If you have ever bought leads or found yourself uttering the words – “these leads are terrible,” this might be a strategy worth considering. Let’s define leads. A lead is a collection of information, including the name, address, phone number, and email address of an individual that has shown interest in a mortgage product. Leads are purchased or aggregated organically online. There are dozens of lead gen providers specializing in paid leads and increasing your organic leads. If you buy these leads, you quickly discover that not all leads are created (aggregated) equally.
However, if you have collected or received – legitimate and valid information, there is a way to turn these leads into opportunities. If a lead doesn’t show or is capable of moving forward with a mortgage immediately, we have a terrible habit of discarding that lead/contact completely. While these leads may not be an immediate opportunity, this information is collected or aggregated for a reason. There is a demand for a mortgage, but it may not qualify or be completed ready to move forward. We think the most valuable part of a mortgage lead is the intent signal it shows us about that person. The intent signal is the “willing” now you just need to monitor for the “able” signal. Here is a three-step strategy to organize and find opportunities in any lead pool.
1. Lead Evaluation – It is essential to understand how you received the lead. What were they looking for that put them in a position to fill out a form and provide all of their information? What is the advertisement that was used to get their attention? Many needs-based advertising – bankruptcy, low credit score, life events, or low income are attractive opportunities when the time is right. If they have shown intent for a mortgage when they do not qualify, they may be motivated to improve their circumstance.
2. Get Organized – Once you identify leads and contacts you couldn’t help initially, you want to place them in your contact database (CRM) under a specific category. You can label them “Future Opportunities” or “2nd Chances” so you know that these leads may have value in the future. This may take time to accumulate these from your past, but this exercise will provide resourceful for the next step.
3. Engage Monitorbase – Allow Monitorbase to do all the heavy lifting. Submit your “Future Opportunities” contacts to Monitorbase, and then set it and forget. Monitorbase will provide alerts so you can know when these contacts have real potential or ability to move forward in the home buy process. No need to send countless emails or make hundreds of phone calls to “check in.”
You can deploy this strategy with new, lower quality, low-converting lead sources with poor credit and bankruptcies that tend to be less viable mortgage opportunities. Sometimes older leads or bankruptcy leads cost pennies on the dollar. However, the information the lead companies provide may be good, and now you can monitor them to find the real opportunities, the “willing and able”, as they progress. While this strategy may not find you a closed loan tomorrow, it is a tactic to fill your funnel with more qualified leads in the future and help you monetize the cost of leads. #EveryContactMatters.
Louis Zitting
