Are you feeling the market constricting around your neck? Is it harder and harder to find borrowers you can actually help? Have you shaken down every real estate agent in the tri-county area and found their pockets empty too?

Welcome to the crowd, but don’t panic.

The first step is to admit you have a problem. Stop saying, “I get all my business from referrals” and believing it. Take control of your success. Build a marketing plan to get fresh referrals, Internet referrals, and create a business that is bigger than you!

That’s right we are building a bigger vision here.

STOP! Before you run out and slap down a couple grand on a random lead provider, a recipe for 0% conversion and some pissed off loan officers or worse owner/manager, get a plan.

Here is the 10 step plan I used back in my lead buying days.

1. Executive Summary

Start with a summary of your objectives and build a path for success.

 

Explore key questions like: Why am I buying leads? What kind of production do I want to add to my current funding volume? Who am I targeting with this marketing campaign? Do I have the right culture and environment for Internet originations?

 

2. Business Objectives

This is where you start breaking vision into execution. What are the quantifiable reasons and intentions for growing your business and buying Internet leads?

 

If this reads like this: “To make more loans.” Don’t buy leads. You will only be frustrated with failure.

 

It should be something more like: acquire a portion of the 70% of consumers that us the Internet to find a mortgage, expand my business to leverage my other state license opportunities in state with stronger mortgage markets, use the Internet to better target niche strategies like FHA, VA, reverse mortgages.

 

3. Target Market

A lack of consideration for who you are targeting is the #1 mistake in Internet lead buying. Most lead buying starts with a panic stricken, “I need leads!” Again, a recipe for missed expectations.

 

When you are buying leads you are outsourcing your marketing department for one or more campaigns. So, plan accordingly. You want to think about who you want to get through this channel and if they are likely to come through this lead provider. This is where your due diligence in my last series on “What are Internet Leads and Why Buy Them?” will pay off.

 

4. Target Products & Programs

This is tightly coupled with the target market discussion. Too often brokers and lenders go wide open on their filters and can’t actually service those borrowers. Now, you may be able to still make the economics (ROI) work doing this, but think about the bigger impact–sales motivation! If you start feeding LOs garbage (triggers) or broad credit, LTV, and loan amount spectrums that you don’t have product to support you are going to burn them up quickly and submarine production.

 

5. Marketing Strategy

Marketing strategy? Didn’t I just outsource that to the lead provider? You did, but the savvy, high converting, mortgage shop knows that borrowers may not stop at their lead submittal. They want to know who you are? Or they may lose track of you during the process. This is the “Internet lead splash effect” I always talk about. Consumers will splash out of your marketing channels, or “buckets.” Create a strategy for catching them and getting them back into you production.

This may include automated workflows, email campaigns, website(s), etc.

 

6. Metrics

Lead Critic preaches this all day. It is your life line to success. Know what you are going to measure and make sure you can before you receive a single lead. Document these metrics and test how you will retrieve them.

 

Trying to build and airplane while it is flying is impossible. Trying to get metrics while you are bleeding marketing dollars is nearly as hard.

 

7. Triggers & Milestones

This is another little secret that is rarely used. These were early warning indicators I liked to se for myself. Much like investors set investment guidelines to manage their buying and selling to take the emotion out of the trades, I suggest you do this with lead buying. If your overall lead buying or individual lead sources trip the preset conditions or number of conditions then condition yourself to automatically pull the source or ramp it up based on performance. This will always ensure you are optimizing your marketing buy.

I also recommend you share these with your lead partner. They are experts with their leads. They will be motivated to help you hit more of the ramp up triggers.

 

8. Implementation Tactics

Now it’s time to get to business. What are the specific tasks to execute? Do you have the tools and infrastructure to track and manage this type of loan origination. Lead tracking and management is critical on these types of referrals. You will quickly be managing a larger pipeline (even with the most modest of lead buys) over a longer sales cycle than you are probably accustomed to. This is where a capable lead management system is critical.

 

9. Budget

Believe it or not this is another one of the top mistakes I see in lead buying. Most buy ’til it hurts. Figure out what this budget is. See if it is meaningful enough to get a good campaign underway. No lead provider wants to take your last $500, hope you convert one of the 10-15 they can give you for that, and then hope you parlay that into the next buy. This isn’t gambling. This is business planning. Do it accordingly.

 

10. Evaluation and Rebalance

This is the money-maker part of the marketing plan. All assumptions and outcomes change in battle. Those who adjust the quickest and most appropriately take the day. Determine how often and how you are going to do these evaluations. Quicker cycles (daily) are smarter until you get a baseline. Then pay attention to the results and make adjustments.

Lead buying should be a core part of your marketing plan. After all, it is where borrowers are starting their process and allows you to effective filter those you can help. But, don’t do it without a plan.

I have first hand experience in watching what commitment, talent, and tenacity to this business model can do for a small little mortgage broker shop in Southeast Michigan. If you don’t know who I am talking about check the top 20 national loan originators list. They are knocking on the door of lenders like Countrywide and IndyMac.

Here is a great FREE tool to get you started: Kaleidico Lead Buying Worksheet.