Mortgage Lead Generation

How to get sales leads for you business

Mortgage Lead Generation is the act of collecting contact information of an individual who has expressed interest in purchasing a mortage.

How are these leads created?

 

   Mortgage leads are usually generated through two mediums; direct mail and internet advertising.  Direct mail, (the less popular of the two) involves contacting prospects by mail to with promotional materials.  If mail recipients respond to a letter they become leads and a sales rep will contact them to answer questions, provide information and steer them towards taking out a loan.
 
    The Internet provides marketers with more options.  It allows for many dynamic methods of reaching people who are interested in purchasing a mortgage.  The tools and tracking systems available allow companies to reach people at various stages of the buying process and target promotions to them.  These advantages result in leads that are more likely to convert into customers.
 

How can I get mortgage leads?

    There are many companies that perform lead generation services for mortgage providers and there are several ways a mortgage provider can generate their own leads. 

   

    Generating one’s own leads is a more involved and time consuming strategy than buying leads from a vendor.  Many companies are able to successfully generate some good leads on their own because they know their customers.  Some of the most common strategies for lead generation are: leveraging your website, search engine ads, and asking for referrals. 

1. Leveraging your website- If you have a website that gets some traffic you want to make it is easy for people who want to take out a mortgage to get in contact with you.  Your website should already have a section that explains why your business can provide a low-interest mortgage.  Find it and make sure it is easy for people to start the buying process.  Instead of just providing a phone number and email address build a short form people can fill out and submit, so that when your sales teams follow up with them they know a little about the kind of mortgage the prospect is interested in.  Here is an example of a credit union that has pursued this strategy.

 

2. Search engine ads- Search engine ads are easy to create and easy to target.  You simply buy ads on

keywords that are very relevant to the services you offer.  For example buying ads that show up when users search for “mortgage” would not be very relevant to your business unless you have loan providers nationwide.  If you are located in Madison, Wisconsin the keyword “Madison Wisconsin mortgage” is very relevant to the services you offer. 

3. Referrals- Referrals are often the best kinds of leads to get because they have a high level of trust.  The key to asking for referrals is to feel perfectly comfortable asking for them because you know you are very good at what you do and you can help other people.  If you ask former and current clients for referrals with this attitude you will be much more likely to get quality referrals than if you clearly feel uncomfortable asking for them.  For more on asking for referals click here.

 

Many companies generate some of their own leads, but also buy leads to fill their sales channel. 

 

 

   Buying leads is usually more cost efficient for a mortgage provider than trying to generate a lot of

leads.  The competitive advantages a mortgage provider can leverage in lead generation don’t scale well and to hit aggressive growth targets some outsourcing must ensue.  Luckily the mortgage lead generation business is large and there are enough players in it to ensure most companies can buy plenty of qualified leads.

    As the lead generation business has evolved it has become more transparent, and today it is easier for lead buyers to track the ROI of their spend.  With any new marketing proposal, there is risk in spending money with an untested partner. The upside to spending money on mortgage leads versus advertisement and promotion is that the buyer will have a pretty solid idea of how the leads are performing after 2-3 months.

    Many new lead buyers have success by starting small and spreading budget across many lead providers until data accumulates.  After some time buyers fire the lead providers that are not performing, and shift budget to the buyers that perform well.

 

Getting Started

    If your company is just starting to buy mortage leads you won’t need a fancy lead management system. 

You just need to have your lead emailed to your sales force. The most common mistake new lead buyers make is not following up fast enough.  Sophisticated mortgage lead buyers will contact their leads within minutes of receiving leads.  A new lead buyer doesn’t have to be that fast, but you do need to make it clear to your sales teamthat leads become less likely to convert with each hour that goes by without contact.

See Also:

1. Mortgage Banking Magazine
2. "Do Lead Generation Sites work for Borrowers?" - Article by Jack Guttentag on Mtgprofessor.com
3. Online Lead Generation - Another knol I wrote.
4. Video tutorial on Mortgage Lead Generation.
5. High Response Direct Mail solutions - A useful site that helps marketers accomplish objectives
5. Online Lead Generation Industry - A knol about the characteristics of this industry.

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Justin Baker
Justin Baker
VP Interactive Marketing
Chicago
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