[and How Technology Wins Them Back]
Those of us in the finance community have yet to realize the potential and the significance of today’s technology. Despite the innumerable amount of available resources, we are still unable to trust software enough to leverage our business through it. This mistake loses thousands of units to the tech-savvy banking elite every year. Unfortunately, it’s probably hurting your company too.
Inevitably, 30% of loans in an originator’s pipeline will be lost due to circumstances that can’t be rescued. We understand this to be part of the job; the time spent on those loans is considered sunk cost. But, a higher percentage of loans never make it into the pipeline. In fact, every month there are two loans your lender does not close that could have been saved. Ironically, however, both of these loans are saved when mortgage companies leverage themselves through technology.
While this article may not change the industry, hopefully it can challenge those who read it to reevaluate their commitment to digital success. After all, the average originator closes five mortgages a month – and the value of two extra loans cannot be exaggerated.
The first loan is lost digitally.
No small to mid-sized company can compete with the marketing budget of the banking elites. With diminishing returns on the advertising dollar, the net profit of a 40% sales increase caused by traditional marketing is less than it has ever been. To survive, we must change our paradigm. We must compete on the only field that still gives us an opportunity to win. We have to begin thinking digitally in a digital world.
Every day, customers are looking online for a solution. These customers type, “mortgage companies in Dallas, Tx” on Google, a keyword that is currently searched 210 times a month. Afterwards they select the websites that rank first. As Google is an agent of discovery, these companies that are researching and targeting these keywords have an advantage over other companies. Where traditional marketing focuses on sending advertisements to customers, a successful digital marketing strategy focuses on where the customers are going – and they’re going on Google. This is called search engine optimization, or SEO. It is the process of learning how customers are trying to find a company and making sure they do.
SEO, however, doesn’t save your originators loans. It’s only half the battle. Pretend a branch website only has 100 visitors a month. Generally speaking, 10 of 100 visitors are actually interested in having a conversation with an originator about loan products. Unfortunately, without an online strategy the visitors will remain unknown unless the strategy includes a method for conversion rate optimization, or CRO. Turning visitors into leads is the primary focus of CRO, and it ends with capturing your visitor’s information.
If you capture an extra 10 leads a month through a digital strategy such as this, chances are you will produce at least one extra loan a month. That’s rounding low. When your customers are able to find you and managers tune the conversion rate of the company website’s, you are building a better presence online which results in generating more leads. Of course, this high level perspective does not give practical advice as to how to accomplish this but, there is a full guide to SEO and CRO, which can be downloaded free at http://mortgagedashboard.com/ebook/.
Any conversation on digital marketing is incomplete without a word on social media.
Many mortgage companies do not understand social media. To illustrate this, imagine a friend who constantly jumps from relationship to relationship. It’s not that the people he/she dated are not intelligent or beautiful; they are. The problem in this is, the friend unfortunately falls in love with every new prospect he/she meets.
Now, think of originators like the friend, always moving to the next hot social media tool and never investing in anything particularly.
At the foundation of any social media platform, there is a necessity to commit and engage. All too often, “experts” (often trying to sell their book) tell everyone about the newest and hottest trends that customers are flocking toward. The problem is that most mid-sized companies are unable to keep a consistent presence on every social network. In fact, most social networks probably do not fit the companies business model. Social networks require an ever-present interaction. Social presence requires your presence.
Why mention this? Google isn’t the only place customers are trying to find you. While sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are designed for much more than becoming an extension of any website, they ultimately can be used as a content marketing hub that drives users back to your site. In the end, the loans that are lost digitally can also be recovered by a successful social media strategy.
How should your company engage on social media? Here’s a formula: Commitment + Community Engagement + Interesting Microcontent = Social Media Success
The second loan is lost physically.
A married couple visits one of your mortgage company’s branches to get pre-approved before they begin shopping for a new home. After finding a beautiful two-story lake house two weeks later, the realtor convinces them to use a different lender leaving you out of luck with a lost lead.
Whether originators realize it or not, this is happening all the time. This loan was lost due to a lack of physical presence but it could have been saved if a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) had been implemented into the company’s workflow.
Imagine the situation again under different circumstances:
A married couple visits the branch to get pre-approved before they go shopping for a new home. Your company’s CRM captures their information when they submit their pre-approval and, as a matter of policy, you set the originator’s CRM to follow up one week after creating the lead. One week later, the originator calls the couple. They talk about how things are going and the originator gives great tips on where to look. Overall, the relationship is strengthened. But, after finding a beautiful two-story lake house the next week, the realtor tries to convince them to use another lender. The married couple declines, as they have a lender who has ultimately become a trusted ally. The loan is saved.
Your originators lose one loan every month from letting leads slip through the cracks. A CRM will not only organize your contacts and referral partners, but it schedules activities and manages your originators time better. When it’s paired with your loan origination software, it eliminates double entry and follows the process from lead to advocate. A CRM can automate activities such as sending email campaigns or push notifications, so that your originator is completely free to focus on generating new business.
As a community, we realize that technology is going to save us from being swallowed by the banking elites of the world. It gives us a fighting chance. When we are able to generate leads online and manage our relationship better than the next company, we move units.
If you have any questions on how to develop a digital strategy or customer relationship managers, send an email to [email protected]. We would love to answer any questions you might have.
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