Increasing Efficiency and Effectiveness of Following Up

Ready, fire, aim. Spin the big wheel. Throw a dart. Does your mortgage lead follow-up strategy fall into one of these categories?

Random methods produce random results. To make the most of your mortgage leads, you need a suitable follow-up plan – and a means to measure the effectiveness of your plan.

Have an Established Cadence

It’s rare when a single contact results in a successful mortgage closing. Most leads require a structured follow-up plan to achieve the best results. Without a sufficient follow-up strategy, potentially useful leads will wither away or gravitate toward your competitors.

Different markets respond to different contact methods and the sequence and cadence of those contacts. Perhaps it’s phone contact every week. Maybe it’s an alternating campaign of phone calls and e-mails with a larger gap between contacts if there’s no response. Would your market be receptive to Twitter or social media?

Find the best follow-up strategy for your demographic. Examine previous results to see what has worked well in the past. If you don’t have a solid campaign, you may be forgotten when the borrower is ready to act – and competitors may take advantage.

Seasoned sales staff will always have occasion to trust their gut on follow-up strategy. To maximize success, make that the exception rather than the rule.

Track Results

Keep track of your closing rates to verify the effectiveness of your strategy. Are they trending up or down?

Lead conversion will naturally vary due to factors that are out of your control. Seasonal variations, economic conditions, and borrower factors can confound your results. Don’t panic or celebrate when you see short-term variations (unless they represent a phenomenal change) but monitor long-term trends to verify that your approach is working.

Besides tracking your close rate, examine every step of the sales funnel. Track performance and set benchmarks for each stage, and you’ll get actionable data to learn which methods to replicate and which to avoid.

Lead Quality Matters

Efficiency may be hard to properly assess if your mortgage leads are substandard to begin with. Your numbers will be poor, but understandably so.

Review the quality of your leads as part of your strategy. You may be getting poor efficiency because your leads are outdated, oversold, or just plain wrong. But accept accountability for what is your responsibility.

Change As Required

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The origin of this phrase is murky, but the message is solid – and it applies to failing mortgage businesses.

If you’re satisfied with your lead quality and follow-up methods still aren’t effective, change your methods.

It’s that simple.

It may require a different follow-up strategy, different people to execute your strategy, or both. Tough decisions may be required – but if you aren’t going to act on your findings, why bother tracking your results at all?

Don’t Give Up

Be persistent. Even if a lead goes with someone else, that doesn’t mean you can’t help them in the future. Always show that you can be their solution throughout all of the key life financial needs.

Efficiency Leads to Conversions

When all factors come together – a suitable lead supply, talented and trained staff, established cadences and sequences that allow you to properly nurture leads, and persistence – there are few limits to what your mortgage business can do.

Watch your conversion rates grow and take pride in your progress. Take a little credit while you’re at it. You deserve it.