Top 10 Guide To Mortgage Leads
Buying mortgage leads can either make you rich or force you to look for a second mortgage yourself. I used to work for an undisclosed mortgage company and was in charge of managing the leads. I ended up spending tons of corporate funds testing out several lead sources. Here’s what I learned…
1. Safe Search- Stay away from companies that appear in the sponsored results of search engines. The reason is because the sponsored results in Google, Yahoo and etc. are pay per click and if they were a well established company they would already appear in the relative (organic) results. Mostly fly-by-night companies use this method of advertisement in the mortgage lead industry, However, Just because they do appear in the in the top of the search engines doesn’t always mean they are good at what they do, you should still take these other precautions before moving forward with any mortgage leads source”.
2. No lead broker, cut out the middle man and work only with the direct sources to get mortgage leads. Make sure they own their own call center or lead generation websites, There’s a lot of money to be made buying leads in bulk and reselling them to many different customers, not only that but they seemed cherry picked… skimming the good leads off the top. Exclusive mortgage leads can almost never be obtained using lead brokers so you will surely pay exorbitant price in order to cover the broker’s commission.
3. Find out how it,s made, know where they get mortgage leads. There are many different ways to generate mortgage leads but the most common are internet lead generation and telemarketing mortgage leads.
4. Internet mortgage leads are generated when a borrower submits their information on a website or banner ad. They are almost never exclusive; Furthermore, the same borrower could have filled out their information on other websites as well. The best way to get mortgage leads from the internet is to build your own mortgage lead generating website so you know for sure you are the only one that got the lead and can call them back immediately after they submit their application. Mortgage internet traffic is highly competitive but this can be combated by conducting mortgage SEO or internet marketing campaign that only focuses on local traffic. This can be the cheapest way to get mortgage leads.
5. Telemarketing Mortgage Leads are the higher end of lead generation because it requires call center infrastructure, database management and is labor intensive, as it could take hours of cold calling just to get one or two mortgage leads. Telemarketing mortgage leads can also be pre-screened to fit any criteria. This ensures you don’t waste your time with borrowers that can’t be helped in the first place.
6. Not just any call center will do- Mortgage telemarketing is by far one of the most challenging call center processes. If you think offering travel packages and credit cards on cold call is hard, try selling a home loan. Most call centers simply turned our business away so it’s crucial to find one that specializes in mortgages.
7. It starts with the data; garbage in=garbage out. One of the most important factors of call center lead generation is the telemarketing list. Make sure the call center is not dialing on credit data or trigger leads. This data is only triggered when borrowers fill out a 1003 and have their credit pulled; therefore, you will always get mortgage leads that are already being contacted by other call centers and brokers. Exclusive Mortgage Leads come from exclusive data.
8. The agents must be trained almost as loan officers to be able to identify a potential borrower and understand the important variables of the homeowner criteria such as LTV, credit scores and motivations for wanting to refinance. This being said “buyer beware” of any telemarketing mortgage lead company promising high volume on a short notice. It takes time to hire and train new agents and no call center can add 50 new agents overnight.
9. Off Shore Call Centers- Outsourcing call centers seem to be the trend with mortgage telemarketing and definitely a great way to keep up with the competition “trust me; the big dogs have been doing it for years”. That being said… make sure that their overseas facilities are owned and operated by the company you are dealing with. This is important for two reasons. One, you must make sure that you are dealing with an American entity that is bound by the laws and regulations of this great country, “you send your money to the third world and you might as well kiss it goodbye”. There are absolutely no repercussions to get your money back and any laws they break will be imputed to your firm. Two, they must have American staff on site to assist in training. Remember, they are a world away and mortgages hardly exist in the third world “so you can’t expect them to pick the process up by themselves”.
10. Once you find a company you like, make sure your campaigns “cash flow” so you can stick with them, just as you depend on them to provide you great quality mortgage leads they too depend on your continuing order to keep your process running smooth so build a lasting relationship, give good feedback and quality will normally increase.
I’ve traveled all over the world, working in call centers in the US, India and the Philippines for TheLeadTree.com as the Director of Business Development. You can find out more information about how to generate free mortgage leads and mortgage lead generation visit The Lead Tree’s website.
I started out working for a mortgage company in Orlando, Fl and now travel setting up call centers in the US, India and the Philippines. I have conducted lead generation campaigns for a myriad of industries. I currently work as the Director of Business Development for The Lead Tree, LLC http://www.theleadtree.com
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