Written By: Karen Deis
A few months ago, the mortgage industry experienced a triple whammy -
- Interest rates increased
- Do-Not-Call Lists
- Anti-Spam Legislation
Loan originators and mortgage companies struggled to fill their pipelines—and literally stay in business. With that being said, one of the last marketing bastions for loan originators to generate leads is DIRECT MAIL.
Peruse the Internet! There are about as many direct-mail companies, articles and ideas as there are stars in the sky (or about 11 million on a Google search). However, there are some direct mail pieces that almost cross the line of being misleading, deceptive, and ambiguous. It’s this type of direct-mail marketing that gives the mortgage industry a black eye and ranks us right up there with the public’s perception of a used car salesmen.
The mailing piece that I’m about to publish was recently sent to a friend of mine. Now, we are not talking about a 16-year old here—but a professional who received this and actually thought this was some sort of notice from the government notifying her that her mortgage company was charging her too much money on her mortgage payment.
Here’s the piece and you can judge for yourself:
In a previous article, Page E of the 1003, I talked about a “white paper” produced by the CFI Group where it was determined that among financial institutions and insurance companies, mortgage lenders ranked the lowest in customer satisfaction and trust.
I believe it’s marketing pieces like these that not only make consumers suspicious of all mortgage lenders, but are so borderline that it deserves to be published and exposed so that you, the reputable mortgage loan officer, know what’s going on – without you even realizing it. By knowing what your customers are receiving in the mail, only then can you develop a strategy to neutralize the effect it might have on your business. If I were still in the mortgage business today, I would mention it in a client newsletter and actually publish the “letter” and say, if you get a letter like this, please call me. It’s deceptive and misleading.
If anything, by exposing your competition, you have notified your clients and subtly told them that you don’t do things like this…you are truly their trusted advisor!
The Direct-Mail Market Police, Karen Deis
Copyright, 2004, LoanOfficerMagazine.com
