn’t mean anything in social media…The old media paradigm was PAY to play. Now you get back what you authentically put in. You’ve got to be willing to PLAY to play.”
This further led me to the question; why try measuring social media like a traditional marketing channel? Because, in essence, an effective social media campaign should touch every facet of business and it should be viewed more as an extension of good business ethics. Which, if done properly, will harvest sales down the line?
Social Media Measurement is Both Art and Science
In many ways, the key issue with determining social media ROI is that it attempts to assign numeric quantities to human interactions and conversations, which in reality is often not quantifiable.
To illustrate this point to our quantitative measurement and metric geeks; in many cases, what you are attempting to do is assign a multiple choice scoring (quantitative) to an essay question that is qualitative in nature. It just does not always work that way.
While I believe ROI calculation is possible over the long haul, new emergent calculation methodologies must be expanded upon. These expanded methodologies must also include a synthesization of the critical qualitative and quantitative elements necessary for the accurate calculation of social media ROI. Quite frankly, I don’t believe we have reached that point and until then, social media ROI is and will remain fuzzy.
In closing, below is a hyperlink to an awesome video highlighting this very point.
Cicerone - cic•e•ro•ni (-nē) - A guide or person eloquent in sharing knowledge and inspiring impactful action.
After twenty-two years and most recently as National Vice President at Wells Fargo; Tony provides rare but powerful evidence it is actually possible for an individual to audaciously jump off the lucrative corporate treadmill to pursue his professional passion...pioneering the development of truly effective, scalable and leading-edge enterprise knowledge transfer solutions specifically addressing the needs of the mortgage industry.
That is why he joined Mortgage U, the nations premier consulting and training solutions company for the mortgage industry.
Before I became a Mortgage CRM guy, I was just another borrower. I remember distinctly a conversation I had with the loan officer I was using to finance a home in 2002.
Like many consumers, I’d been screwed in the past by an unscrupulous mortgage professional. Hey, unfortunately, it happens.
I’d been referred to this guy by our builder. He certainly seemed to know his stuff – but still, I wasn’t 100% comfortable with the process. Rates were highly volatile and I wasn’t sure if I should be floating or locking. My loan officer didn’t seem to have much of an opinion on the subject, which created even more uncertainty. I’ll admit it, I called him about 3x over a 10-day period to try and elicit his advice. During one of our conversations he told me something that still resonates to this day:
“Mark, there are three things I have to offer: price, service and ______ . Pick the two you want most and I can give you those, but you’re not going to get all three.”
I wish I could accurately remember what the third thing was but it’s not critical to my overall point. This seemed somewhat reasonable at the time, although it never felt good. This guy was busy and I was higher maintenance than most of his other clients.
When we stay in a 5-star resort, we know we’re getting top quality, but we’re also paying top dollar. When we stay at Motel 6, we know we’re getting the bare bones, but that’s what we’re paying for.
But where’s the law that states we can’t give our clients an elite product at low prices?
Just because we could charge a lot more for Surefire doesn’t mean it’s the right choice for our business. It’s a philosophical decision my partners and I made in the very beginning: make it easy for people to say yes – and exceed their expectations.
The guy who financed that home for me ultimately got the deal and delivered what he told me he’d deliver.
1) Was I satisfied?
Sure, I was satisfied. Would I become a raving fan? That’s the important question.
2) Did he get the next deal?
Actually no, he didn’t. We refinanced from a 30 year to a 15 year mortgage a couple years later and I started all over again. It isn’t like we don’t have enough mortgage companies here in Atlanta. In case you’re wondering – no, he didn’t deepen the relationship after we’d closed. He didn’t follow up.
The Point:
Your job is not just to win the deal. Well, not if you’re trying to find the holy grail – a residual-based business. Your job is to exceed all expectations as often as humanly possible – not just say that you’re going to do it. I’m not saying that you need to be the cheapest. But I am saying that there comes a point down the road where the client will need another mortgage – and whether or not you get the call largely depends on whether you’re simply meeting expectations or letting your client have their cake and eat it too.
Mark is President of Top of Mind Networks, specializing in turn-key CRM solutions for mortgage professionals. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Abby and daughter Amanda. Life is great.
LinkedIn has long been a successful tool for users to build their online, professional identity. Notice that I stressed the word professional. The status update is a relatively new feature of LinkedIn; and in my opinion has been a very useful tool for starting discussions… up until now that is. LinkedIn is in danger is causing people to tarnish that professional identity with SPAM.
I think LinkedIn totally missed the mark with their Twitter integration. The idea in and of itself is not a bad one. And I think if this new integration was used properly it could prove quite useful. But when setting up the integration you get 2 options: either include all tweets or all tweets including the #li or #in hashtags; and my gut tells me the vast majority of users will select the include all option. So now each Tuesday when I get my LinkedIn updates email I will gradually get less and less use out of it. I typically pay attention to each and every status in this email, and it has been invaluable to me in keeping up with my friends, colleagues, and clients. In fact just last week this very email is how I found out our client, Brian McRae, just landed a spot on the St. Louis Fox affiliate talking about the new Homebuyer Tax Credit. But in the coming months I will see less and less useful updates like this one, and more updates like “@mortgagecrm great article on #mrev” and have no idea what they are even talking about.
And the truth of the matter is that a tweet serves a different function than a status update (LinkedIn or FaceBook). A status update is typically way more descriptive in nature. Any outside party looking in should be able to read a status update and have a pretty solid idea of what the author is talking about. Whereas a tweet is by in large more chaotic in nature; often times containing dynamic information such as a comment directed towards another user or a link to another website. Tweets are also very commonly simple syndication of new blog posts or automated messages. The bottom line is that a large percent of the time if you look at a single tweet by itself you will have absolutely no idea what the author is talking about. And I really don’t want these messages in my LinkedIn email updates. LinkedIn would have been better off either forcing users to select the #li #in option (or at least making it the default option), or just displaying the Twitter feed on that user’s profile page vs. making the latest Tweet the user’s status.
David Orsini is Vice President of Top of Mind Networks and oversees the CRM division of the company. David specializes in building systems that help mortgage professionals maximize their relationships with their client base without having to lift a finger.
In the new world of mortgage disclosures, HVCC and ridiculously overzealous underwriters, timeframes to close a loan have grown. It is not uncommon to have a closing take 30 plus days. But in the midst of all this, we have found some ways to make the process quicker and smoother for us and our clients. Consider the following:
1) Take a complete loan application – while this may seem very basic, it is easy to forget to ask something simple that will trip you up. For example, a recent client of mine that I had refinanced about a year ago worked on base plus commission. I never asked about his income and it turned out that he had switched up the compensation to a slightly higher base and no commission. In this case, he had a 25% reduction in income and all of a sudden didn’t qualify.
2) Ask if either of the spouses have any “side” businesses. With every lender pulling a 4506, even a small loss being counted against someone can trip up a deal.
3) Run the address through USPS to be sure you have the address completely correct. The ripple down affect from the appraisal, title etc…can drive your processor crazy.
4) Make sure your client knows (make a phone call immediately after sending the disclosures) the importance of returning the documents quickly. Go over in detail on the phone with them what you need (I.e complete bank statements etc…)
5) Make sure they know what has to happen to get the appraisal ordered and the importance of getting the appointment set quickly. Many lenders have gone to these crazy email acknowledgements (to transmit the TIL) and unless the client knows to look out for it, there will be delays.
Hope this helps…..more change is on the way. How you adapt on a weekly basis will determine your frustration level as regulation weaves it way into our lives with ever more vigor!
Scott is the Founder and President of Family Mortgage of Georgia located in Marietta, GA. He has grown his business organically over the years by creating "raving fans" instead of "customers". His organic approach to marketing and database management has allowed Scott to build residual income from "mortgages under management".
What do 90% of your daily sales calls turn into? Voicemails.
However, if I were to peek into your sales training routine I am guessing I would see a lot of weight being placed on perfecting conversations with customers face-to-face or on the phone. If you want to have more of those good conversations you need to put a lot more effort into getting your voicemails listened to and calls returned.
Here are 10 voicemail tips that work:
1. Remember the objective is to get a call-back. So, don’t tell them you will call back. That will give them a reason to ignore your message.
2. Don’t leave a web address (URL). This gives them another reason to research without you and never call back.
3. Leave a strong call-to-action. This needs to be something that makes them curious. Something that convinces them you have a better debt strategy than what they are trying now.
4. Clearly and slowly repeat your phone number twice. This is a huge factor in converting these voicemails into call-backs.
5. Make it short. The longer it is the more likely they are to hit delete before they get to your call-back number.
6. After you clearly repeat you number twice leave a quick “P.S.” statement. It should be interesting and make them want to take immediate action.
7. Leave voicemails first thing in the morning and right after work. This shows people you really want to talk to them and doesn’t interrupt important things like work and dinner. This approach will seem more considerate.
8. Disclose clearly who you are and what you can do for them. Don’t be cryptic or mysterious about your services.
9. Have a positive and enthusiastic tone. Your voice should say, “I really want to talk to you because I can help.”
10. Use their first name throughout the message. People love to hear their name and it makes your call less intimidating and less like the collection calls they have been getting.
I guarantee these simple tips with get more of your voicemails returned. Do you have other surefire voicemail tips? Leave them in the comments below.
Troy Wilson brings an extensive knowledge base in Internet Lead Generation to the Top of Mind Blog As the owner of Next Wave Marketing Strategies, Troy works with lending professionals on integrating "aged leads" into their customer acquisition model. He currently resides in Austin TX with his wife Kelly and is the proud father of 2 boys.
If you walk into a company-owned cell phone store to sign up for a contract, what are you worth?
Given the huge gross margins at AT&T and Verizon and the standard two-year contract, I think it’s easy to figure on more than $2000 in lifetime value.
If you ran a business where a customer represented an additional $2,000 in profit, how would you staff? How long would you make someone wait? If staff costs $25 an hour, how long would that extra person take to pay off?
Few businesses understand (really understand) just how much a customer is worth. Add to this the additional profit you get from a delighted customer spreading the word–it can easily double or triple the lifetime value.
So, a chiropractor might see a new patient being worth $2,500, easily. And yet… how much is she spending on courting, catering to and seducing that new customer? My guess is that $50 feels like a lot to the doc. Instead of comparing what you invest to the benefit you receive from the first bill, the first visit, the first transaction, it’s important to not only recognize but embrace the true lifetime value of one more customer.
Write it down. Post it on the wall. What would happen if you spent 100% of that amount on each of your next ten new customers? That’s more money than you have to spend right now, I know that, but what would happen? Imagine how fast you would grow, how quickly the word would spread.
Here’s how you’ll know when you’ve really embraced this–a good customer at your podiatry practice (or supermarket or tax firm) walks out the door in a huff and you turn to your partner and say, “There goes $74,000.”
Seth Godin blogs every day here and I think everyone should subscribe to his RSS feed. He is, quite simply, the best.
Mark is President of Top of Mind Networks, specializing in turn-key CRM solutions for mortgage professionals. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Abby and daughter Amanda. Life is great.
On several occasions I have had this dialogue with clients:
Client: I’d like to grow my purchase business by developing more worthwhile Realtor relationships.
Coach: Great goal! What are you willing to do to make this happen?
Client: I’m willing to do anything! I’m just not sure what I should do.
Coach : Ok, are you open to some suggestions?
Client: Yes.
Coach: How about looking up listings of top producing Realtors in your area and popping in on their open houses to introduce yourself?
Client:Hmmm, I don’t know. It didn’t work for me in the past and I really don’t want to spend a Sunday going into open houses when the Realtors don’t want me there, anyway.
Coach:Ok. How about scheduling yourself to attend some Realtor Association events or Chamber mixers?
Client: No, because there are always other loan officers around trying to get the attention of the Realtors. Too much competition.
Coach: Well, what if you partnered up with your Title Rep. and put together a presentation on recent changes in the industry and resources that Realtors should be aware of to help them stay abreast of these changes?
Client: I just don’t think that will work. Every loan officer out there is trying to get into Realtor offices and most of them aren’t even interested in what’s going on. All they care about is whether you can give them a referral or not.
Notice any patterns here?
Now if you’re wondering, if I, as a Coach, would simply force them to do these things anyway, the answer is HECK NO!
Regardless if something has worked for others, and that could be hundreds of others, asking someone to do something that they have a negative attitude about, will NOT bring about the desired results. In fact, it will create a self-fulfilling prophecy, i.e. “It won’t work.” “They won’t talk to me.” “Nobody will care.”
The good news is that after some attitude re-tooling (yes, attitude is a tool) ANYONE can create new opportunities and successes for themselves, even out of what once was seen as a bag of old tricks.
Brian Tracy, entrepreneur, sales guru and motivational coach says this about attitude:
This attitude of looking for the good in every situation, of looking for the advantage or benefit in any problem or difficulty, is the way that the most successful people think most of the time. Superior people, leaders in all areas, face the inevitable ups and downs of daily life on the way to their destinations by taking complete control of their thinking and their emotions. They do this by choosing the words they use to describe a situation, their tone of voice, and their behavior in dealing with problems.
So what’s YOUR attitude about getting out there and creating new business for yourself?
Tips to Re-tooling Your Attitude
Here are 3 re-tooling techniques that you can help your attitude to help you to succeed!
A Morning Dose of Positivity How long has it been since you listened to a motivational CD series on the drive into work? Pick up the latest CD by your favorite positivity guru and use your commute, whether it’s 10min. or an hour, to accelerate your attitude.
Check Your Attitude at the Door Every day, before going home from work, take 2 minutes to complete the following sentence in your journal or notebook: “Because of my positive and willing attitude, today I was able to………”
Partner-up with a Positivity Pal Ask a teammate or peer to engage in 30 consecutive days of positivity with you. Agree to send each other one email each day where you communicate one positive experience from your day and one, specific wish of positivity to your partner. It could look something like this:
Dear Daniel: Today I made it a point to get out of my office. I had a very productive lunch with a Realtor partner of mine. It was well worth my time and effort and so much more pleasant than I thought it was going to be. I wish that you have a surprise encounter with someone tomorrow that leaves you feeling GREAT!
Remember, everything starts from the inside – out. Giving yourself the gift of a positive attitude today will directly influence whether opportunity knocks once, twice, three times or ever knocks at all.
Victoria is Founder of I Can Coaching Company and I CAN Plan. She is a full-time Business Coach, working exclusively with Mortgage and Real Estate professionals, helping them to define and implement winning, business-growth strategies, systems, and habits.
Mark Green's RSS Feed
Today someone asked me a question regarding the appropriate or best method to calculate return-on-investment for social media marketing activities. Truth be said, it is something I have often thought and pondered. Subsequently, the more I investigated, the more I found the answer became fuzzy at best.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=305dab70-b4b4-4142-8ae3-4b8a3e4d29d6)
