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Colorado industry appointments update - 1/3/2007

Jan 02, 2007

Speed marketing for loan officers: Digging for oil wells in your mortgage business Geoff Zimpferbusiness plans Are you ready for your best year ever? Have you got your business plan in place? Your target markets identified? How would you like to own six, seven or even 10 oil wells that consistently spew rivers of black gold from the ground and all you have to do is hold your bucket out to catch enough oil and you'll be richer than 'ole Jed Clampett himself? Just imagine, you could follow in the footsteps of the Beverly Hillbillies and " ... move to the land of swimming pools and movie stars." So what's an oil well in our business? An oil well is any source of business that, once located, drilled and tapped, continues to produce business without significant, continual effort on our part. If part of your business plan this year is to grow your purchase business and no longer live and die by the refi, there simply is no better oil well for originators than our friendly local real estate agent. Now, stay with me here. I know what you're thinking: "Real estate agents are XXX!" Just fill in the blank because I've heard it all before. According to the National Association of Realtors, 40 percent of homebuyers get their mortgage from whoever their agent recommends and 28 percent of homebuyers already have a mortgage person they know or have worked with before. That means if you're counting on advertising or prospecting to fill your pipeline with purchase money loans, 68 percent of the market is already gone. So all your advertising is chasing just 32 percent of the market! Even worse, for every $100 you spend on advertising to attract homebuyers, you're immediately down to just $32 because 68 percent of every dollar spent is skimmed off the top - already spoken for in the marketplace. Would you put your money in an investment that took 68 percent of your money right off the top? Most of the frustrations in working with real estate agents come from originators lacking a proven system for finding, drilling and tapping those agents who will become referral producing oil wells in your business. If you were going to drill for oil, wouldn't it make sense to have a plan? First you have to find the oil. Doing open houses, dropping by offices without an invitation, cold calling and running "me too" advertising is about as effective as drilling for oil by throwing darts at a map. It's completely random and produces unpredictable results that lead to burnout and frustration, yet most originators keep repeating this insanity hoping that they'll hit pay dirt. Eventually, you fall prey to the belief that there's no oil in your backyard and you go back to doing refis, buying leads, trying direct mail or even cold calling - ugh! Let's quickly look at how we locate and dig for oil wells in our business. First, we have to locate where the oil is among the local real estate agent population. One of the biggest mistakes originators make trying to find agent relationships is to simply push information about their services and themselves out to agents hoping that this will result in attracting referrals. Because agents are already bombarded daily by other originators using this same approach, it rarely produces the response from agents you want. An alternative to what I call the "push and pray approach" is to pull agents in by providing useful information that helps them overcome their nagging business problems. One way to do this is by hosting wow-factor seminars for your local agents that add value to their businesses while positioning you as a leader and becoming a valuable resource for their business. Only then do you begin to earn the right to pursue a relationship with them. What you've now done is engaged in reverse prospecting by having agents seek you out and what you have to offer. Of course, some oil wells produce better than others. By hosting seminars, you expedite the process of locating the producing oil wells because you're now sifting through hundreds of agents at a time versus one at a time. Just what are wow-factor seminars? These are not seminars dealing with the latest contract changes, by-laws, committee meetings, etc. Here's a sample of proven topics that put agents' butts in the seats and loans in your pipeline: "Instant Tax Relief for Realtors;" "Gain the Inside Edge - Secrets of America's Top Producing Realtors;" "The Power of Focus - How to Hit Your Business, Personal and Financial Targets with Absolute Certainty;" and "Survival of The Fittest - How to Thrive and Profit In Today's Real Estate Market." Hosting these types of events for your local agents is the first step to quickly finding lots of potential oil wells that you can then move to the next step, which is drilling for the oil, or, in our case, getting loan referrals. You'll have a mixed bag of duds and studs among your oil wells and some that just take a little longer to produce than others. It's important to recognize this upfront so that you don't get discouraged or stop drilling before that well pays off. But that's equally true whether you're digging for real estate agent referrals the same old slow painful way everyone else does or hosting wow-factor seminars. It's just a lot easier and quicker finding those referral producing oil wells when your first appointment is with 187 agents at once versus the slow death of open houses, board meetings or any other method you've tried with little results. When you're drilling for a large number of real estate agent wells - which you will be when you host your own seminars - the only way to effectively manage the process is by having a system to handle most of the heavy lifting for you. There are a lot of moving parts involved in hosting seminars that are most likely not your core competency. Staying focused on your mortgage business is a better use of your time and resources. Things you should consider outsourcing: - Marketing/promotions (e.g. filling the room); - Speaker selection/topic; - Reservations/confirmations; - Co-sponsor selection/support; - Database/list management; and - Post-event marketing/follow-up. Once you've experienced the feeling of seeing a room full of 50, 100, 200 or more agents eager to listen to you, heard the positive feedback, booked appointments, closed loans and cashed your commission checks, you too will become a true believer in the power of hosting seminars to quickly boost your agent referral business. You will also eliminate the common frustrations many originators struggle with when working to build a real estate agent referral business. Better yet, you'll have more fun working with agents because you now have a system you use to dig for oil wells that will continue to produce a steady, reliable source of purchase business for you. It's really just a matter of how many oil wells you want and how fast you can find them. Now go get yourself some oil wells, ya hear, and make it a great year! Geoff Zimpfer is a loan officer and creator of Speed Marketing for Mortgage Brokers: How to Get Maximum Realtors in Minimum Time. He can be reached at (949) 584-9943 or visit his Web site for a free report at www.speedmarketingsystem.com.
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