Written By: Karen Deis, Publisher
Yogi Berra, famous Yankees baseball coach once said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it".
Well, I went hiking last weekend and pondered the sign in front of me - which path should I take? It dawned on me that this sign is representative of some of the disconnected sales and marketing strategies that plague mortgage companies and loan originators.
I consider myself a student of sales and marketing - I'm probably one of the few people in the world that reads all of my junk mail and e-mails - hoping to find a marketing nugget. However, as I travel throughout the country, I find that loan officers are confusing the hell out of prospects and clients (and losing business) - because they are not consistent with their sales message.
Are you guilty of these marketing misdirections and mistakes?
The Wrong Message - Recently, I saw an ad where a loan officer was advertising the fact that he was a Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist (CMPS) and yet the same ad said, "call me for the lowest rates". What's wrong with that picture?
Not doing what you say you are going to do! As most of you know, I was instrumental in introducing the Free Report Marketing concept to the mortgage industry in the early 1990's. As I travel throughout the country, I see ads asking prospects to call for a free report on the mistakes people make shopping for a mortgage. I call each and every one of them and leave my contact info. What I have found is that if I call 10 mortgage companies, I might get one report immediately, another one 30 days later and from the other 8 companies - nothing! (One time I got a report 6 months after I called.)
Asking people to visit your website - and there's nothing worth viewing! Almost everyone has a website these days and I spend a couple of hours a week, just visiting sites that loan officers provide in their email signature. You go thru the trouble of including your site within your emails, business cards, and print ads and there is not a shred of useful or unique information. It looks just like a thousand other sites out there! (View a clip from a 50-minute online presentation called How to Get Leads from Your Website now.)
Trying to be all things to all people! The ad (or website) contains a laundry list of all the loan programs known to mankind - including sub-prime and credit repair issues. First of all, the consumer usually doesn't have a clue what an 80-10-10 loan is all about. Secondly, a consumer who does not understand you (or if given too many choices) will not do business with you. Even if you offer ALL of these programs, create marketing strategies for each type of loan or category of consumer (i.e. 1st time homebuyer, real estate investor, commercial loans, etc.) and even if you place 4 ads, it's better than one ad with mixed messages.
Lousy customer service - Most marketing contains the phrase...we have great customer service! Yet, voice messages and emails go unanswered for days! Sometimes the reason is that you don't have the answer to their question. However, it's better to respond immediately even if you don't have the answer and provide a time frame when you plan to get back to them with an answer. (See the article in this issue pertaining to the Customer Communication Guarantee.)
Unmemorable business cards - While most of us are required to use the business card provided by the company, I would almost bet that you have the ability to print your unique message on the back of your card! Here's a sample of Brett Grendahl's card that's simple yet lets everyone know how he can help them.
