Getting back to the basics of building your business in the Portland home mortgage and real estate m
Good day my friends. I wanted to take a moment and share some thoughts on the Portland home mortgage market and how we as local mortgage and real estate professionals need to get back to the basics of marketing.
My personal journey in this mortgage business started over 12 years ago and I recall a time when the telephone and a handshake was enough to secure a client relationship. The computer was used for generating marketing letters, FedEx was used for sending and receiving applications outside a 50 mile radius from the office, and cold calling was the art you had to master no matter how much it hurt.
There obviously have been many advancements in technology over the last 12 years and the internet and e-mail has changed our industry for the good and in some cases for the bad. You would be hard pressed to find any Portland home mortgage professional or real estate agent that thinks the old way is still the best way. We simply need these mediums for maximizing time and energy in our industry and this has taken "work smarter, not harder" to a new level.
The problem for me is I am constantly trying to figure out a smarter way of being smarter. This has taken me on a journey the last 3 or 4 years of spending way too much time and money trying to "buy" my client based and referrals. By this I mean I think there was a time before the major mortgage meltdown and industry collapse that I was searching for a lottery ticket and spending a lot of money trying to have someone else build my business. I think I had over 12 subscriptions to various internet lead sites, mortgage training sites, coaching, and mortgage self help sites with all the bells and whistles to help grow my business.
The big problem for me is that I thought "buying my clients" would help me avoid the dreaded cold calling and referral relationship building in the that is required for success in this business. Bottom line, I was looking for a quick fix and a simple way to sit at my desk and let only the technology build my pipeline.
When the big slowdown came last fall in the Portland home mortgage and housing markets, and money was extremely tight, the obvious thing to survive was to cut expenses. I was forced to scale back and cancel all my technology methods of buying a full pipeline.
In the last 6 months without all distractions I have had a realization. I was way to dependant on this type of lead generation to grow my business. I had gone away from the 50 cold calls per day, and realtor visits every Thursday. I had gotten away from the basics in this business that is required to build a long term established business. I only realized this when I tried to get a full pipeline again but didn't have the resources necessary to buy my way back in.
The good thing for me is cold calling and referral relationship building is like riding a bike. After a month of establishing the old way of marketing, to my surprise, I had a growing pipeline and all I had to do was pick up the phone. THE PHONE in my opinion is the key to our business. I can send as many drip e-mails and market updates as I wanted but if I don't make the calls I am not reaching my full potential.
I am not saying there is no need for technology and all the available fee based help in our industry because there are some great advancements out there available for loan officers and realtors. I am just saying don't let it be the only avenue to try to build a long term business plan. Don't loose site of the best way to build your business. YOU! Clients want to hear and see you. Let technology do some but I truly feel if you are not making the cold calls daily and occasionally getting hung up on... you will never reach your full potential out there in this tough business. Friends, all I am saying is lets get back to the basics in this Portland home mortgage and real estate market and if you make those calls every day the business will come. We are in a numbers industry and work the numbers to your advantage. Your pipeline will improve and your bottom line will look better financially by only subscribing to the necessary web help. Now go cold call! It feels refreshing!
My personal journey in this mortgage business started over 12 years ago and I recall a time when the telephone and a handshake was enough to secure a client relationship. The computer was used for generating marketing letters, FedEx was used for sending and receiving applications outside a 50 mile radius from the office, and cold calling was the art you had to master no matter how much it hurt.
There obviously have been many advancements in technology over the last 12 years and the internet and e-mail has changed our industry for the good and in some cases for the bad. You would be hard pressed to find any Portland home mortgage professional or real estate agent that thinks the old way is still the best way. We simply need these mediums for maximizing time and energy in our industry and this has taken "work smarter, not harder" to a new level.
The problem for me is I am constantly trying to figure out a smarter way of being smarter. This has taken me on a journey the last 3 or 4 years of spending way too much time and money trying to "buy" my client based and referrals. By this I mean I think there was a time before the major mortgage meltdown and industry collapse that I was searching for a lottery ticket and spending a lot of money trying to have someone else build my business. I think I had over 12 subscriptions to various internet lead sites, mortgage training sites, coaching, and mortgage self help sites with all the bells and whistles to help grow my business.
The big problem for me is that I thought "buying my clients" would help me avoid the dreaded cold calling and referral relationship building in the that is required for success in this business. Bottom line, I was looking for a quick fix and a simple way to sit at my desk and let only the technology build my pipeline.
When the big slowdown came last fall in the Portland home mortgage and housing markets, and money was extremely tight, the obvious thing to survive was to cut expenses. I was forced to scale back and cancel all my technology methods of buying a full pipeline.
In the last 6 months without all distractions I have had a realization. I was way to dependant on this type of lead generation to grow my business. I had gone away from the 50 cold calls per day, and realtor visits every Thursday. I had gotten away from the basics in this business that is required to build a long term established business. I only realized this when I tried to get a full pipeline again but didn't have the resources necessary to buy my way back in.
The good thing for me is cold calling and referral relationship building is like riding a bike. After a month of establishing the old way of marketing, to my surprise, I had a growing pipeline and all I had to do was pick up the phone. THE PHONE in my opinion is the key to our business. I can send as many drip e-mails and market updates as I wanted but if I don't make the calls I am not reaching my full potential.
I am not saying there is no need for technology and all the available fee based help in our industry because there are some great advancements out there available for loan officers and realtors. I am just saying don't let it be the only avenue to try to build a long term business plan. Don't loose site of the best way to build your business. YOU! Clients want to hear and see you. Let technology do some but I truly feel if you are not making the cold calls daily and occasionally getting hung up on... you will never reach your full potential out there in this tough business. Friends, all I am saying is lets get back to the basics in this Portland home mortgage and real estate market and if you make those calls every day the business will come. We are in a numbers industry and work the numbers to your advantage. Your pipeline will improve and your bottom line will look better financially by only subscribing to the necessary web help. Now go cold call! It feels refreshing!
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