From Wood Piles To Gold Mines!
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I send my entire database at least twice a week. One is a “Deal of the Week” and the other is my Saturday Morning Quickie….just a short video that is funny or quirky. My open rates are 20-25%.
A friend of mine more or less left the LO world after working on what he called his “Bass-askward Business” model. He still originates but now he ‘shares the love’ as a speaker and covers what you’ve outlined in this post. Steve was a great LO here in GA and is excellent w/keeping in touch. The concepts you discussed are spelled out in detail in his book (no, I won’t get any royalties, etc. from this ; ) http://www.bassackwardbusiness.com/
Great show…I totally agree with you that keeping in touch is a HUGE way to sustain business…and to significantly EXPAND your business. We all know how important it is to followup IMMEDIATELY with a lead (like within the first 5 minutes) but few of us do that. So it is no surprise that so few bother to follow up with clients once the transaction is done.
I think one thing I see missing in this discussion is that on the anniversary of the closing you should be calling your past clients and remind them that it is time for their annual mortgage checkup. This is not only a good “excuse” to call, it offers your previous an extremely valuable service. (It is also an extremely good way to make initial contacts with potential new clients who have been abandoned by their previous originator…or where their originator is one of the huge percentage that have dropped out of the business.)
Also, you owe it to your clients to be calling them before the end of the year to remind them of the mortgage related tax deductions (and other home ownership based deductions) they need to remember to include on their tax return. This is particularly true for the first year (even if the loan was closed in late November) so that people remember to deduct all those prepaid finance charges that go into the calculation of the APR.
In Facebook marketing all the focus is on creating Raving Fans who go out and sell you business or products for you. Done right an campaign phone follow up campaign with your previous clients can truly create Fans who cannot stop talking about how great you are…everything one of their friends or associated mentions something about buying a home or their mortgage.
Constant Contact DOES NOT WORK! I had it for a year. In the beginning 20% of the recipients opened my post; by the end of the year it was less than 10%.
You can’t beat a personal call.
This is exactly what Brian was referring too. If we only send stuff out via email, we condition our people to ignore us. But if we couple it WITH phone calls – it’s the ultimate lead generating machine! Sometimes you can’t get to them on the phone, well… in that case, at least via your drip campaign, they saw your name even if they did delete your email. And when you do get them on the phone, you have the opportunity to remind them of how useful the information you’re sending them is – In fact the topic of your conversation can be the stuff that you sent them (so be sure to actually read your newsletters).
Personally, I believe we should all be video blogging, sending our video posts to our database and referral partners then following up with a phone call. In that phone call, the topic of conversation obviously can be whatever you sent out on your video. It’s an awesome cycle that absolutely works – period.
We can’t rely solely on drip campaigns – we need them – but we have to couple them with personal contact.
Frank
Don’t forget the rules about the “Nationals Do Not Call Registry” Only allows call to customers with Established business relationship for up to 18 months from last transaction. Unless the customer request to be on the list. Fines up to $16,000 per incident…
The message was about calling past clients; not cold-calling.
If you do your job right these people become your friends. Do Not Call does not apply to friends. Let’s not find a reason to not do this. This is a great thing to do and vitally important to your long term success. Would you not want a client to come back and do business with you after 18 months? Of course not, you’d take them back anytime. Staying in touch creates bonds of friendship, once you’ve got that, no one will call the Do Not Call people and tell them you are in violation of something.
So true Frank and Brian! We LOVE to call our past clients and keep in touch. It’s intentional-part of our daily activities. It’s amazing what a phone call will do when you do it to let them know you really care. We do most of our business from past client referrals. Warm leads… They’re the best. Thanks for this great message today to remind us.
What about FollowMyClients set and forget campaigns?
Rob. FMC is great! You have to do something like FMC for sure. But consider it this way. All of our automated drip stuff is like the kindling, but to get the fire going we need to use the phone and physically speak to our people. Automated drip campaigns, video marketing, blogging and all that other stuff helps get you down the field, but the phone calls, the face to face conversations, these are what get us across the goal line! Keep the FMC going, but get on that phone!
Whenever I am faithful, making the calls I always seem to get new loans. One thing I am going to be more bold about, and this is probably more true to those I have the strongest relationship with, is not only ask for referrals for loans but ask them to introduce me to realtors they know.
Great message Frank and Brian.
Happy Holidays!
You guys are spot on. I have been following this startegy for years. I track my referral sources. About 51% of all my referrals come from my database. When I first started calling I also had call reluctance. But like you said, it’s amazing how many people are happy to hear from you.
Thanks for the reminder, guys!
Larry. You’re trying to whittle it down to your top 100 you call once a month. Go for it! It works!
Wow, did Frank and Brian just crawl inside my head? This is me. I’m a lazy, half-witted LO who has embraced the internet and web marketing about 15 years ago and completely stopped connecting on the telephone. My emails, videos, newsletters, drip, drip, drip have been the total package. I’m proud of my creative, personal and innovative marketing that has often gotten me pats on the back. But my business is dying. Month-by-month my email list gets smaller as past clients opt out and my once heavy referred base network is all refi-d out. Call a client? Heck, i threw out their old 1003′s years ago and dumped my list of phone numbers. Now all i have are email addresses. I wonder what would my world be like if I’d just done a phone call once or twice a year to my positive closings. Where is that guy I closed 20 years ago who loved me? At least i have the memories.
Ditto on the WOW! I agree and I’m going to call some clients to wish them happy holidays, and tell them I’m thinking of them and remind them to think of me (refer me) to those needing a home loan.
Great reminder…for me maybe a good kick in the pants. It’s easy to get lazy when your automation does so much for you.
Thanks guys!
Mitch, the goal is to get your top 100 that you call once a month. These top 100 become your friends and the monthly calls are quite nice. 5 a day 5 days a week is 100. It’s a great system taught by the Brian Buffini group. It did wonders for me!
Makes sense! But what do you tell these people EVERY MONTH? Calling them right now (or once a year) and wishing them happy holidays is one thing, but monthly calls? I am afraid that I’d bug people too much this way
Certainly a good idea, but staying in touch regularly with hundreds of clients may be easier said than done. How frequently do you recommend making a call? If we call 2 times a year…is that enough? Calling once a quarter….maybe? Look, people are fickle when it comes to sales in general. You could call a few times a year and still get overlooked….that’s just how the game seems to roll. For those of us who treat their clients well, many will remember us and come back happily for our service.
Thanks for the great tip. I know this is going to get me more loans. Computers can talk, but it works better when people talk.
thanks again,
Marty
Nice reminder guys! Technology is good. Human contact is better. It always hurts when we learn a prior client is now someone else’s prior client. Calling a prior client once a year or so seems fine, unless you have a special relationship with them calling them any more often could be a bit imposing on the client.
I would like to see you guys cover the increased cost of licenesing now with the NMLS. I am a sole propriortor and have to pay $225 for my company license and another $280 for my individual. To me this is double charging, there is no difference between myself and my company as far as the IRS is concerned, it is all based on my ss#. So now with our wonderful money grabbing NMLS, I have to pay $505/year to hold a mortgage license, now more than my Real Estate broker license. To me this would be like me charging more than a credit report cost, or an appriasal cost and trying to make the difference on it. We are getting hammered with new legislation and also getting hammered on the financial side with increased cost of holding a license.
Im an LLC which the IRS views the same. Im licensed in 4 States. My total licensing, education and NMLS fees cost me over $8,650 this year. Thats just to open the doors.
In my primary State, we have gone from 43,000 MLOs to 4000, we went from 1980 mortgage companies ot 300, we went from 92 State Chartered Banks to about 81 yet our State Regulatory agency has not laid off a single employee. In fact we have see payroll increases.
I feel like this is becoming a tax not a fee.
Best show this week, Guys. Nice job & thank you!
Right on, Marty- I agree!
Have you Hugged your local Real Estate Appraiser lately? We are still getting it in the poop shoot, a hug may be nice!
I agree a phone call is great and I do not do it enough. I do send a mail/print newsletters and it does help. I also send out birthday cards to my past clients. These both help me stay in front of them and get repeat business.
I agree though it is timing and who they are talking with. Good show today.
I love you man!
Hi:
Thanks for the inspiration!
I used to make calls to all my clients at year -end to not be one more Christmas card in their stack.
I have from now until the end of the year to reinstitute that uplifting practice (for both of us) again.
Thanks for the reminder!
Terry
Right on guys! No substitute for phone time. I make calls regularly and second your findings. Thanks for your great work. Happy Holidays, fabulous 2012 and every good wish.
While I agree with you that personal contact is vital, many of my clients have commented that they look forward to my monthly Newsletter. Maybe that is because my Newsletter is not a commercial for me or the company I work for, but rather one that carries articles on all facets of peoples lives, from health, to finances to, yes, mortgages, even cooking tips. So I do not think this is a easte of time
Back to basics. Thanks for reminding me that the phone is a tool also. Proactive not passive. Merry Christmas!
Great message. Great Wake up call. This will be my New Year Res.
I have found this to be very true. I inherited my fathers 8.5 years worth of closed loans, past clients that he never followed up with and have found that he lost quite a bit of business due to not staying inverbal contact with them. I have that same feeling when picking up the phone for the first time each day, but after you talk to the first person, that nervous feeling goes far away…especially if they want to do business with you!
“5 a day every day at the end of the day” = solid gold practice
I’ll make a stand now that I WILL do this. Thanks for the wake up call.
Great advice guys, but my only concern is the Do Not Call List – our business relationship ends after 18 months per the rules, unless the client has signed something that specifically says we can call them even if they are on the Do Not Call List. I looked at our Privacy Policy Disclosure in Point and it doesn’t say any about it. Again, I think it’s great advice, but with my luck, I would get nailed with the $16,000 fine!
You’re allowed to call your friends. You’re not calling people you don’t know here, you’re calling people you do know. When I started I picked 100 past clients that firstly I actually remembered, and secondly knew that they would remember me and not mind a call. “Do not call” applies to companies that are randomly soliciting business from people they don’t know. You’re calling people you do know to catch up and say hello…. Okay, now throw that excuse away, and pick up the phone!
Frank
Excuse tossed! Thank you Frank!
Basic sales 101…..but a good reminder!
I’m starting that today. This hit hard and hit home. It was if you were reading my mind. I too assumed that since I had such a good relationship, they would call but the truth is that whomever calls at the right time with the right rate, gets the client. Thanks for the reality check.
Great reminder! Thank you!
I admit I go in spurts making those calls. I was a lot more regimented when I started in this business making those calls. Thanks for the reminder and wake up call. Oh, Merry Christmas to you two and all!
What a GREAT show today. Powerful message! Goes with that whole “it’s 7x easier to keep a client than find a new one” theme. Funny how we all know it, but hardly any of us do it (successfully). I needed that reminder today. Thanks.
Great message today guys. I know that making calls works but have been reluctant to do it myself. I am going to challenge myself to make 5 calls a day to past clients and also call everyone on their birthday.