Chad Weber here from the Loan Officer Marketing Lab. Thought I’d share something exciting I read online today. The 2009 National Association Of Realtors Profile Of Buyers And Sellers report was released in December 2009. This is a yearly compilation that the NAR sells on their site for real estate professionals to get a good idea of how the industry is doing, and what has changed in the past year.

Well, I found a great blog post that summarized some of the more important statistics found in this 125.00 report. (See? Reading my emails just saved you 125 dollars! – haha)  I found 3 of those statistics useful for loan officers:

In 2009:

- 90% of home buyers used the Internet to help find their home
- 78% of buyers purchased through a real estate agents
- 85% of sellers used an agent to sell

What’s the big deal about these stats? Well first of all, we can go back to previous year profiles released by the NAR to see the growth of the web and how it plays an ever increasing role in how buyers shop. Last year the statistic for those using the web to find a home was 87%. Prior to that it was 84%, and it shrinks little by little the further back you go. (This figure was 2% in 1995, 74% in 2004, 77% in 2005 and so forth)

In other words each year, more people are using the web to shop for a home. This also means that your opportunity to capture home buyers (Who will obviously need a loan soon right?) has gone up year after year, so long as you know how to effective use the web to market yourself. Think about it. You have 90% of all home buyers last year who went online, identified themselves by using search engines, and ultimately spent time actively searching for a home. What if it was your name, or your website that showed up first when these buyers performed a search?

Even though you don’t sell homes, how difficult would it be to work hand in hand with local real estate agents to place homes, or links to homes for sale onto your site? Think about it for even a moment, and you’ll begin to see the opportunity that exists here for enterprising loan officers.

The statistics above also tell us that most buyers and sellers are also using agents to represent them. This means that there is still a huge opportunity to work with high producing real estate agents, and benefit from an avalanche of referrals. Imagine having just 3 or 4 high producers sending you their referrals… What impact would that have on your income?

See what I mean? This really is exciting! I have no real goal for today’s message other than to share this information with you. Perhaps it will get your creative juices flowing? Have a great one!

NOTE: This weeks online marketing webinar is scheduled for Friday:  https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/842465875

Hello there! Chad Weber here to welcome you to 2010! All I can say is “WOW!” I distinctly remember sitting at this very same desk early in the morning as I typed out this post here: http://loanofficermarketinglab.com/blog/how-to-get-mortgage-leads-in-2009

It was still a few days before 2009, but I was scrambling looking for a great image to place on that post with “2009″ on it. I finally found the image using the photo Stock Xchange. Free images, and a great resource for anyone who blogs. Anyhow, I really am finding it difficult to wrap my head around the fact that 2009 is done and gone.

The holidays are over and it’s time for me to get to work on making 2010 better than 2009. Throughout 2009 I heard a lot of loan officers ask me if I”timed” my entry into the training industry because I knew things were going to get rough in the mortgage industry. That’s a thoughtful question, but there is one major point that is being missed: I’m still in the mortgage industry. That’s right,my entry into the training industry full time had absolutely nothing to do with me gazing into a crystal ball, and everything to do with me identifying my strengths and my passion.

See, if I were looking at the crystal ball with anything other than shades on, I’d have seen that logically speaking, jumping from originating to training originators would not be the wisest of career choices if I were trying to avoid being impacted by the changes in the market – seeing as how my primary clients – Loan Officers shrank dramatically in 2007 and 2008. Just to give you an example of how this impacted my business, I’m going to show you what my archives say I had in my database of loan officer leads at the beginning of 2008:

January 13 2008 – 13,641 loan officers (These are loan officers who had requested information from me, or to be on my newsletter)

December 4 2008 – Out of those 13,641 loan officers, I received 4,907 emails throughout the year telling me to stop sending the newsletter as they were leaving the industry. That’s more than 1/3 of my database just zapped and gone in less than a year do to loan officers leaving. That was not a fun turn of events for me at all. Especially if I viewed this as an ongoing trend. National statistics also showed that mortgage professionals exited the idustry that year at an incredible rate!

My point? That this turn of events allowed us to go back to the drawing board and refocus our marketing efforts. The result is that the Loan Officer Marketing Lab has continued to grow and each year has been better than the last. This isn’t some ego-maniacal horn trumpet blowing here. This is simply a real live example of using your know-how, brushing up on what gives you an edge, and doing a whole lot of ignoring of the media!

In 2009 my most successful marketing effort was the Loan Officer Project. Prior to launching this, I was advised by no less than 5 other trainers to avoid doing this, as “it would never work!” I was told that I was giving away too much, and people would take advantage of that. You’re darn right they took advantage of it! That was the whole point! I rebuilt my email database of loan officers to the largest it’s ever been, and I did not spend a single thin dime on advertising to do it. Worst market ever in recent history? Maybe, maybe not… Sure wouldn’t know it by looking at my email list!

So to all of you reading this, please take a look at yourself and the business you want. Let’s make this year count. Let’s get busy, and let’s get profitable. You can make it happen. There is absolutely no one who can stop you but yourself. I know the market changes, I know certain rules and regulations seem to make things harder than they need to be, and I know that interest rates will likely go up this year based on what we’ve heard so far.

But you know what? There will still be millions of loans closed this year as well. What marketing plan do you have in place to capture your piece of that pie? Let’s make it the best 2010 possible – Before it’s gone like 2009…

PS – Did you miss the free Loan Officer Project Marketing series? We resume this month – January 2010! Register HERE

Hello there!

Welcome to another week full of possibilities! I am very pleased to announce that we have a new guest author here on the Loan Officer Marketing Lab Blog: Chris Hallmark. Many of you may recognize Chris from his successes mentioned earlier last year… Well his successes have not slowed, and he has taken our latest Loan Officer 2.0 techniques and run with them!

Chris has graciously volunteered to post tips, articles and techniques that have served him well in revamping his mortgage business. So let’s welcome Chris Hallmark to the Loan Officer Marketing Lab Blog, and get ready to learn!

So I just couldn’t resist… As you already know, each major holiday I feel the need to add at least one post that’s relevant. This year is no different, and I’d be hard pressed to find a more “unique” post than the video below. Sure it’s long, but if your sense of humor is anything like mine, you’ll laugh your butt off when it gets to the dancing portion of the clip… Whoever made this, must have spent days on this, and did a great job matching it up to the real video. Have a look:

So there you go! This is my contribution to Haloween this year. Haha. Oh yes, just a quick reminder: Our Loan Officer Project Pre-Training class begins tomorrow at 1:00 CST. Remember, the 5 days of free online mortgage marketing coaching is the final for the year – No 2nd chances to attend. Here’s the link to get registered:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/674482123

Ahhh! SEO doesn’t work anymore!With all the changes Google is making, or planning on making to their algorithm, “all the SEO techniques you’ve learned to rank well on Google will no longer work.”

At least that’s what you might believe if you’re listening to all the “Sky is falling” bloggers making a big fuss! It’s amazing how well sensationalism still works…

You think people would learn. See, the same scary blog posts were cropping up back in October 2008 when “huge changes” were made to Google’s algorithm, and in early 2008 as well. I can recall at least 4 times now that bloggers were up in arms writing articles, posts, sending emails – All of which seemed to claim that “the good old days” were gone, and everything would be different from this point forward.

Logic would tell them that this is not the case.  The Google search engine  has a mission, and that mission is to serve up qualified search results to those who seek them. There are only so many factors that can be ranked or judged on a website. This isn’t some mythical beast we’re talking about here, but rather, data crunching.

I’ve been using the same methods and formula for SEO for nearly 3 years now. Haven’t really changed a thing. Yet it continues to work regardless of the big scary shakeups and doomsday predictions. My point?Ignore the hype, and focus on what matters most to Google: A website that delivers on its promise of good content, frequent updates, and growing popularity. Any other changes Google may make to its algorithm will be secondary to those big 3… See you on the front page!

PS – Don’t forget to join us in our 5 day FREE Mortgage Marketing Webinar Series. Click Here

Oh hey… Before I begin this blog post, I wanted to treat you to some crazy facts about email:

- There are more than 100 billion pieces of SPAM email sent around the world every single day!

- The number of spam email messages sent around the globe each month numbers in the trillions!

- More than 80% of all that SPAM is sent by fewer than 200 individuals

- Despite the crushing number of SPAM messages sent each month, email continues to deliver a higher Return On Investment than any other form of marketing

Ok, Now that I got those interesting numbers out of my system, let’s get back to the regularly scheduled blog post! Did you know that email is still considered the #1 highest return on investment form of marketing in the world? Here are some facts you need to consider that can help you with your own email mortgage marketing efforts:

• The best days to send email are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
• The best time of day to send email is after 9:30 but before 2:00
• Never use red colored font in a professional email (Sets off SPAM flags)
• Keep your subject lines shorter than 35 characters whenever possible
• “Long term prospects” (Those who are not in the market for at least 6 months) should get 1 email per month, whereas shorter term prospects should get emailed 2 – 3 times per month
• Send usable information free of blatant advertising
• Add your Twitter and FaceBook profile links to your email signature (If you have professional profiles setup)

Those are some pretty impressive numbers: a $43.08 return on investment for every dollar spent! Where else can you get those types of conversions? Direct mail? Magazine ads? Radio? Hiring telemarketers? Nope…

Use the tips I provided above, and and you will see an improvement in your own email marketing efforts. But there’s one more tip I have for you that absolutely must be observed:

- Use a permission based email list only! Do not SPAM! -

It’s far easier than you imagine to build a permission based email list. It doesn’t need to be a long and drawn out process. If you make use of a marketing-grade auto-responder system, all of your follow-up efforts will be automated and save you a truck-load of time, while delivering fresh, warm leads to you on a regular basis as the prospects begin to convert and respond to your efforts. I generally grow my own email list by 250 – 300 fresh emails per month. Would you like to do the same?

If you’d like to learn more about how to incorporate proper email marketing strategy into your own efforts, don’t forget about our Loan Officer Project 5 Day Webinar series. Nothing to buy from us, just 5 days of intense “hands on” learning. It’s free to participate, and we almost always fill every last spot. (We now have a waiting list) – To register and see if you can participate in the next round of free training, CLICK HERE NOW

I’m one of those obnoxious guys that is up every morning at 4:30 a.m. It’s a great time to get in a workout, jog for a few miles, and clear the mind for the day. This morning I was sitting on the porch watching as the night sky was chased away by rising sun – It’s amazing how much of a difference 15 minutes makes! Why was I sitting on the porch watching this? Well, I’ve generally found that when I get myself into a rut, when I begin to feel overwhelmed with the demands of running multiple blogs, websites, responding to emails, posting on Twitter, LinkedIn etc – It helps to give myself a change of pace – If only for a little while.

I do quite a bit of writing. Blogging, emails, presentations, seminars, how to guides, reports, web-copy,  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH… Ever felt like that before? I have. Yet something is deceptively simple as giving your brain a few moments to enjoy a new sensation, surrounding, and stimuli can have an amazing impact! That’s what I did this morning. As I jogged I was contemplating that my inbox registered 178 unread emails before I went to bed last night.I also had the welcome reminder that I need to prepare a 64 slide presentation for business owners to be delivered tomorrow at 2:30 – Ugh…

I actually enjoy all of these activities, but toss all of them into the same bucket with a heaping mixture of phones ringing off the hook and deadlines to be met and it’s easy to find yourself typing AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH all over again. Do you operate at your best when rushed, stressed, and feeling over-worked? Not many of us do. Sometimes I can feel the creativity just melt away when I feel there’s too much to be done, and I’ve already delegated plenty to my assistants. What to do?

Go watch the sunrise – Have dinner at a new location with foods you’ve always wanted to try, experience new music, ponder the unponderables, and laugh a whole heck of a lot at a funny show or movie. I’m telling you it works. I often feel like a broken record with what I type and teach, but then I realize that it’s just me. I’m subjecting myself to the same old messages and surroundings over and over again, and the brain reaches a limit. Simply taking a 30 minute jog around the neighborhood at 4:30 a.m. with everything so quiet and peaceful was a great relief for me. I tossed in a 15 minute session of watching the sun rise, and I suddenly felt rejuvenated! Was this a career-changing experience? Nope. That’s not what I was looking for, just a momentary pause while I found and pressed the “reset” button. I must say I’m feeling good today…

Chad Weber
Loan Officer Marketing Lab