As a loan officer, a question you probably ask yourself often is, “How do I generate mortgage leads?” Whether you close 3 loans a month, or 30, this question still stands.
We’ve talked before about mortgage lead generation, so you already know the basics. But, you may be looking for more creative methods to generate mortgage leads this year. A great way to generate more mortgage leads is to engage with your community.
In today’s online focused world, it’s easy to forget about the foundation of any business: relationships. And one of the very best ways to build relationships is to interact with your community members face to face.
Why Engaging With Your Community Will Grow Your Business
So, why does engaging with your community in person help you generate mortgage leads? The answer is simple: your face has power. Don’t believe us?
Okay, so clearly there’s a huge benefit to face-to-face interactions. But how can you start these face-to-face encounters, especially with everything else on your plate?
Generate Mortgage Leads Through Giveaways
One of the easiest ways to jump into engaging your local community is to give something away. Choose something you love–it could be a pie, coffee, coupons to a local sandwich shop, the possibilities are endless!
Then, spread the word about your giveaway through social media, your website, email and sharing with your customers and partners leading up to the giveaway. If you’re just getting started with community events, a fool-proof method is to set a day that people can come by your office to pick up their freebie.
Lead Capture and Follow-Up
When you have visitors to your office, ask them to leave their contact information–after all, that is how you will generate mortgage leads. It’s also a good idea to give your business card to the visitors to your office, so that they can reach out if they have any questions or mortgage needs.
After the event is over, don’t forget to follow up with your brand new leads. If the visitors to your office were current or past customers, customize your follow-up email or phone call to thank them for their continued business. If they are brand new leads, make sure you tell them that you are here to help them with any of their mortgage needs!
Generate Mortgage Leads Through Community Events
If you’re ready to launch a more in-depth community outreach campaign, an event is the way to go. There are many types of events you could host, depending on your area, customer base, budget, and interests.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Host a family dinner at a local restaurant (and pay for the first 5, 10, or 20 people to arrive). Picking a place with family style options can help keep costs low.
- Rent out a bowling alley
- Organize a happy hour at a local bar, brewery, or winery
- Host a picnic in a neighborhood park. Be sure to rent a bounce house so it’ll be fun for entire families
- Throw a holiday party at your office
How to Work With Realtors to Generate Mortgage Leads
One of the best ways to pull off a community event like this, and build your referral relationships (and who doesn’t want that?), is to work with realtor partners. After all, you both have a customer database at your disposal, and chances are, they differ. That means that you have the opportunity to assist each other with marketing.
If you decide to pair up with a realtor for your community events, strategize ahead of time. Decide how many people you will each invite to the event, and how you will both gather leads.
Work With Other Businesses
If you want to bring even more community awareness to your event, and maybe even save some money, consider partnering with local businesses. If the owner of a small business in your area is interested in exposing their brand to new potential clients, they could donate some of their goods or services. For example, perhaps a restaurant could donate venue space, or offer a discount on food or drinks. Or maybe a local yoga instructor would host a complimentary beginner class for your clients and prospects.
The goal with these community events shouldn’t just be for you to generate mortgage leads. By working with other business people in your community, you have the opportunity to stimulate business in your community and build relationships.
Showcase Your Community
In this same way, you could throw an event just to showcase your community. Host a local “fair,” and invite businesses in your area to set up booths. This open house style event will also give you the opportunity to educate potential borrowers. For example, you could have a booth at this fair, with educational materials. If community members have questions about applying for a mortgage, or any steps in the loan process, who better to talk to than you? Not only is this a great chance to get your face out there, it will also build trust between you and influential community members.
Join Existing Community Events
Is there a local farmer’s market that happens every week in your area? Try hosting a booth and testing out ways to engage with the community. Maybe one week you offer free 10 minute massages by hiring a masseuse. When people are waiting for their turn, you can strike up a conversation and share your information with them. Want more ideas? Think about the best trade show booth you’ve ever seen, and emulate it to fit your business. Do this a few weeks in a row and you’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll become the go-to broker in that zip code.
*This booth could also be the location that people could pick up those freebies (like pies) we talked about earlier.
Capture Leads In Person
And now the most important part to successfully generate mortgage leads: lead capture. No matter what type of event you host, it’s critical that you find a way to somehow gather contact info. Perhaps that is through an online invitation and RSVP platform, such as Evite.
Or, if you plan on the event being more word of mouth, the day of the event, you could have a sign-in sheet ready for everyone to fill out. If you want an extra appealing way to gather lead’s information, gather their business cards during the event, and enter them into a drawing for a giveaway! People love the chance to win a free lunch or a $10 coffee gift card.
Enter Your Leads Into Your Database
Don’t forget to enter your brand new contacts into your database! If you use a CRM like Jungo, you can even indicate how you met this lead, so you can track which lead generation methods are the most successful.
Plus, with Jungo’s drip marketing campaigns, you can place your entire list of new mortgage leads onto an email campaign. You’ll stay top of mind, so that when they do end up needing a mortgage, you’ll be the first one they think of.
Follow Up With Your Leads
Now that your successful community event is over, and you have a brand new list of mortgage leads, it’s time to follow-up. Just like we mentioned above, it’s a great idea to customize your follow-up message for your audience. Here are examples of what you could say in a call or email to two types of community members.
New Lead
“It was great to meet you at Success Mortgage’s recent community dinner! We had a great time getting to know everyone better over pizza and fun games, and I hope that you did too. If you ever have any questions regarding your mortgage needs, feel free to reach out! I’m always happy to chat, and offer no-pressure mortgage consultations, free of charge. Thanks for coming by!”
Current or Past Borrower
“Thank you again for attending Success Mortgage’s recent community dinner! It’s always a pleasure to catch up with you, and I wanted to thank you for being a loyal customer. And, of course, if you or your family and friends ever have any questions about your current or a new mortgage, I’m always here to help! It was great to see you the other day.”
Bottom Line
One of the most effective ways to generate mortgage leads is to build relationships. By throwing community events, you can engage with potential borrowers, current customers, community business people, and referral partners. Face-to-face interactions build trust, and help you to become a known advisor among community members.
From there, you can market to your new leads, and earn their business along the way. Clearly, organic lead generation doesn’t need to be stuffy–thinking outside of the box will lead to brand new business.
