Is There a Difference Between a Mortgage Broker and a Real Estate Agent?

There are a lot of moving parts to a real estate transaction and several key players collaborating to close the deal. If you’re new to real estate lingo, you may have a lot of questions. One of the most common questions we get is, “is there a difference between a mortgage broker and a real estate agent?”

Keep reading to learn what real estate roles have in common and what makes them different so that you can choose the right partnership to invest in.

Real estate agent vs. mortgage broker

Real estate agents and mortgage brokers share similar requirements. Both are licensed real estate professionals within the industry. Each role works directly with clients interested in acquiring real estate properties -- both commercial and residential.

When you start digging into the real estate market, you hear a lot of interchangeable terms like:

• Mortgage broker
• Real estate broker
• Realtor
• Real estate agent
• Realty broker

All these similar terms get used interchangeably and confuse consumers. Real estate brokers have additional training and certifications that allow them to originate mortgage loans.

To simplify it for you, we’re going to divide all these titles into two key phrases:

• Broker
• Agent

A broker is a person who negotiates on a buyer’s behalf in tandem with the lender. An agent represents the buyer or seller at all times and does not negotiate any loan terms. However, the agent may negotiate the cost of a property purchase for a buyer or a seller.

Breakdown of a real estate agent’s role

Real estate agents are sales professionals licensed to conduct real estate transactions. They generally work under a real estate broker. Their main focus is to represent the buyer or seller transaction.

Different types of real estate agents

As mentioned previously, we can assume that the term “agent” is a person who represents a buyer or seller. Since real estate agents take on different roles, they are labeled differently. The real estate hierarchy can seem complicated when you realize there are a lot of terms used in the industry. It’s easier to get comfortable with the lingo once you understand the basic terms.

• Realtor. A realtor carries a membership to the National Association of REALTORS®. While a realtor still performs the usual responsibilities as a regular real estate agent, they may take on other duties and perform as an associate broker. Realtors may charge more than other types of real estate agents.
• Seller’s agent. A seller’s agent is also referred to as the listing agent since they represent the seller. The seller’s agent is a marketing professional whose intention is to position the property in the most positive light to close a sale. They assist the seller by listing the property on a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) database.
• Buyer’s agent. The buyer’s agent solely represents the buyer. They are sales professionals with diverse market knowledge. They are the agents that will most likely specialize in specific neighborhoods and know all about the demographic areas to promote a property to the buyer. They are also responsible for showing the properties to prospects.
• Dual agent. A dual agent represents both the seller and the buyer. Representing the buyer and the seller may not be in anyone’s best interest but the agents. Some people choose to be a dual agent so that they don’t have to split the commission between the buyer’s or seller’s agent.
  Dual agency can spark caution for potential clients since a buyer’s interest is in conflict with a seller’s interest. Both want the best deal. A buyer may attempt to negotiate down while a seller may want to negotiate at cost or higher if there is competition.

Breakdown of a mortgage broker’s role

Unlike a real estate agent, the broker acts as a liaison by working with both the lender and the borrower. They must have additional licensing that enables them to perform duties within the lending sector. The broker works in the interest of the buyer or borrower to find the best loan to meet the borrower’s needs based on qualifications. The broker’s goal is to find the borrower the best:

• Loan type
• Interest rate
• Loan terms
• Lowest closing costs

Because mortgage brokers' responsibilities cross over into the lending field, they are often confused with loan officers.

Difference between mortgage brokers and loan officers

Both mortgage brokers and loan officers share similar knowledge and responsibilities. They are often confused since a mortgage broker may originate mortgage loans. The difference between the two roles is that the broker acts in the borrower’s interest, while the loan officer represents the lending institution.

The loan officer is licensed as a mortgage loan originator (MLO). There are licensed professional loan officers and registered loan officers. Registered loan officers typically work directly for a lending institution, while licensed loan officers have more stringent educational requirements.

As stated earlier, a broker negotiates on behalf of the buyer/borrower. On the other hand, the loan officer becomes the sales representative representing the lending institution. Their goal is to provide you with the information you need to choose the best mortgage that fits your needs.

Is it best to be a real estate agent or a broker?

Being a real estate agent or a broker has advantages. Many professionals choose to start off as agents before transitioning into more complex roles like a broker or a loan officer. Both roles offer great business opportunities with flexible income potential. The best way to decide is to ask yourself. Do you want to interact with the clients more actively as an agent, or are you more task or process-oriented and prefer the duties performed by the broker?

The differences are in the outcome in real estate

While there are crossover functions between real estate roles, there are key differences between a mortgage broker and a real estate agent. The real estate business is a complex beehive system for someone getting started. However, you can Contact Us if you have any questions.

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Loan Officer Tips: Building Your Referral Network

A strong referral network is vital to building trust in your financial transactions and competitive portfolio. A referral network is a collection of individuals who recommend the business to one another, and it's an excellent method to expand your customer base.

If you’re a loan officer, you should constantly be on the lookout for referral opportunities. Furthermore, making sure everyone in your network knows about them definitely can help.

Read on and learn how to develop your referral network optimally.

Importance of building a referral network

A referral network is vital for several reasons. For starters, it may increase your revenue so you can become fully self-sustaining. Also, having a solid networking organization with qualified members means you recommend new clients to each other.

People who only conduct business via recommendations have established referral networks (e.g., lawyers, local businesses). Join one of these groups or establish your own within your business.

You'll immediately get access to a large number of prospective clients since everyone in the group is interested in recommending each other's current customers.

Is it difficult to build a loan officer referral network?

As a loan officer, you know how important it is to have a strong referral network. With so many other loan officers out there, it is hard to stand out from being just another professional. And it’s more challenging if you’re new.

So here are some strategies you can use to help you.

Strategies in building a loan officer referral network

According to this statistic, 81 percent of top loan officers make referrals to earn referrals. Connect and engage with your network and watch who’s also helping to give back to you. Also, take notice of who’s active in building their own leads list.

These are the types of people who can really add value when you’re building your own list of leads and potential clients. Just be sure that you’re giving back to them too!

1. Social media

In the realm of referral building, social media is still king in today’s digital landscape. But, according to Loan Officer Hub, only 20 percent of top loan officers use social media. It’s still an untapped marketplace for you to take advantage of.
Increasing your social media presence has several significant advantages:

• It broadens the audience for your website and services.
• You may promote your services for free by putting links to your company website on social media platforms.
• Your search rating improves as well since Google and other search engines favor websites with plenty of inbound links.

Follow these easy steps to improve your social media presence and referral network:

• Join relevant social media sites and link to them on your website to build your prospect database.
• Constantly update relevant material to keep people engaged.
• Remember, you're on social media, so keep things current or “evergreen” (relevant for the long haul).
• Become a market authority by adding external links from professionals who provide relevant information.

2. Real estate agents

As a loan officer, you want to seek out assistance from people that share your target demographic. These experts can help you establish a strong referral network since their clients are searching for the same services you offer - there's no excuse not to ask for recommendations.

Besides the obvious reasons, real estate agents are great to network with and ask for referrals because they’re constantly building their leads list just like you. But more importantly, their clients are typically the exact type of client you want to secure too. As real estate agents help people to buy homes, these homebuyers will most likely need your services.

3. Establish a local presence

Attending local activities is another method to meet referral partners. These gatherings are always crowded with networkers. Also, statistics show the significance of this approach, with 42 percent of top loan officers attending events.

Introduce yourself to everyone you meet at these events if you haven't made this a practice yet.

An easy place to start is at your local chamber of commerce, which you can find through a quick Google search. Many people go to such events with business opportunities in mind, and it’s much easier to connect with potential leads or referrers in that environment.

4. Current and previous clients

Contacting existing or former customers builds rapport and generates recommendations, too.

Because current customers already know about your company and your services, it's simpler to persuade them to recommend someone who needs what you have to offer.

Be sure to be genuine when you reach out, taking an interest in whatever they choose to share with you. In exchange, you may inquire whether they know of anybody else who could require your services.

5. Build genuine connection

Making genuine connections with current clients is a great approach to learn about their network. This has to do a lot with being a good communicator.

For example, say your client has just moved into their new home and you’ve really been communicative with them the whole time. They’re so happy with your service and support and thank you for everything.

That’s the perfect time to ask your client for a referral from their friends or acquaintances. You don’t always need to wait until the final transaction has finished; you can ask right then and there, especially when your client has expressed how valuable you’ve been to the process of getting them into a new home.

Start building a solid referral network.

Building trust in your financial transactions requires a strong referral network.

This is because people are often most willing to purchase from people and companies they know and trust or have been recommended by friends.

And it's also something that you can do without any complicated process; just be consistent and find what works best for you.

If you need help building up your customer base using this method, contact Good Vibes Squad today for more information about how we make it easy!

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What is A Contact Management?

Are you confused about the different contact management software (CMS) systems available for your business? It can be overwhelming when you define your business processes to increase the efficiency of your day-to-day interactions. This article will help you understand contact management and the difference between contact management and customer relationship management (CRM).

Our goal is to help you choose the right business software resource for your business needs. The first step to choosing the right option is understanding your business marketing needs. If you are still in the process of analyzing your current growth plan and marketing goals, schedule a free call with us for a Fastrack marketing strategy session.

When it comes to contact management, loan officers and other real estate professionals need to remain organized and have software systems in place that help build and foster customer relationships.

What is contact management?

Contact management is a data management system that allows you to manage contact details. With the right CMS, you can store and manage your customers, prospects, and leads.

The original contact management system was manual and done with a good old-fashioned writing utensil and paper. At one time, Rolodex and Filofax were the way businesses managed contacts. Imagine someone flipping through the paper roll of cards trying to find a contact manually. That was the Rolodex. The Filofax was the original organizer encased in leather. With technical advancements, both developed into desk-top-based software solutions with digital contact management functionality.

With the shift into direct marketing, businesses faced some challenges on the sales floor trying to manage the fast-paced requirements of prospecting and managing leads, contacts, and clients efficiently. The world of contact management changed when Exsell for DOS was introduced to the market by Excalibur Sources in 1984.

The introduction of digital contact management helped businesses get more organized by allowing data to be stored centrally. Although helpful, these older systems proved to be cumbersome in the long run.

Why do you need a contact management system?

A lot of new business owners start from scratch with the basics of contact management when creating an organization. For many people, this looks like saving contacts in an email address book, a phone book. This is a simple and free process when your business is getting started.

When you have a small client database, it’s easier to remember names, activity details and deals. As you develop your business, you increase your interactions to a level that you start forgetting details. If you don’t stay organized, you’ll begin to missing follow-up requirements.

If you want to become more efficient with tracking your prospects, leads, and customers, you need a contact management system to help you stay organized and track your activities.

• The right CMS will help you:
• Store contact details efficiently
• Manage activities
• Record notes to remember the latest interactions
• Organize data for easier search functionality

What is included in a typical contact management system software?

Contact management software is beneficial for small businesses since it offers useful data storage features. Although you can use any data management tool to track contacts, contact software systems allow you to have more user-friendly functionality.

If you were born before the 90’s, chances are you have used Excel for data storage. People are still secretly using Excel to track data for their businesses because it is simple and useful. While Excel is useful, it helps to upgrade to specialized software developed to managing contacts.

Outdated data tracking software tends to be manual and cumbersome, while contact management software is created to store:

• Contact information (name, address, email address, social media, and website links)
• Limited activity tracking (appointments, call history, and conversation history)
• Add workflow notes
• Organization (easy search functionality, alphabetized data storage)

Some contact management tools are more advanced and can integrate calendar management features.

What is the difference between a CMS and a CRM system?

While contact management software is a great tool to manage data, you can take it up a step for your business by upgrading to a customer relationship management tool (CRM).

A CRM is similar to a customer management system, but the key difference is that a CMS is made to manage data, and a CRM is made to manage relationships and sales.

Customer relationship management is more advanced than contact management because of its complex functionality. The features within a CRM were developed to improve sales processes through automation and analytics. Many CRM providers offer application software features and upgrades to integrate marketing automation software, email automation software, and more.

A CRM offers advanced functionality like:

• Workflow management
• Workflow automation
• Comprehensive activity tracking
• Automated email integration
• Reports and dashboards for analytics

A great example of a great real estate contact management system is our proprietary 3 phase AAA formula loan acquisition system called the Unfair Advantage. The Unfair Advantage is a CRM system specifically designed for the real estate loan acquisition sales process.

A CRM can be used to attract prospects with marketing. The sales workflow can be automated. Once you’ve identified a sales process, you can set the system up to trigger automated workflows. In the loan acquisition process, this can look like:

• Attract your prospect
• Convert your prospect into a lead with the opt-in offer
• Qualify the lead through an automated qualification process
• Once qualified, the lead is guided to schedule an appointment on your calendar

All these workflows can be automated within a CRM. In comparison, a CMS is limited in functionality. A CRM can increase business revenues by 41% (bigcontacts.com). When you consider that ROI, upgrading to a CRM makes sense.

Contact relationship management software can increase your bottom-line

If you want to streamline your business contacts by being more organized, you need a contact management system to be competitive and efficient. If you’re ready to amplify your sales processes and convert your leads into opportunities, you can always upgrade to a CRM. Contact Us if you have any questions about how our system can maximize your lead conversion.

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Can a Real Estate Agent Be a Loan Officer?

Real estate professionals tend to take on many roles to remain competitive in the industry and maximize profitability. Some professionals may even wonder, “can a real estate agent be a loan officer?”

The short answer is yes. A real estate agent can be a loan officer and visa versa. It may seem like a no-brainer to take on both responsibilities when trying to streamline your business. However, becoming a loan officer and a real estate agent at the same time can pose ethical challenges with limitations.

Loan Officers vs. Real Estate Agents

Loan officers and real estate agents have different license requirements. A real estate agent’s focus is sales. The entire process is sales-oriented -- from finding leads to finding the right home or commercial property for a buyer.

A real estate agent is acting in the interest of the buyer or seller. The agent is required to have knowledge about the market, industry trends, and demographic data.

A loan officer’s process is less sales-oriented, although sales are always a requirement for lead acquisition. Unlike a real estate agent, a loan officer’s sales process can be less hands-on and more automated with systems like the Unfair Advantage. The loan officer represents the buyer and acts as the liaison between the borrower and the lender.

Responsibilities of Loan Officers

A loan officer’s role is more data-driven and focused on loan qualification. They don’t need to know about area demographics. All focus is if the borrower can qualify for a loan. A loan officer would only need to remain knowledgeable about any industry impact changes that could affect the bottom line of approval odds for future clients.

Responsibilities of Real Estate Agents

The best real estate professionals have a wide range of industry knowledge and training to remain in demand in a highly competitive market. They are not only knowledgeable of housing trends and current market value rates but also specialize in knowing details about area demographics like

• Local schools
• Neighborhood
• Salary mediums
• Local businesses

A real estate agent is also responsible for knowing basic loan requirements and any industry-impacting changes for the different mortgage loan types.

Can realtors be loan agents at the same time?

It is legal for realtors to become loan officers at the same time. However, regulations were created to avoid conflicts of interest that can lead to poor business ethics.

The Real Estate Settlement Act (RESPA) ensures that there cannot be any transactional benefits between a loan officer and a real estate agent (adwerx.com). This restriction protects both the lender and the borrower from unethical behaviors that are motivated by financial gain.

• A real estate agent may not represent the same client in the role of both the agent and the loan officer at the same time.
• Licensed loan officers may not offer FHA Loans for a client while acting as the agent.

While a loan officer may represent conventional mortgage loans while acting as the agent, most real estate agencies prefer not to work with individuals with both licenses. This prejudice is a strict act of liability control.

Many real estate professionals choose to become licensed as both the agent and the officer because it allows them the flexibility to earn an additional independent income. Unfortunately, they cannot be employed by an FHA-approved lender or by an agency that originates FHA loans since the agency does not want the liability of ensuring that the agent/officer remains compliant with the regulations. The FHA will cite lenders for having employees with outside employment that violates any regulations.

Should you pick one or choose both?

It can be advantageous for a loan officer to become a licensed real estate agent. This allows one to promote themselves as a one-stop shop. Some restrictions can still impact your bottom line, like not being able to offer an FHA loan.

This limitation affects your qualification pipeline since these government-backed loans are the most popular loans for first-time buyers. The FHA loan is the most flexible loan for a wider range of buyers.

A real estate agent can be a loan officer

A real estate agent can be a loan officer at the same time, but the restrictions put into place by industry regulation do pose a challenge. Each role performs dynamic responsibilities that take focus and time.

The truth is- you really don’t need to be both. It’s actually easier to choose one path when you have a Fastrack marketing growth strategy in place keeping you so busy, you won’t have time to take on both responsibilities. Instead of trying to do both, you can contact us to learn how to find the right real estate referral partners to manage your business growth.

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Closing Gift Ideas from a Loan Officer to Drive Repeat Business

Nothing is more refreshing to your clients than getting a personalized gift of exceptional quality that welcomes them into their new homes. Read more for great ideas for closing gifts that will have your clients bragging about working with you to all their contacts.

One of the easiest ways to get new business is through referrals. Making an unforgettable impression with a personalized closing gift for your clients is one way to get repeat business and referrals. When you add a closing gift to your mortgage loan process workflow, you optimize your sales process and upgrade your customer service above other loan officers.

If you want to learn more about creating strategies for optimizing your sales process, get the Unfair Advantage™ over your competition.

What is a closing gift?

Once your client closes on their new home, the elation levels are high, and it’s time to celebrate for both of you. A closing gift is the best way to tell your client “thank you” now that business has been concluded.

It’s also a pleasant way to share the excitement with your client. You are creating a bond forged from months of working together and developing a relationship.

Why are loan officers giving closing gifts?

Brand loyalty is created by developing a relationship. A personalized closing gift will show just how much you know your client. It also promotes a relationship versus a transactional experience.

When a client closes on a house, they immediately start thinking about all the things they must do. They are on a mission to move to the next step in the process. You do not want to be forgotten before the ink dries on the contract.

When you give a closing gift, you immediately get your client’s attention because you are showing your appreciation. Brand loyalty creates repeat business as well as new business opportunities through referrals.

How to choose the perfect closing gift

Gift shopping is not an intuitive process for all people, but the good news is that you can personalize your gift just by being considerate of your client’s circumstances. For example, your client will be so focused on the logistics of getting into their new home. They may be too busy for day-to-day functions. You can give a 30-day gift certificate to an online meal delivery service that can help them have prepared dinners delivered a few times a week.

It’s always good to get to know your clients while working with them by building rapport. After you’ve narrowed down your options with personalized details, you can think about other logistics.

1. Buy a gift that lasts long.

You want to be unforgettable to make a lasting impression. Buy your client something that has a long-shelf life. An example of this could be a new stainless steel espresso machine to go with the stainless-steel kitchen appliances already in the home.

2. The best closing gifts are personal

Think about who your client is based on the conversations you’ve had over the months you’ve been working together. You should have been doing reconnaissance to build rapport. It’s always good to get to know more about your client besides their credit score and income.

You need to know your client on an intimate level to choose the perfect closing gift. In order to do this, you need to ask personal questions. Ask your client open-ended personal questions like:

• What is the first thing you plan on doing to celebrate after you close?
• Do you have any favorite restaurants?
• Are you a coffee drinker or a tea drinker?
• Do you have any pets or children?
• Do you enjoy the arts?
• What do you like to do in town for entertainment?

Knowing these personal details about your client will help you come up with great ideas for closing gifts. Here are some of our recommendations to get your creativity flowing.

3. Practical closing gifts show your consideration.

Never underestimate the value of practical gifts over whimsical and charming gifts. For example, if your client is moving from an apartment to a home with a lawn, an excellent practical gift would be a lawnmower if they plan on managing their own lawn. When you buy a client something useful, you are showing how considerate you are to their needs.

4. Never miss an opportunity to brand your closing gift.

All gifts should be memorable, but so should your brand. Branding keeps the practicality of your gift’s memory alive. Some people may feel uncomfortable about branding a gift, but you can and should do it tastefully based on the gift.

Think of gift branding like this: many high-end designers promote their brand loudly with large labels that compete with the design. Some fashion designers are more subtle and brand their products gracefully and discreetly.

Great ideas for closing gifts

Not everyone is an extrovert who is comfortable with asking personal questions, and that’s alright. You can always personalize your closing gift by focusing on external details like the house and the neighborhood.

Externally focused, well-thought-of quality gifts can also be personalized and help you set the foundation for repeat business and referrals.

1. Home-inspired gifts are thoughtful.

Help your client focus on the logistics of moving with home-inspired closing gifts. Home-inspired gift options are unlimited. You can buy:

• Candles
• Hand soap and lotion gift sets for the bathrooms and/or kitchen
• Decorative house plants

2. Locally sourced gifts welcome your clients to their new community

As soon as you know the house’s address that your client is closing on, you should be researching the neighborhood if you don’t already know it. This allows you to know the neighborhood.

• Restaurants
• Shopping centers
• Cafes
• Schools
• Businesses

Knowing the neighborhood showcases your expertise as well as allows you to provide locally sourced gifts. Let your client get to know the businesses in the area immediately with neighborhood-themed gift baskets.

3. Custom paintings are dazzling gifts.

Custom paintings offer a charm to gift-giving. This is such a unique and unforgettable gift. One custom painting gift that is sure to impress is a painting of your client’s new home. You can have one commissioned by sending a picture of the home to an artist.

4. Consultation with an interior designer.

When you give your client the gift of a consultation with an interior designer, you allow them to build even more excitement around making their new house the home of their dreams.

5. Wine gift box

If you know that your client enjoys drinking wine, a wine gift box and a personal card is a pleasant surprise. Imagine giving your client the gift of sitting in their new home with a calming glass of wine after a busy day of moving.

If you know what type of films or music they enjoy, you can even throw in a movie or YouTube music subscription with a recommended playlist for them to enjoy while they sip their wine.

Exceptional customer experiences create opportunities.

When you develop rapport with your clients, you put yourself in a position to provide the best closing gifts. Closing gifts turn transactions into relationships and create a memorable customer service experience that promotes brand loyalty.

Brand loyalty creates repeat business partnerships and new opportunities through referrals. If you need help brainstorming the perfect closing gift ideas, Contact Us. We love sharing ideas that make opportunities.

Closing Gift Ideas from a Loan Officer to Drive Repeat Business is available on: https://goodvibesquad.com

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Your Guide on How to Use Google Ads to Generate Mortgage Leads

Are you an entrepreneur or business owner looking for a way to generate leads? If so, Google Ads may be the perfect tool for you. We're going to show you how to use google ads in an instant.

Google Ads can advertise for you on search engines. Furthermore, many different types of ads can be used, depending on your target audience and budget. For instance, you can start with text ads, image ads, video ads, or use remarketing campaigns with display networks.

The best part about this is that Google handles everything for you in the backend, so it's up to you to take advantage of it. This article will provide an overview of using this platform in generating mortgage leads and some tips that can help increase your conversion rates. So, let’s get started.

Tips on how to effectively use Google Ads

Google Ads is a powerful tool for small business owners. The very first thing you have to do is set up a free AdWords account and create an ad group with keywords that relate to your product or service.

Google Ads, also known as AdWords, is a platform that allows small business owners to advertise via their website. With this system, you can target specific demographics and keywords to get your ads seen by more users. Ready to increase your profits from Google Ads? It's easy with these tips!

1. Narrow targeting

One thing that will help you get the most out of your Google Ads investment is narrow targeting. Google Ads allows you to target particular demographics on specific keywords, ensuring that your ad is shown only in front of your target market. These can be people who are already searching for your services; or those who showed interest.

Narrowing your targeting is a better approach than targeting a broad audience because you’ll be able to generate more quality leads. The more specific you can get, the more likely you’ll be shown to your avatar clients.

When you niche down, you don’t have to compete with your competitors in the same way you would with a broader audience. Plus, when you show your target audience you really understand their needs, they’ll be more likely to buy from you.

2. Keywords

Your keywords should match the intent of your potential customers who would find your services. Having the right keywords will help your ad get in front of your target market. With the right keywords and matching user intent, you can get more clicks to your website. And the more clicks you have, the more quality leads you can get.

Not only gets your ads in front of the right audience, but it also can save you on the cost of the ads themselves. It’s worth taking the time to understand what keywords will work best for you and your desired outcomes.

Here are some tips for utilizing Google Ads keywords:

• Include word variations of your product or service
• Target a particular demographic with a keyword
• Develop a focused ad for a specific demographic

3. Budget

If you're looking for a way to increase your profits with Google Ads, a healthy budget is vital. However, when thinking about how much you want to allocate, one thing is where your business falls on the spectrum - an established business with a large customer base, or a bootstrapped startup.

4. Ads location

The best way to take advantage of Google Ads is to advertise on searches. This type of advertising enables you to target specific search terms and demographics. Therefore, it's easy for small businesses to control their ad campaigns without any technical knowledge.

5. Optimize ads for conversions

As a prospective marketer, you want to make sure your ads drive conversions and return on investment. It will help to learn about critical metrics that show the effectiveness of your ad campaigns and ways to tie those results back into campaign optimization.

6. Landing pages

Landing pages can be the game changers of your marketing campaign. After you have created your landing page, it is time to start evaluating your success for that page. This can be done by looking at things like goal conversion rates and bounce rates.

7. Lead magnet

One of the things that have been shown to have a positive impact on conversion rates for small businesses is lead magnets. Lead magnets are incentives for your website visitors, much like how you might give out coupons or other offers offline.

8. Remarketing

Remarketing is a powerful way to advertise and promote your business. It enables you to display ads specific to people who have already visited your company's website. For example, one way of getting the most out of your Google Ads campaign is by utilizing remarketing on Google Search and YouTube Ads.

9. Test and optimize ads

Testing and optimizing Google Ads is something that every company, small or large, should be doing for their ads. However, it can seem like a complicated process.

The first step in testing is to understand who your target audience is.

You'll want to consider their age groups, demographics, behaviors, and psychographics. Once you know who they are, then you'll want to break down what keywords they might use on their search engine.

Tips on how to use advertising display campaign ads effectively

Advertising display in Google campaign ads is a great way to promote your business. It allows you to reach large audiences that may not have otherwise seen your product or service. However, if the advertising display is done incorrectly, it can be ineffective and expensive. The following are some tips on how to use these ads effectively.

1. Use retargeting campaigns

Retargeting campaigns are a great marketing technique to promote your business. Retargeting campaigns are also known as remarketing campaigns. They can be tailored to the interests of people who visit your site, making it easier than using the display campaign.

2. Correct display ad size and format

The size of your ad on a given website will depend on the type of ad you are using. For instance, text ads generally take up less space than display ads. So the first thing to consider is how much room you have available for your ad.

Also, take into account things like how large your logo appears on the page and what other ads are around it.

3. Use data to improve conversion

The one thing to know about conversion is the number of people who make the action. It could be a purchase, call, or filling out forms. There are a few things that you should never do if you want to improve conversion rates for your company.

For example, don’t rely solely on pop-ups or push notifications. These can harm conversions since they take up the essential part of the page.

Conquer the search engine with Google Ads

Google Ads is a very good way to get your business in front of the right audience. You can reach people at any stage in their journey.

Additionally, you'll have access to tools that will help you understand how your campaigns are performing so you can make changes as needed.

We know it's not easy running a mortgage business by yourself, which is why we at Good Vibe Squad want to be there for you every step of the way. Our goal is to provide businesses like yours with everything they need to succeed in this industry.

Contact us today for more information about how Google Ads can benefit your business!

The following blog post Your Guide on How to Use Google Ads to Generate Mortgage Leads was originally published to: goodvibesquad.com

Original post here: Your Guide on How to Use Google Ads to Generate Mortgage Leads

Benefits of Google Ads to Grow Your Mortgage Business

Advertising works. It works so well that even Google advertises. They also provide advertising services. Keep reading to learn the benefits of Google Ads to grow your mortgage business.

Sponsored advertising brings in millions of leads for businesses. Your mortgage business can benefit from using Google Ads as a part of your marketing strategy. One ad campaign can be paid for with just one customer deal. Imagine running a campaign that brings you a six, seven, or even eight-figure return.

Google is the most used search engine in the US, with an estimated unique monthly visitors at 1.6 billion (searchenginewatch.com). That is 72.48% of the world's market reach. Google brings in the most traffic compared to any other search engine, both paid and organic traffic.

While organic traffic is possible when you implement search engine optimization (SEO) strategies, using Google Ads will narrow down your website visitors with a targeted reach that has been filtered to attract your ideal prospect.

Paid advertising vs. organic advertising

Paid advertising is a sponsored promotion of your brand. When you conduct a Google search, you will notice that the first search results that appear usually have an AD icon next to the hyperlink name. These website pages have priority over other search results because they are Google paid ads.

This is used to direct more visitors to your landing page or website. Increased traffic means increased opportunities for lead generation.

Organic advertising is any type of advertising effort that does not require payment. One organic advertising strategy used today is SEO. When you have a website that produces consistent marketing content and strong SEO, your website will develop Google’s trust over time, giving Google a signal that your website has valuable content or resources that will benefit the user.

If you type in something as simple as “how to get a mortgage loan,” you will notice that the top options are ads. The first result that is not an ad is a website that uses content marketing strategies with excellent SEO that is valuable and has, over time, developed enough authority and credibility to be in the top five search results on Google.

Content marketing websites create blogs with high-value keyword search phrases to drive traffic to offer products, services, or ads. Some websites offer one or all simultaneously.

Paid advertising yields results

Not all websites are set up to be SEO, content marketing traffic machines. You can have a website like that and wait months to build organic traffic or take advantage of paid advertising. Google Ads works well for driving targeted traffic to your website immediately.

If you have a landing page with great copywriting and a call-to-action, Google Ads can help you get more mortgage leads for your business. Paid advertising is an important resource to consider because it works to bring brand awareness. Awareness is the first part of any sales stage.

Organic traffic takes time to create brand awareness, while paid advertising creates immediate results.

How Google Ads works

Google Ads used to be known as Google AdWords. You can target your ads by using specific keywords like “get a mortgage” or “get a mortgage loan.” This allows your ad to align with search queries.

The great news is that you get to control the costs of your campaign. You create the budget, and Google will advise you of an estimated reach based on your budget.

When using Google Ads, you want to make sure it is targeted to reach your ideal prospect. You will be able to add:

• Location
• Demographics; age, location, language
• Timeframe: choose when the ad runs
• Devices: You can have your ad appear on any digital medium.

Google Ads will help you measure the success of your campaign with their analytics by allowing you to monitor prospect behaviors. You can adjust your ads as needed. You can manage your campaigns at your desk or on the go through the phone app.

When you create a Google Ad, your ads will show in front of your target prospect. When a prospect enters a keyword search relevant to your ad, you will appear in a prominent spot on their search results.

The great news is that you only pay when a prospect clicks on your ad. This means you get paid for interested prospects instead of random parties. This is why you need to make sure your ad is made to target the right people.

Why is Google Ads useful for your business?

When considering all the benefits of paid advertising, I can’t imagine not paying for it as long as you have a powerful marketing funnel system in place to manage your new influx of leads generated by Google Ads. The Unfair Advantage helps loan officers create disruptive ads to target their ideal clients and bring them into the right marketing funnels to filter out ones who won’t qualify.

1. Build brand awareness

When you have the right business systems in place, Google Ads will help you build your brand awareness by bringing you people who are already searching for your business.

2. Increases leads and customers

When your paid ad brings leads to your landing page, you can just relax and let your automated pre-qualification system take your prospect through a guided experience. If you haven’t already automated your sales process, let's get on a Fastrack call so that you can see how our Triple A Formula can attract qualified leads. We can help you automate the sales process so that your Google Ad can start the first step to bringing prospects into your funnel.

3. Wide reach

Google is just about everywhere these days. You have:

• Google Internet
• Google Mobile
• Google App Store
• Gmail
• YouTube

This means you have a wide reach. Google already has a massive customer base. If you want to increase brand visibility, you can create a video ad. Google can populate your ad in a display network campaign in other Google products like YouTube, Gmail, Google Store, and more. The benefit of using display advertising with Google to build brand awareness is increased visibility. Video content marketing is the hot new brand awareness strategy.

Google’s reach is almost unlimited, and you can take a piece of the pie.

Invest in your business to see actual results

When you have a list of all the benefits of Google Ads, there really isn’t a reason not to invest in your business to increase your lead generation results. Investing in your business means being confident enough to know that you are serious about creating unlimited financial growth.

If you feel hesitant and need more guidance for defining the best marketing strategy for your business, don’t hesitate to contact us.

The following article Benefits of Google Ads to Grow Your Mortgage Business was originally seen on: https://goodvibesquad.com/

Original post here: Benefits of Google Ads to Grow Your Mortgage Business

Guide on How to Qualify Leads for Mortgage Loans

Time is the most valuable resource loan officers have when it comes to creating a high revenue-producing business. Therefore, it’s important to know how to qualify leads for mortgage loans immediately.

The top reasons borrowers are rejected for loans are:

• A low credit score
• Recent negative credit history
• Bankruptcy
• Debt-to-income ratios.

At the beginning of 2019, 78% of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck. COVID-19 left 33.5 million Americans filing for unemployment (cnn.com). These factors have a significant impact on the mortgage loan industry.

The mortgage loan pre-approval process has always been the most important step in the lead qualification stage of the sales cycle. Therefore, we are sharing our guide on how to qualify leads for mortgage loans.

Considering the economic factors mentioned above, it is crucial to have quality leads for your business to avoid wasting your time and your prospect’s time. Mortgage lead generation should follow an efficient process of qualification and appropriate funnel delegation.

What is a qualified lead?

A qualified lead is someone who meets all the qualifications to conduct business with you all the way to the close of the deal.
An unqualified lead may be interested in doing business with you; however, they don’t meet the criteria.

For example, Jane Smith is an excited, first-time homebuyer with good credit, but she doesn’t have enough money for the down payment. Instead of spending extra time with her, disqualify her immediately and send her through a lead nurturing financial education funnel that teaches her how to save for her future home.

Another example is someone who has poor credit and won’t meet the criteria of any of your lenders. You would disqualify them; however, you can send them through your debt repair lead nurturing funnel.

Both are unqualified leads that may convert into future clients once they meet the qualifications.

Importance of lead qualification

Lead qualification is the most important step in the sales cycle. If you don’t take the time to prequalify your lead ahead of time, you will end up spending hours, days, and even weeks focusing on a deal that won't close. Focusing on the wrong deal means you lose out on genuine deals.

Your attention needs to be focused on the right things to be successful.

How to qualify leads and prospects for mortgage loans

Qualifying mortgage leads is an easy process. If you are organized and have a streamlined process, it can be fast-paced. If you automate the process, you save even more time. We have a fully automated lead qualification process that saves time. Check out the Unfair Advantage for yourself.

You need to make sure you’re asking the right questions from the beginning when you’re qualifying your mortgage leads. You need to make sure they are ready to buy. You also need to make sure they are financially capable of handling the responsibility of a long-term financial commitment.

Loan managers have their own set of qualification questions; however, you can believe that all of them target the top criteria pieces.

• Debt
• Income
• Cash assets on hand

Some questions you can ask to make sure you know how to qualify leads and prospects are:

1. What are your goals?

This is a great question to ask because it allows you to know upfront how much thought the buyer has put into purchasing a property. If they seem confused or wishy-washy, you may be talking to someone who just got an idea to start checking on buying a home.

Knowing a prospect’s goals will allow you to see a clear picture of how you can help them.

2. What is your timeline for buying a home?

This question is important because some prospects are ready to buy ASAP, and some of them are looking to buy in the future. A person trying to buy within the next three months is different from a person looking to buy six months or later.

Knowing when a person is ready to buy allows you to offer them a great customer service experience. If a buyer says they want to buy later, you just send them through the appropriate funnel once you get more information from them.

Find out why they are waiting, and you can send them appropriate information to make buying an easier choice for them in the future.

A home buyer ready to buy now is getting warmer. You just need to qualify them financially.

3. What type of property are you looking for?

This question is important because you need to make sure your lender offers a specific type of loan needed for certain property types. Never assume that someone is just looking for a dream home. Some people are looking for investment homes and may need a loan that includes a repair budget.

4. What location do you want to buy?

This question will allow you to showcase your market expertise when you offer properties in your jurisdiction. It may be a waste of time if the person you are working with wants to find a home in another state with different regulations.

5. What is your budget?

Knowing the budget is a part of the financial qualification. Some people don’t realize they need a certain income level for specific loan amounts. Knowing the budget also allows you to determine the lenders you have access to.

You also need to confirm how much money they have available for a down payment. Asking this allows you to know if the borrower has a realistic expectation of the market. You want to make sure the person you’re talking to can afford the down payment, mortgage payment, insurance, and taxes.

6. Have you been pre-approved by a lender?

This is a good question to ask because it allows you to see if they are already talking to other lenders. It’s good to know if you’re being compared to other lenders. This allows you to step up your customer service game. It also lets you know that the person is serious about moving forward if they’ve been pre-approved already. You may be able to offer better terms.

Save time and get more deals closed with qualified leads and prospects

When you know how to qualify leads effectively, you save time and increase your closed-won ratio. If you would like to discuss key strategies that will immediately improve your lead quality check out our Fastrack system.

If you have any other questions about how to streamline your sales pipeline to close deals faster and easier, you can Contact Us with any questions.

Guide on How to Qualify Leads for Mortgage Loans was first published to: https://www.goodvibesquad.com/

Original post here: Guide on How to Qualify Leads for Mortgage Loans

8 Things to Consider When Buying Mortgage Leads

Before you buy mortgage leads, you need to make sure you know what quality control measures you should take to avoid spending money on the wrong leads.

Buying leads can be a beneficial marketing strategy, but it comes with risks if you’re not experienced buying from a vendor. If you want to maximize your opportunity for success when investing in lead companies, here are eight things you should consider.

While we advocate digital marketing opportunities like advertising and using social media platforms, we know that directly contacting qualified prospects leads to conversion when a prospect is targeted correctly.

Purchasing quality mortgage leads can help produce new clients. A quality mortgage lead is a prospect whose contact information has been acquired because they are interested in becoming a home buyer. You want to make sure that if you choose to invest in leads, you ask the appropriate questions to make sure the prospect is within your target client acquisition niche.

Is buying mortgage leads effective in generating quality leads?

The benefit of buying mortgage leads is that you get leads immediately. This allows you to update your pipeline and get back to focusing on closing deals.

The disadvantage of buying leads happens when you don’t do enough research about the quality of leads provided. Some leads have been sold several times and have already been contacted by other loan officers. You may be the fifth or even sixth person who’s called them.

Some unethical lead-generating companies will sell leads that are outdated. Leads get resold on the market repeatedly.

If you purchase poor-quality leads, you risk wasting money. If you would like to know key strategies that will immediately increase your lead quality, check out our Fastrack solution.

Research the company before buying leads

Always research a lead generating company before going into contract with them. Check out their reviews to see what the biggest complaints are. This will save you the hassle of finding out the hard way about customer service issues, quality issues, and more.

When considering which lead generating company you want to work with, be sure to take the following into consideration:

1. Budget

The first thing to consider with any marketing strategy is budget. Plan your budget and stick to it. Don’t rush to buy leads and don’t fall for a good number just because it’s in your budget. If you have an expansive budget, you have more flexibility for the quality level and quantity level.

2. Referrals

If you have any colleagues that you trust who use lead purchasing services, ask for referrals. Ask them about their experience with the companies they work with.

3. Lead source

During your due diligence phase, you would want to investigate the companies you want to do business with to ensure you are getting the best quality leads. Once you find companies you are interested in working with, ask them about their lead sourcing strategy. 

Find out:

• Where do they get their leads (direct acquisition or through other lead purchasing companies)?
• How long have they had the leads?
• How do they update information?

4. Return policy

Look for a company that has a reasonable return policy. For example, if you buy a lead and the contact information is not valid, you should be able to get a return on it.

5. Quality over quantity

Some lead companies will boast that they can give you a lot of leads for a great deal. It sounds good at first, but it’s important to make sure you know the quality of your leads.

Leads sold in bulk are often poor-quality leads that have been resold on the market. The acquisition process is careless. You may end up getting leads that were just on a home buying website because a Facebook Ad promised the chance to win a car for filling out a form. They probably don’t want to buy a home. They wanted a free car.

Quality leads are more expensive, but they have a higher conversion opportunity rate. You will end up paying a lot more for quality leads. It costs more because the lead-generating company puts in more effort during the acquisition phase to bring you a more filtered lead.

6. Filtering option

Filtered leads go through a qualification process that allows buyers to have a higher conversion opportunity. A filtered lead could be specified as an interested first-time home buyer, an interested home buyer who is a veteran, by income level, location, and more.

Filtered leads are more expensive, but you have a better advantage of not wasting time on the wrong ones.

7. Customer service

Make sure the company you are working with is responsive to phone calls and emails. Pay attention to the consistency of information they offer. Ask more than one person the same questions to make sure I get the same answer.

8. Exclusive vs. nonexclusive

If you want to really step up your lead purchasing game, you have the option of buying exclusive leads. For a higher price, you can have fresh leads that are only sold to you by the company. This is beneficial because you will not be one of many loan officers calling the same person in a competitive rush. 

Non-exclusive leads will save you money. They are typically half the cost of exclusive leads. However, keep in mind that the leads have been sold to several other people. Imagine the lead getting the same experience most people get when filling out an online car insurance quote form. A rush of insurance agents scramble to be the first in line to call the person- and it shows.

Can you get mortgage leads for free?

Buying leads is a legitimate way to increase your pipeline, but it does offer the lowest conversion rate of return. Other more effective options you have are leveraging your online presence and your network.

Engage on social media

Social media marketing is an interactive way to create leads. You can build your brand awareness and increase traffic to your website sales funnel. It is a flexible way to provide short content marketing through posts and videos.

Have your own website

Anyone can make a website these days. However, having a professionally designed, easy-to-navigate website with content marketing in place can help establish your credibility.

When your website has the right software in place for qualifying and funneling your prospects appropriately, the conversion rate is higher. People visiting your website found you instead of you searching for them.

Partner with local real estate agents

Networking and industry partnerships are powerful lead-generating opportunities. Leverage your network and partner with your local real estate agents. They are already working with buyers. You can help your real estate partner get their clients the best loan.

You have options

Buying mortgage leads from companies is an option loan officers use to get new leads for their pipeline. Always be diligent about researching the company before deciding on that option.
There are many mortgage lead-generating strategies you can use to increase your sales. You can check out the Unfair Advantage, which is designed to help loan officers generate quality leads with an automated loan acquisition process made to close deals smoothly.
If you have any questions about the best lead-generating option for your business, Contact Us.

The article 8 Things to Consider When Buying Mortgage Leads is available on: https://www.goodvibesquad.com

Original post here: 8 Things to Consider When Buying Mortgage Leads

Types of Facebook Posts That Can Generate Mortgage Leads

Facebook is the most popular global social network used today. If you aren’t using Facebook posts to generate leads, you’re missing out on a phenomenal opportunity.

In the first quarter of 2021, Facebook was reported as the largest social media platform with almost 1.9 billion active daily users globally. Approximately 200 million of which are based in the US (backlinko.com).

With access to an abundance of prospects, you need to know the best types of Facebook posts for businesses that will help you generate mortgage leads.

A significant amount of your time is used to create new business. The great news is that marketing has changed over the last several years with the emergence of social networks. Facebook’s social media platform provides loan officers with a simple way to generate leads.

Understand the Importance of Building Your Facebook Presence

If you don’t have a business page on Facebook or you’ve been neglecting it, now is a good time to get started. Sharing your business presence on the largest social media platform is an opportunity for you to maximize your brand visibility.

When you have a Facebook business page, you are sharing your brand on a marketing platform. You can create engaging Facebook posts that offer valuable content. You can add your contact information and your website address to redirect Facebook visitors.

When you create a Facebook page or group for lead generation, you need a social media marketing plan. If you need help analyzing your current growth plan and marketing efforts, check out our Fastrack strategy to get started.

Engaging Facebook Post Ideas to Generate Leads

The key to generating leads using different types of posts on Facebook is to engage your prospects. Make sure you’re providing value to your readers. The mortgage industry is full of changes, and since you’re the industry expert, you can share your knowledge.
For example, in 2020, the interest rates for mortgage loans hit an amazing low. One Facebook post idea that could have generated leads is:

"You won’t believe this, but mortgage loan rates are at a historical low- less than X% interest. The interest rate has been between XX%-XX% for years. Unbelievable! If you’ve been thinking about buying a home, don’t hesitate. Find out which loan you qualify for today. Don’t let your dream home slip away! Qualify now and lock in your rate!"

You’ve just informed your prospects of an industry update that is a benefit to them. Not only that, but you also provided a call to action so that they could get the pre-qualification process started. 

You can also share valuable tools and free downloads. Upgrade your content to videos to increase your visibility. Facebook is an interactive platform, don’t miss out. Be sure to ask your clients to share testimonials on your page and boost your social proof.

1. Create Facebook content to share industry updates.

Sharing your industry expertise in a blog or a post is an example of content marketing. If you already have a blog on your website, you can use the same content to create your Facebook posts.

Share enough to provide value but keep it short enough so that the reader gets the information in a snippet. If they want to know more, they can choose to engage you because your contact information is on your page.

Sharing industry updates will show your page visitors that you are a knowledgeable resource to keep on top of the industry.

2. Share useful resources and free downloads.

Go above and beyond for your prospects by offering them free gifts. Typically, we call these lead magnets. A popular tool you can offer is a mortgage payment calculator.

If you have a Facebook group, you can upload media files for your prospects to use. You can create informative literature in a downloadable PDF format. An example of a free file you can share is a loan pre-approval checklist.

3. Create engaging videos.

Facebook is participating competitively in the video content marketing field. Content creators are encouraged to create video content to increase visibility and user interest. Video content has a higher click rate than written content and is always encouraged as one of the best types of Facebook posts for businesses.

4. Get those client testimonials.

Using Facebook to generate leads doesn’t end when the sale closes. Social proof is an amazing asset for marketing your brand.

Don’t lose out on getting a testimonial from your client. Get your client on the phone and ask them if you can get a testimonial from them while they’re still excited from the wet ink of a closed deal. If they say yes, let them know you want to tag them on a Facebook post. Guide your testimonial with an outline and ask them to share:

• How did I solve your problem?
• What did you like best about working with me?
• What were you able to achieve by working with me?

“I loved working with you because I was really confused about the process of getting a mortgage loan. You were patient with me and answered all my questions. You helped me get into my dream home when I thought the odds of approval were against me. Thank you for making this happen!”

Feel free to share samples of past testimonials with your client to give them examples of the best way to be helpful. This helps you avoid basic testimonials that don’t offer enough value to your prospect. An example of a poor testimony that doesn’t provide much value is:

“Thanks a lot for your help! It was awesome!”

Your page will look tempting for any prospect browsing for a mortgage loan when they see happy clients praising your hard work.

Facebook Marketing Tips for Loan Officers

Building your online presence on Facebook is the first step to generating leads on the most used social media platform. However, it’s important that you plan your strategy and implement it using best practices. Building brand visibility takes time, effort, and consistency.

Building your brand means remaining authentic in your expression. If you enjoy humor, have fun and post hilarious memes that your prospects will connect with. Don’t be salesy by pouring out offers and call to actions with every post. Facebook is more informal than LinkedIn. Enjoy yourself.

It’s important to have a page that produces engaging posts daily. A good rule of thumb is to schedule out one to two posts per day.

Consider these recommendations when growing your Facebook presence:

• Make sure your Facebook page has strategic copywriting implemented into your “About” section.
• Use a professional profile picture.
• Use a professionally branded cover with copywriting implemented.
• Add a brand story video.
• Post fresh content one to two times a day.
• Engage with people naturally as yourself (don’t push offers on every post).
• Tag people.
• Invite people to like your page.
• Always respond to comments in a timely manner.
• Boost your posts with targeted ads.

You can hire a social media manager to get started to help keep your page active and engaged. Once your page or group builds a following, you can easily deploy Facebook ads to target your ideal clients to your funnel. This is when implementing the Unfair Advantage™ system will help you significantly convert leads from Facebook.

You Will Generate Mortgage Leads with Facebook

You don’t have to be a social media influencer to gain a following on Facebook to generate leads. You just have to get started and stay consistent. Be strategic by developing a social media marketing strategy that engages your prospects. When using different types of Facebook posts for business purposes, you need to be creative to keep your prospects interested in your content.

Remember, when you provide value and authentic interactions, you build relationships and trust. That is always the key to generating leads that turn into clients.

Contact us if you want to know more about generating more mortgage leads from engaging Facebook posts using a mortgage industry-specific strategy.

Types of Facebook Posts That Can Generate Mortgage Leads was first published to: https://goodvibesquad.com/

Original post here: Types of Facebook Posts That Can Generate Mortgage Leads

What Is the Primary Difference Between Contact Management and Opportunity Management?

Trying to keep up with the constantly moving parts of contact management and opportunity management doesn’t have to be complicated.

Contact management software can help you streamline your client relationships while managing your opportunities simultaneously. This article will help you understand the difference between contact management and opportunity management within the sales workflow.

Customer relationship management is a key element to a thriving business. Having the right systems and tools in place to simplify and automate processes can help your business present a professional and polished customer experience. 

The difference between a striving company and a thriving company is often in the quality of business systems in place to manage the workflow of the sales process. With the right industry-focused customer relationship management system (CRM) and the right workflows in place, you can have an efficient strategy for:

• Prospecting
• Contact Management
• Opportunity Management

CRM software is the not-so-secret formula that allows businesses to increase revenues significantly. Businesses using CRMs increase their sales by 29% on average (review42.com).

Prospect vs. Leads vs. Contact vs. Opportunities

When using a CRM, you will come across common terms like:

• Prospect
• Lead
• Contact
• Opportunity

These key terms are vital to communicating the sales workflow within a contact management software platform. These terms are often confused and intermingled with each other. Each term is not just a label, it is an indicated action within the sales workflow.

One of the biggest mistakes made in marketing is pitching offers to a prospect before qualifying them as a potential customer. Qualification requires investigation. The investigation leads to making the right offer based on the relationship development phase of the sales cycle. 

To better understand the sales workflow, let’s define the terms better.

What is a prospect?

A prospect is a potential customer that has entered your sales workflow through a traffic source. This can be an ad, a website, a marketing event, or a referral. 

One way to attract a prospect is to use our Unfair Advantage marketing strategy. We create attention-grabbing ads to target your ideal clients. These ads are crafted strategically to increase your lead conversion rate. 

A prospect clicks on your targeted ad to find a new solution for mortgage loan approvals for VA loans. The prospect is directed to your lead-generating website, where they find valuable content that builds trust in your credibility. 

You want the prospect to become a customer, but, before you get to that step, you need to qualify the prospect before converting them into a lead.

What is a lead?

Once the prospect has established a desire to engage with your business, they will go through additional qualification steps and consent to take an application survey to verify that they can qualify for a home mortgage.

Once a prospect engages by accepting your opt-in questionnaire, you will have their contact information. This is when your prospect converts to a lead.

A lead is an interested potential buyer who has engaged in an initial offer or opt-in form. It’s up to you to make sure that they receive the right offer by understanding the data gathered during the lead nurturing phase.

Lead nurturing takes place when a potential buyer meets certain attributes for becoming a potential client in the future. However, they are not ready for immediate purchase. When you manage your contact consistently, you manage the relationship, which can turn into future sales.

Once a prospect converts to a lead, it’s your responsibility to build trust by providing valuable content and resources. The Unfair Advantage system allows your ideal clients to become educated ahead of time about the process of buying a home before the first appointment with you is scheduled.

What is a contact?

Now that the leads have opted in, they initiate the additional filtration application process and will be guided through a customized home buyer educational experience. They initiate contact with you by scheduling an appointment on your calendar.

When a pre-qualified lead contacts you, they are taking the initiative and showing a desire to conduct business with you. This is when a lead becomes a contact, and you make the move.

What is an opportunity?

Converting a contact into an opportunity is the beginning of the opportunity management process. This is when both parties are ready to do business with each other, and it’s time to track the deliverables for closing the deal. For the mortgage loan industry, that can look like:

• Loan application process
• Acquiring verification documents
• Pulling the credit report
• Pre-approvals
• Additional manual application process (if required)

Contact management vs. opportunity management

There is a distinct difference between contact management and opportunity management. Although both can be managed within a CRM, there is a different procedure to follow. One is focused on customer relationship activities, and the other focuses on revenue-producing activities.

Contact management

Contact management can focus on new or existing customers. Once you record contact details initially upon account setup, you will be able to record any interactions between the contact and associate to manage the relationship and take them through the appropriate funnel to initiate guided activities.

Opportunity management

Opportunity management focuses on using workflows that concentrate on closing a deal. Workflows can include custom activities that are assigned to a specified user, including realtor partners and borrowers.

Converting leads to opportunities

Using the previous examples, let’s continue the progression for converting your lead into an opportunity.

The borrower has met all the pre-approval requirements and the approval process has started.

Converting a lead into an opportunity is a data-driven decision based on the genuine probability of closing the deal. Some sales account managers make the mistake of converting a lead into an opportunity too soon before they can confirm that the lead meets the requirements.

If you are converting the wrong leads into opportunities, it can impact the accuracy of your reporting. For example, a loan officer may convert a lead into an opportunity before conducting the pre-qualification to validate that the lead meets the bare minimum requirements for loan approval. In this case, the application can be rejected, and the salesperson may have to close the opportunity as a loss.

This impacts the validity of your sales metrics. The close-to-won ratio will be inaccurate.

Define your lead-conversion process

You want to avoid converting a lead into an opportunity prematurely. The best way to do this is to have a clear picture of your process. Define the workflows and steps necessary for confirming a genuine opportunity. If you need help creating a process, you can schedule a quick call to Fastrack your marketing growth strategy. We have the templates in place so that you don’t have to start from scratch. 

The pre-approval phase is the most important stage in the mortgage loan process. It saves you and the borrower time. The pre-approval stage should be integrated into your lead conversion process.

Qualify the lead to close the deal

If you don’t have a diligent qualification process in place, you risk clogging up your opportunity pipeline with non-sales opportunities that waste time. If you are focused on deals that won’t close, you will waste valuable time and miss out on genuine opportunities.

The mortgage loan industry is complex and requires a very intensive process of pre-approval, application, verification of debt, income, and assets. This is why having a business system in place with detailed lead management processes is important. Having the right system and processes in place guarantees that your lead is the right match for your business.

Close the Deal

When you have a clear picture of the differences between your prospects, leads, contacts, and opportunities, you can define a sales process that allows you to streamline your workflows for efficiency. Using the right contact management software will enable you to achieve this fluidity. When your process is efficient, your time is used effectively.

Having an efficient system in place allows you to attract, engage and qualify a lead. Once qualified, your opportunity is matched, and you can make the right offer. The perfect match means the perfect deal.

Learn more about having the Unfair Advantage so you can close more deals - contact us now!

What Is the Primary Difference Between Contact Management and Opportunity Management? is courtesy of: https://goodvibesquad.com/

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