Guest Author: Derrick Branshaw

Bare-bottomed, out in the bright sunshine of Southern California (and a couple in Northern CA, IL, and FL), that’s what I am talking about. It seems lead generators serve two very fickle masters and neither seem to trust them or even like them all that much.

So, what’s the problem? I think there are 3 root issues:

  • Consumers have no idea what happened (or what to expect) when they gave their information
  • Lenders have no idea what happened when the consumer gave out their information
  • Lead providers think “what happens” is a corporate trade secret

The results, from all this obscurity:

  • Consumers are pissed because they got 400 phone calls from strange, pushy headset jockeys, usually in waves thanks to trigger leads, and are left reeling, dazed, and confused–NO LOAN and dashing the local bank for sanctuary
  • LOs are pissed because Internet leads don’t convert
  • Lead providers are pissed because LOs won’t pick up the phone and call the damn leads

How do we start fixing this? It is time to set-up a nudist colony!

  • If you don’t have a blog, get one
  • If you have one, start using it, stop filling it with fluff, and don’t make it a second-class citizen
  • Talk to us (consumers and lenders) about your successes and your failures
  • Tell us what makes you mad and what makes you happy (about the industry–I don’t care about your cat!)
  • Let me help!

Does it work? You be the judge:

This is an example of Glenn Kelman of Redfin sharing his first job fair experience:

Our first visitor of the day was a Green River Community college student who came by because she said we looked “lonely” at a table by ourselves. This was particularly sobering because it meant we had outlosered our neighbor to the right, Ford Motor Company, which was trying to recruit people to work in Detroit after recording one of the largest financial losses in U.S. history. I gamely tried to sell her on a job; she asked me if she had food stuck in her teeth.

This is Kelman telling Wired Magazine why he thinks naked works for Redfin:

“Instead of discouraging customers, being open about our problems radicalized them,” Kelman says. “They rallied and started pulling for us.” Like some crazed convert, he trumpeted his epiphany: “I honestly believe that if Redfin were stripped absolutely bare for all the world to see, naked and humiliated in the sunlight, more people would do business with us.” Follow me, he urged.

(BTW, I think this all this applies for lenders and LOs too!)

So, who’s going streaking?

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