Mary Eyler and Mark Green

Truth be told, for years I felt I had a pretty darn good understanding of effective marketing practices and CRM. However, over the last eight months Mark Green has put me back into the student seat and has schooled me in the finer points of marketing. Quite frankly, I and 99% of the people in the mortgage industry are “old school” and Mark  is an illustration of what the future of marketing excellence holds.

While Mark believes in technology, marketing frameworks and all the other forms of traditional marketing the gurus teach us, he also believes they only represent the tools enlightened marketers utilize to give freely of themselves. Further, he believes:

• Giving first creates professional and personal dignity
• Giving opens up people to real meaningful and trusting relationships
• Giving can miraculously change both your professional and personal life
• Giving works at personal level and radiates positively outward in attracting the people and clients that are a best fit
• Only givers get
• Only givers reach and maintain a truly fulfilled, powerful, positive, fruitful and deeply meaningful professional career

Mark goes out of his way to introduce people whom he feels should know each other professionally, Best of all, he expects NOTHING in return. For example, yesterday, Mark introduced Mary Eyler and me, because he knew Mary was looking for a service I provided and also thought our professional standards aligned.

Long story short, Mark was Yoda and I was Young Skywalker.

BTW – After twenty plus years in the mortgage industry, I can tell the difference between a poser and the real deal and Mary Eyler is the real deal!

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:

Measuring Return on Investment in Social Media Marketing is fuzzy math

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.

Social Media ROI

Subsequently, I came across an excellent article articulating the do’s and don’ts of football college recruiting. As I read, it became evident the same principals applied to our industry. While the tactical approaches described differ, the principal transfers efficiently.

I’m not going to break each step down, because frankly, if after reading the article and it does not pop out immediately, you probably should not be a sales person in any field.

Take the time to read this article:

Do’s and Don’ts

“You can have everything in life you want if you’ll just help enough other people to get what they want!”  -

                                           -  Zig Ziglar

The response received from last years post “Is Your Attitude Killing or Driving Your Business,” has been both positive and overwhelming. After reading the many emails received regarding this post, I knew a follow-up post was needed; a sequel of sorts.

While it’s evident attitude plays a critical role in your real estate or mortgage career, the next question is:

What are you going to do once you have an attitude congruent with success?

The answer lies in focusing on the activities you are most passionate and long-term provide you the greatest return on your investment (ROI).

Interestingly enough, the three most valuable assets a person possesses are their:

1. PASSION(s)
2. REPUTATION and
3. TIME

How you allocate and focus on these assets will be the key determinant in your long term sustainability and success.

Most people are surprised when I don’t include money, knowledge, technology, loan programs, formal education or connections as one of the two most important assets. Yet, after careful consideration and thought, I’ve found along with the appropriate success attitudes, a persons passions, personal/professional reputation and time are the most important factors in leveraging a successful real estate or mortgage origination career.

What do passion, reputation and time management have to do with focusing on activities?

Everything, if you are planning on building a sustainable and enriching career as either a mortgage planner or Realtor. Additionally, your passions, reputation and time constraints must be paramount when developing the action steps in your business plan.

In the post “Developing Your Mortgage Business Plan,” Mike Baker provides further insight into both the mechanics and importance of developing a business plan. In it, he goes on to explain:

“Any vision can be achieved if it’s thought out in advance, and broken down into bite-sized pieces.   You must have a vision first, and then you can break it down into workable parts.  Those workable parts will then be the map that guides you toward your goals.”

The bite-sized pieces described above are the actions necessary to fulfill the vision!

In addition, every super-star mortgage planner I’ve ever met has a written business plan.  They know what goals they are focused on and how they plan on accomplishing them.

Now ask yourself the following questions. Have you:

1. Selected the referral source targets you plan to focus on?
2. Written down the activities you plan to do each day/week/month or quarter that provide the greatest ROI in both accomplishing your goals?
3. Selected goals that are in alignment with both ethical and professional standards (in addition, does it pass the gut check)?

Remember, if you do not go back and accomplish each of these you have no right to advertise. Save your money and your energy and start building your business the right way. It is the ONLY WAY off the proverbial roller coaster and treadmill.

To close, the true litmus test that verifies whether or not your actions are focused on your clients needs is accomplished by asking yourself a simple question – What percentage of your business is referral based?

If you’re doing it right, your percentage of referral business will increase as your business develops. If you take any new originator (less than one year in the business), they may have a range of 30% to 50% referral business compared to the superstar originators who have between 80% to 100% referral business. If you’re not spending thousands of dollars per month advertising and marketing your loan programs such as sub-prime lenders who have an inside/in-house phone-sales force, then your focus on developing relationships with these referral based clients is critical to your success. In addition, this holds even for in-house loan officers. Developing a high-touch campaign and keeping in touch with past clients could double or triple your business with referrals.

“Customers don’t make up stories about your business. It is you who creates them – the customer simply retells them. How the story is told and what the content is, is up to you.”

                                          — Jeffrey Gitomer

From my perspective, it means more than partaking in simple short-term hedonistic pleasures. It also means:

1. Giving back to your family, community, state, nation and world.
2. Not living a lifestyle dependent on a continued income stream equal to your income at its highest point or continued boom period.
3. Planning for business cycles and reduced revenues.
4. Setting aside reserves for both expected and unexpected expenses in the future.
5. Saving for your retirement.

The Hot Shot Lifestyle

If you think you need to live large to attract business, think again. What attracts long-term loyalty and business is a valuable offer delivered to the right prospect with confidence, integrity, and consistency. On the other hand, when a boom period ends and your lifestyle/expenses are dependent on boom period revenues, it is almost impossible to attract business when you are desperate for a sale.

It’s important to remember your lifestyle choices can underscore your commitment to an authentic and connected relationship with both your clients, referral partners and co-workers. Your lifestyle must be congruent with your personal goals/objectives while lived in awareness and respect of the well-being of those you serve. Living these choices and letting them inform how you show up in the world can be a compelling aspect of your personal marketing formula. Most importantly, it distinguishes your offer in your chosen niche(s).

This type of continuous and planned contact point marketing is frequently referred to as “Drip Marketing” or “Nurturing” since it is much like the automatic watering system used in advanced gardening and crop operations. Done correctly, continued contact with clients and prospects builds credibility and strengthens relationships. Since a loan originators long-term livelihood depends upon a consistent annuity based referral base, it serves great dividends to “nurture” those individuals most likely to provide you with a consistent annuity flow of referrals. That is where a smart and professional drip marketing program comes into play.

Yet, what is required of a professional “in-it-for-the-long haul” loan originator to successfully make the transition from a vanilla loan originator to that of a professional mortgage advisor?

The answer lies in a career trend – which started in the U.S. in the eighties with a select small group of pioneering loan originators (thank you very much) and has spread across the country during the last ten years. But first we must ask, “Why should the professional loan originator consider this conversion?”

The first reason is image.

Truth be told, the average loan originator is perceived as a pushy individual, with only limited knowledge, who is far more interested in receiving a commission from selling a mortgage product than in benefiting the customer. That image is false in most cases, but the solution is not to “cry foul” but to alter that image.

The second reason is market pricing pressure.

The profit margins in loan origination products have steadily declined over the last few years, and with this price change has also resulted in a reduction in the percentage of commission and expense allowances. The double effect of these changes is to drastically reduce the compensation per funded loan to half of its prior amount, or perhaps even less.

The third reason is market competition.

Now all the banks, credit organizations, insurance and financial companies want to offer mortgages as a commodity product – one which does not require sophisticated education or training. They want to sell mortgage products as an “add on” to their other services.

The fourth reason is product and service diversification.

Since mortgage products are fast becoming commodities, their use must now be integrated into a comprehensive approach. There is still a need for mortgage financing. In fact, that need continues to grow with the current economic environment and additional investment risk assumptions. However, the consumer is seeking a total needs, comprehensive solution and this requires more skills, training and a broader service approach.

Meanwhile, the current economic and regulatory market has made it a far more complex environment as a professional mortgage originator to operate than just a short twelve to twenty-four months ago. We saw this first with the implosion of the sub-prime mortgage and the bewildering nightmare of choices on Wall Street that drove the sub-prime MBS debacle.

In the aftermath of the current economic environment, a large number of wise consumers recognize the government and employers cannot provide total economic support, from cradle to grave. Subsequently, individual consumers who wish to live and retire in moderate comfort will have to establish their own economic base.

This is where smart mortgage originators operating from a long term perspective can benefit from a drip marketing campaign.

This brings us to the original mission proposed by Loren Dunton who is credited as the founder of the Financial Planning Institution in America in the early seventies. Dunton fervently believed that the role of the financial advisor is to help persons “spend, save, invest, insure and plan for the future so as to become economically independent.” This mission, and the need for qualified mortgage advisors, has no boundaries and no time exclusion, thus smart mortgage and financial planning can play a critical role to professional mortgage originators.

Thus, it is logical for the mortgage originators to make this transition. After all, professional and forward thinking originators need to be well versed in the following important elements:

·         Comprehensive Mortgage Product Knowledge

·         Basic Family Budgeting

·         Insurance Needs Analysis

·         Basic Financial Planning Knowledge

In addition, the typical originator must also possess four additional characteristics:

·         The ability to initiate personal financial relationships.

·         The skill and tact to get clients to communicate their family circumstances and to articulate their personal goals.

·         The written and verbal talent to articulate complex transactions and concepts.

·         The capacity to motivate action when it is in the clients best interest.

Therefore, what the professional loan originator requires to make the transition to financial advisor is additional knowledge, strengthened presentation skills, additional analysis training and financial planning tools. This explains why many of the most talented and respected mortgage originators have come from or are well versed in personal financial advisement industry. Now let’s look at the details of what the loan originator requires to make this transition successfully…

Basic financial education to learn more about the remaining subjects of personal financial planning. The agent needs to strengthen his or her basic knowledge of economics and finance – in order to understand the big picture for the client who is attempting to stay ahead of the rising cost of living. The mortgage originator must then have a true understanding of the historical performance of the various domestic and international financial markets. This knowledge is essential to being able to communicate these issues with clients.

This comprehensive mortgage/financial planning process require an originator the ability to integrate basic financial skill knowledge with practical delivery. This again is where drip marketing concepts can play a critical role.

A presentation to use with clients that clearly distinguishes them as a professional mortgage advisor financial advisor as compared to the standard run of the mill mortgage broker or banker who lacks the education, expertise and financial planning tools highlighted above.

Below are a few tools that are helpful:

a.      Attractive website and Blog site

b.      Sequential in and out process email and mail programs

c.       PowerPoint visual aid – that may be placed on your website or blog. It can also be sent to clients in a planned segmented drip email or mail program.

d.     A script that augments the presentation and answers the common objections and questions. In essence, it will provide the motivation and process to close the planning engagement

Powerful presentation and modeling software that provides clients and prospects with mortgage and financial analysis. This should contain tax calculations (with override ability) and projections. The software should clearly demonstrate the primary client problems and illustrate the solution provided by the product and technique recommendation. Often times this can integrated into integrated CRM solutions.

Through CRM solutions, a plan can be individualized and topics can be arranged and provided to clients in logical procession – normally with the conclusions presented after all the underlying subjects have been covered.

The plan should conclude with specific recommendations. Some of them will involve the services of other advisors. Other recommendations will involve products the advisor does not directly sell or service. And of course, most drip marketing plans will call for the purchase of mortgage products that the mortgage originator does handle.

Client Relationship Management

In its purest sense, a CRM solution tracks all the clients and prospects, generates letters, emails, phone calls, marketing programs, agendas, notes, articles and manages calendars and tasks.

Without a powerful CRM solution, often a mortgage originator will “look” just like a product pushing sales person. By generating the appropriate emails, letters, agendas and checklists the originator rises to the level of a professional financial advisor.

 Sad fact is that most loan originators keep in contact with or send very little correspondence to their clients. Why? Because it represents a substantial effort and is time consuming to write and polish a suitable letter. Very few originators use a written agenda for meetings with clients. These one page documents help create a more professional image by saying “Both my time and yours is valuable, so I have assembled a brief list of the items we will cover.” Sending an agenda with a brief, but professional letter, sets the stage for a more serious discussion of the issue.

The use of an agenda permits the financial advisor to have pre-formatted interview notes that can be easily modified to reflect the topics that were discussed. Sending copies of these notes to the client also advances the professional image. THIS IS SOMETHING CRM ACCOMPLISHES.

However, a Client Relationship Management program is not just about retaining clients, it is also about getting clients. When most loan originators receive a referral they make one or two phone call attempts to reach the prospect. Often they reach only a voice mail system. Quickly discouraged they discard the prospect. And yet this hard to reach person may be an excellent prospect. A CRM system will generate emails, pre-phone letters that are accompanied by articles. Subsequent emails and letters will be accompanied by professional brochures and the loan originators stepped collateral material.

A CRM program manages all these tasks – sending the appropriate letter and article in sequence with prior mailings, as well as prompting for phone calls. This series of letters and articles is very effective at building “Top of Mind Awareness” with both clients and prospects.

Bottom line, Drip Marketing works and CRM solutions help manage just that!

Upon seeing this video of Steve Balmer, it reminded me immediately of Mark Green’s (he’s not that sweaty, chubby or bald though) passion to provide the mortgage industry with ethical world class customer service and state of the art CRM solutions.

Here’s to you Mark!

I highly suggest you click the hyperlink below to learn more about Ryan Steinert’s creative and unique marketing idea!

Birthday Cards for Kids 

When I initially tell mortgage and real estate professionals this, they usually look at me sideways, scratch their head and politely ask, why in the world would or should I send out 4th of July Day cards?

The answer…because you want to be different (in a good way)!

The real problem is 95% of the mortgage originators are BORING and COPY what everyone else is doing!

You want people to remember you! You want to stand-out from the rest of the crowd! You want to present your message at a time and place when people can and will take notice. To do that, you need to think differently than most other people in business.

Heck, I even suggest sending Arbor Day cards too!

Some facts to consider;

• The average family receives anywhere from 10 to 22 Christmas cards
• The average business receives 21 to 42 cards.

The plain and simple fact is, your card probably won’t even make it to its rightfully esteemed place…the card display on the family mantle. With that in mind, if your card is competing with Uncle Frank and Grandma for attention and space, guess who’s going to lose?

Think about it, how many Fourth of July Day cards did you receive last year? If you’re anything like me, probably none, zilch, zero. And, this is what I’m talking about. Here’s the perfect opportunity to make a statement and have people take notice of you and your business. Send Labor Day or Home Purchase Anniversary Day cards to your customers, prospects, and contacts instead of the same old traditional year ending Christmas/New Year card.

I even send out Valentine Day cards telling my clients I love and honor the fact they have entrusted the management of their mortgage to me.

Sometimes being different is a good thing.