Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at
8:37 am
So you’re are looking to recruit for new mortgage brokers. When you think about doing that you probably hope that you can create enough interest in your company that you have enough hiring prospects to choose from and still be able to get the cream of the crop. There are many options out there for recruiting. But when looking for good mortgage brokers, it is best to look at what will get you the best Return On Investment. Just like in attracting clients to your business and calculating the ROI by tracking what each of those leads spent, take a look through the same window in applying Direct Mail to recruiting brokers.
Direct Mail is one of the best ways to recruit. Why?
1. You can get a targeted list. Because when using direct mail you can easily acquire a very targeted list of mortgage brokers. You can get a list of mortgage brokers with home addresses. You can get a list of brokers with a certain income. You can get a list of brokers in a certain area, a certain age range. This makes it easy to only attract the brokers who will fit into your business model.
Pay your list close attention. It could take you from the “pedestrian” approach and shoot you over into the fast lane. Targeted lists are not the only benefit is using Direct Mail to target new recruits. Now let’s look at the other two points and see how they all tie together.
2. You can make the main “button” your headline. A “button” is word, phrase, picture, etc. that elicits an emotional response. Your direct mail piece should show that the opportunities they will have at your company are better than the opportunities they will have at their present company – right off the bat. You want an emotional response because you want them calling you.
In designing many direct mail postcards for the mortgage business, I have found that there are three key buttons that brokers respond to when being recruited. You can use any of these when you are using direct mail for recruiting. Using them in the headline will evoke the best response.
The three main points that are going to get a broker’s attention are:
a) Earn larger commissions,
b) A better selection of products to offer,
c) “Brand Recognition” – you have a great company identity to back them up.
Making the headline tie in with your list is key. Maybe you pick a list with their annual income a little low so that you can target this demographic by saying something like “Not Taking Enough Home? We can give you higher commissions”.
If your business model is having more products to sell and consequently a higher closing percentage for that mortgage broker, then get that message across in your headline. Remember, you only have a few seconds to communicate your message in a direct mail piece, so push your particular button in the headline.
Let’s say that your business model is such that you only offer a small portfolio of products because that is your niche and you don’t plan to expand your product line. You may want to push higher commission structure. In essence, pick which one of the big 3 fit your company best and run with it.
As a mortgage company, you give your brokers opportunities and pay them – in its simplistic form. Direct Mail is one of the best forms of advertisement when recruiting because you push whichever opportunity button that directly communicates your business. Make that “button” your headline. Elicit that emotion, get the call. The other opportunities or benefits you can put as secondary communication – for example in a bulleted form on the back of the postcard. But your headline needs to pop and pull with the main button that you want to get across.
3. Use a postcard. The difference in sending a nice professional letter rather than a postcard is this one thing: Are they going to open it? How many “junk mail” pieces do you get in the mail and don’t even open? Plenty. Get their attention in the few seconds that you have and get your point across. Postcards are short, sweet and to-the-point. You may never have that opportunity with a letter. Then when they respond, follow up with a letter telling more about your company. But make sure that the letter has your same colors and/or logo on it so they recognize it as the same company who sent them the postcard.
If you have a full color dynamic postcard that says “Wish you were reaching your full potential as a mortgage broker?” Or “Are you’re commissions not what they were cracked up to be?” That is going to jump out at them. That’s exactly what you want. Now you’ve got their attention and they will be more likely to call and see what you have to tell them.
Also, you want to get your message across with two or three postcards – each slightly different than the first, but with the same look, feel and colors. All you want to say is what opportunity you are offering – don’t put all the details on the card, just make them want it and make them call. A letter or package sent out afterwards that explains your whole business, what you can offer them, what products you offer, what your commission scale is (a lot of times your commission scale is too much to put in the postcard) is a great follow up. In the postcard, just tell them that more than likely what you’re offering is better than what they are getting now.
4. Finally, tell them to give you a call. Your headline and graphic are the most important parts. Get their attention first as the main focus – then they will turn the postcard over to read what else you want to tell them. But don’t forget to command them to call you.
You can be extremely effective in recruiting with direct mail postcards because with direct mail you are directing your message to a well-defined target that is more likely to respond than if you just shot off an arrow with your eyes closed. Good luck and happy hunting!
By: Joe Niewierski
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Sunday, February 7th, 2010 at
3:34 am
So you have been writing mortgages like crazy now for the last few years. You have a pretty big database of customers and hopefully you have been getting and keeping full contact information for them. An organized database is the first key to customer retention.
The next step is to put together a direct mail campaign to keep these customers thinking about you when they think about mortgages. It is often years between times when each customer needs a mortgage professional, and it takes far less than that for them to forget your name. As well as fighting time, you are fighting indifference. Customers who get great service are often reluctant to pass that information along, while customers who feel they have gotten poor service will tell everyone. Most of the time good customers need to be reminded of their experience. By following up with each customer on a regular basis you will not only stay in the front of their mind but you will also start to build a reputation as a solid and responsible business.
So how do you get started? Below are a couple of the most frequently asked questions when starting a campaign to keep in touch with past clients.
What Type of Direct Mail Piece Works Best?
There is a great debate amongst Mortgage Professionals about what type of direct mail will work best for getting new business. Many swear by letters for their appearance of professionalism, while others like the low cost and high visibility of postcards. Overall, both seem to work adequately for bringing in new business. You just need to find which works best for you personally.
For keeping in contact with past customers, however, the way to go is postcards. This is due to the fact that if your customers are not currently looking for a mortgage for themselves, they are far less likely to take the time to open a letter. That causes most of your “keep in touch” promo that is in envelopes to get thrown out before it ever gets read.
Since the goal is recognition and not direct action you only need to get them to read the message. Postcards have the message visible when mailed, which means that while your customers are deciding what to read and what to throw out, they are already being exposed to your message.
How Often Should I Send Promo?
You will want to mail a piece to your database every 30-60 days. Any longer than that and they may have already forgotten you when their friends are looking for a mortgage. Since you will want to send promo out often, you will need to keep your costs down. With postcards there are no envelope costs, no assembly costs and the postage is 30% less than letters. When using a mail house to send your postcards you can often get postage rates as low as 18ยข per piece.
What Should Be On My Brand Recognition Pieces?
There are some basic rules for the design of a brand recognition direct mail piece.
Rule #1: Keep color consistent.
Many times people fall into the trap of changing the look of their promo for the seasons or for the holidays. The thought is that people are thinking about Christmas or St. Patrick’s Day so they will respond better to promo with those colors. The truth is exactly opposite. Their senses are so flooded by those images that they actually start to skip right over them. Pick a color for your company and stick with it. You will do much better in building recognition.
Rule #2: Make a logo and use it on every piece.
Having a clean, professional logo is best. It may be a little pricey to have designed but in the end it is well worth the money. Experienced designers can often charge up to $2000 for a corporate identity package including logo, letterhead and business cards. If you aren’t looking to make that type of investment simply pick a type style for your company name and use it every time. Consistency is key because your logo is your main identification point.
Rule #3: Make it Informative.
Every piece should have something useful for your customers. Whether it is new information about the mortgage industry or even possible investment properties in their area, it can even be completely unrelated to the mortgage industry. A calendar or list of emergency numbers, even the old recipe card trick still works pretty well. Anything that is likely to be kept around will help to build recognition in the minds of your past customers.
The mortgage industry has experienced a huge amount of growth over the past few years. Unfortunately this growth cannot last forever. At some point it is going slow down and the only way to keep your income in the range that you have become accustomed to is to ensure that you retain as many past customers as you possibly can.
A direct mail campaign is the best way to do this, but remember, this type of program is a long term process. Don’t get discouraged if you can’t directly calculate the amount of money that you bring in right off the bat. What you are doing is burning your name into the minds of your customers. Eventually it will work out to you seeing less attrition and far more referrals.
By: Joe Niewierski
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Monday, November 30th, 2009 at
11:56 pm
Many of you have huge databases and do a great job of keeping in touch with the contacts on your lists using frequent mailings.
If you are one of these people…Kudos to you! When maintained correctly, your database will provide a super source of mortgage referrals and new loans, keeping your pipeline filled for many years to come.
If you’re like me, you’re probably experiencing more and more pieces of your mailing being returned than when you first started mailing to your lists. You see things like “Undeliverable as addressed” or even “Forwarding Order Expired.”
Its unfortunate but, every time you mail to a contact that has moved or just can’t be found for some reason, you have just thrown good money down the drain. Not only did it cost you to produce the mailing piece…you also paid for the postage to send it. In all of this, here’s the really bad news…there is absolutely no possibility of getting any kind of response from those returns.
Now, if you’re relatively new to the mortgage business and/or maintain a very modest database of contacts this isn’t a problem for you. But, if you’ve been in the business for a number of years, your list may consist of many hundreds and possibly thousands of contacts.
When you have a huge list, you just can’t talk to everyone and take them to lunch. Most of them are contacts you have acquired over the years and you use direct mail to keep your name in front of them. You have found that by doing this, a goodly number of them call you when it’s mortgage time.
So…You maintain your database the best way you can by going into your list of names and delete the “returns” that you receive. No more bad addresses (until the next mailing), no more wasted mailers, and no more wasted postage. We also lost some contacts in the process that we worked so hard to get.
This just might be a better solution for you…
Our US Postal Service has an NCOA (National Change of Address) System that a limited number of companies are licensed to access. These companies or Service Providers are able to take your list and check it against the USPS address system.
By using this service, you’ll receive a report that will let you know if anyone on your list has moved, gone out of business, or even if the zip code that contact was in was changed by the Post Office itself. You’ll also receive a new copy of your list that has been cleaned, scrubbed, and updated.
The cost for having your list checked is extremely economical (about $5.00 per thousand records) and will allow you to keep getting your mortgage marketing message out to as many people on your list as possible.
The NCOA service is by far the easiest and most effective way that I have found to keep your marketing lists clean and your costs down. So, eliminate some of your list maintenance chores and save on your next mailing. When you’re ready to keep in touch, make your life easier and check your list.
By: Tom Domin
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