How to get leads regardless of ratesDave Czachtargeting clientele, client profile, demographics, niche marketing, prospects
By now, we all know that the gravy train has left the station.
So let's slide out our "nuts and bolts" tray, and build a train
that will last through both good and bad times. But first, remind
yourself of the basic rule of sales and marketing: people's
decision to buy is based on emotions. So, the primary question is,
"What emotion(s) will trigger a person to seek a mortgage loan
regardless of interest rates?" If you can pinpoint your prospect's
emotion to buy, you can consistently enjoy sales. With that in
mind, let's engineer our success train.
To identify your customer, you must brainstorm, critique, and
create demographics. Brainstorming is very simple. However, I'm
going to add a few maneuvers that may appear trivial, but are
extremely effective. To begin with, brainstorming is most effective
with two or more people who share similar states of mind. This
produces your results faster because of synchronized creative
energy. For example, have you ever been in a meeting where someone
else finished your idea almost verbatim? That is called
synchronicity, and it is the optimum brainstorming level you want
to achieve. Here's how to do it:
Dynamic brainstorming can be completed in two easy steps:
preparation and engagement. To prepare for brainstorming, grab
plenty of pens and paper. Go to your conference room, and be sure
to tell everyone that you are not to be disturbed. Now, sit
comfortably and at the top of your page, write in all caps,
"RELAX-ACCESS-EMOTIONS-SOLUTIONS." Immediately below that line in
lower case, write, "High Quality Mortgage Leads." Now, turn off
your cell phones and pagers, and disconnect the phone in the room.
Everyone sit with your back straight. Close your eyes. Take ten
very deep breaths, exhaling slowly while visualizing yourself
attending your client's closing, and engage.
The engagement portion of brainstorming is supposed to be fun.
To get started, someone simply says, "Everyone tell the group at
least two reasons why people need money." Don't be shy. Just blurt
out an idea when you have it. Everyone should be sure to write down
all the ideas they hear as fast as they can. It's crucial not to
criticize any idea because even a "dumb" idea can be the catalyst
for a great one. Just write it down and say another idea. Soon,
ideas should be bouncing around faster than you can write. If you
don't get any ideas, stand up. Walk around the room. Stretch. Sit
on the table. Stand on your chair. Even dance. Do anything that
will give you a different perception and joggle your mind. Do this
for 30-60 minutes without a break. Then place your pen and paper on
the table in front of your seat. Leave the room. Close the door.
Take a 15-minute break without discussing the brainstorming
session. Now complete part two.
Critique your brainstorming by playing musical chairs. Re-enter
the room, and turn off your cell phones and pagers again. This
time, rotate your seating without moving the papers on the table.
If you're in a group, sit two seats to the right of where you were
seated. Now read the ideas on the page in front of you, not your
page. Mark the great ideas, and discard the others. Then, choose
someone to write the groups' critiques on another piece of paper or
a white board. Make two columns. In the left column, write all the
ideas that remain--these are now called features. In the right
column, write the corresponding benefit to your client. For
example, if a feature is retirement income, some benefits may
include an exciting quality of life, international travel during
the customer's golden years, or resources to visit grandchildren.
Encourage the group to state several benefits for each feature.
Now, morph your features and benefits into real demographics.
Creating a hyper-targeted client profile saves time and money.
You want to make your demographics as narrow as possible because
this will produce the best results. Use your feature benefits sheet
as a guide. Take each feature benefit begin and asking questions.
What type of person would this be? What age bracket? Which gender
is more concerned with this benefit? Is this prospect married? What
is their income level? Do they have children living at home? If so,
what ages? Are they blue collar, white collar, or self-employed?
What is most important to this prospect? What problem does this
solve? How much equity would this type of person have? Ask these
questions by delving into the mind of your prospects. Pretend you
are in their shoes. Who are they? What are they? Where are
they?
For instance, using retirement income as our feature, I can
think of three different types of prospects in this category. They
include people who are already retired, middle-aged individuals,
and those just starting their careers. Each group would require a
separate strategy. Now ask the above questions for each of these
categories to further target your leads. Choosing the category
"people already retired," you could have two sub-categories such as
fixed income with limited or no assets, but equity in the house,
and high-disposable income with ample equity. If your focus would
be the first sub-category, your hyper-targeted demographics could
be retired homeowners with fixed incomes, and limited or no assets,
but equity in their house. Now let's make sense out of all this
information.
Three more turns and we can leave the station. First, use your
hyper-targeted demographics to purchase accurate mailing lists.
Second, determine which loan program to sell to each specific
client. Third, state your benefits in glowing terms to activate
your prospect's emotions and create a mental picture they
desire.
When you purchase your mailing list, be certain to require a
list with your exact demographics. The price may be slightly higher
because the more demographics you request, the higher the price.
But it's worth it. You can find dozens of high-quality mailing list
companies at your local public library. Ask the librarian for the
SRDS Direct Marketing List Source directory and look under
"homeowners."
Research your loan products and locate the best program
available that matches your demographics. For example, using your
demographic information, you could offer a reverse mortgage so your
retired clients receive cash now to enjoy their golden years, plus
additional income. If they don't qualify for a reverse mortgage,
you could do a cash-out refinance for a vacation and buy an annuity
for more income.
Now, put the coal in the engine. State your benefits in glowing
terms in your sales letter or telemarketing script. Be sure to
mention that if they want to experience these benefits, they must
act now. It's very important to write a separate script or sales
letter for each sub-category using its specific benefits. You would
also want to mention your name a few times, so while they are on
their wonderful vacation in France, they will remember how you made
it possible, thus linking you with their positive emotions.
Finally, hop aboard your new success train. By focusing on
people's emotions and being their vehicle to solving their problems
or living their dreams, you can enjoy many referrals and prosper
regardless of interest rates.
Dave Czach is a 12-year mortgage veteran turned
author/publisher. He can be reached at www.gozakman.com.
