Don't mess-up a good lead: 4 Tips to Maximize Your ROI!
Sales leads can be a very valuable tool for most loan officers and other sales professionals. Although what you do with the lead once it is in your hands is just as important as how the lead was generated in the first place.
For example, at http://www.MortgageLeads.com leads are generated in a more organic fashion, rather than using email spam or co-registrations, which typically use gimmicks or incentives in order to convince the prospect to fill-out the form. Typically, this method results in a better ROI (return on investment).
There are many ways to generate leads off the internet, some resulting in better quality leads than others. Therefore, let's use a common "internet lead generation" scenario. Someone is searching for information to become better educated on the process of refinancing. They may run across one of our educational blogs on this subject. The homeowner would then click on a link that takes them to a page where he or she would fill-out a form, with the expectation of being contacted by up to three mortgage agents.
Even with this type of organic lead, where the homeowner received no incentives or promises of super low rates, there are going to be reasons as to why this particular lead may not pan out.
Maybe this prospect didn't accurately represent the actual value of the home, their assessment of their credit may be off, or maybe it was a spouse that actually filled-out the form unbeknownst to their significant other.
Then, there are factors that are completely dependent upon the customer, such as how the mortgage broker follows-up with the lead. Did the agent wait two days to call the homeowner? Is the prospect called only once or twice? Were they called at various times of the day? Were they also emailed?
The formula for a good conversion rate on sales leads is to start with a high quality organic lead that is not oversold and giving it to a sales person that is able to follow-up properly with the prospect.
To get the best ROI on your lead investment try some of these tips:
1. Call the loan prospect right away. A recent MIT lead response management study shows that the odds of calling to contact a lead decreased by over 10 times in the first hour. The same survey shows that contacting the prospect within the first five minutes of their initial interest significantly increases your odds for lead conversion versus contacting the lead in 30 minutes.*
2. If the lead has a specific call back time, make sure to call at that time.
3. In addition to calling, email the lead, which also allows you to build a database of prospects.
4. Call as if they may have already talked to several other lenders, and build value in your offer.
I have definitely noticed, given the same type of quality leads, that my customers who have disciplined lead response practices will consistently outperform those who don't.
*http://www.leadresponsemanagement.org/mit_study
Eric Kates is a licensed Real estate broker who studied Economics at the University of Southern California. He practiced commercial real estate for 10 years in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, CA where his focus was on sales, leasing and property management. In 1995 Eric co-founded a successful call capture company where he worked with real estate agents and loan officers. He spent 13 years as the CFO. For more than 10 years, Eric has been in the lead generation business and he is the CEO of www.mortgageleads.com.
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