So how bad did the 2008 decline in spending affect your job as a mortgage loan officer? Were you one of the lucky few who could sell a couple mortgages in the back half of 2008 and that put you into the top third of sales in your industry? Even though it’s been years since the real estate bubble broke, the industry in many communities is still struggling to recover. That means it’s up to you as a mortgage loan officer to market yourself to those households who do qualify for a mortgage.
The first step on this journey is to talk about how you’re different from all the other online advertising and local chatter that draw the attention of your targeted prospects. Define that difference, exploit it, and then aggressively market it so that people will want to experience the joys of home or business ownership through your help.
Effective Ways to Market for Mortgage Loan Officers
1. Create a solid headline that communicates your intent clearly so that you don’t have people wandering in off the street who ultimately end up wasting your time. It doesn’t matter if you’re using a massive banner ad at the top of your building or a greeting card in the mail: use concise language in your content and you’ll get more of a concise result.
2. Catch the attention of your leads by utilizing images, words, and other tools so that they’ll want to read more about why you’re on the cutting edge of this industry. This is the first marketing step that is often needed to differentiate one loan officer from another.
3. Don’t be afraid to brag about your accomplishments, but be humble in doing so. Arrogance is something that’s okay to have when you’re a mortgage loan officer, but confidence is a much better trait that will attract a lot more people. If you had to fight for a loan, tell someone that. If you put your reputation on the line for someone, tell them that. It establishes the fact that you want to form a long lasting relationship instead of a temporary one.
4. Be valuable to people and you’ll have prospects come in from everywhere, even if they don’t necessarily have the credit to qualify.
5. If a household has lousy credit and won’t qualify for a mortgage, don’t just give them the rejection letter and walk away. Give them tools that they can use right away to help improve their credit score so that they might qualify for a mortgage in the future. From paying off debt to restructuring a budget, there are a number of different ways to approach this tip based on the individual on the other side of your desk.
6. Make sure you put a thank you note in the mail every time someone comes to your office for some reason. They made the effort to speak with you and potentially become a customer, so this effort is better than just good manners… it’s another contact that can keep you at the top of your prospect’s mind. Besides – everyone loves to be appreciated and that’s what this will do. You’ll connect with a lead on a deeper level and this will help your marketing efforts more influential.
7. If you get an email contact, then respond in 24 hours or less and don’t forget to thank them for the time it took to contact you.
8. Be honest with people in all aspects of the business, including when someone calls in to ask a question. Some loan officers make it seem like they’re always with a client, but any business relationship that is based on lies instead of honesty is doomed to fail at some point. You might seem more desirable in the short-term if you’re always busy, but honesty will help you develop long term relationships and results.
9. Make each prospect feel like they are the most important person or people in the world. When you go out of your way to make people feel comfortable or try to meet their needs, then they’ll go out of their way to get you what you need to approve their loan. This creates good word-of-mouth marketing and pretty soon, all their friends and neighbors will be hitting you up for business when they need your help too.
10. Look to be a little bit better today than you were yesterday in every aspect of the job. People will notice your efforts to improve and this will naturally attract them to you. This attraction will serve as the foundation of desire to do business with you when they need a good mortgage loan officer.
11. Become the expert in your community and people will gravitate to you. This means putting yourself out there at Chamber of Commerce events, local meetings of professionals, and other community events that may not hold much personal interest for you. When you’re involved with your community, they’ll want to get involved with you.
12. How can you make life easier for someone? By actively listening to every conversation that comes your way, you’ll have the greatest marketing tool of all because you’ll be engaging with people in a way that helps you make their lives easier in some way. Let your lead finish a thought, make sure to not interrupt, and ask questions if you’re not sure about what was said so that you can guarantee you’re on the same page.
13. If you go to events, don’t just buy a table. Try to purchase specific seats that will let you legitimately mingle with people throughout the room. This will give you more exposure and people will see that you smartly manipulated the system to your benefit. Now they’ll want to know how you can manipulate their credit to create new business.
14. Write endorsements for people when they stop by, even if they don’t get approved for a loan. A simple endorsement on LinkedIn, for example, can give them a little extra value from your encounter and they’ll head back your way when they do qualify for a loan later on.
Although millions of people visit Brandon's blog each month, his path to success was not easy. Go here to read his incredible story, "From Disabled and $500k in Debt to a Pro Blogger with 5 Million Monthly Visitors." If you want to send Brandon a quick message, then visit his contact page here.