No matter the market, strong referral partnerships are a source of leads that keep on giving. Top-producing loan officers (LOs) and mortgage brokers know firsthand that relationships with real estate agents can be the difference between sparse and full pipelines. In fact, just a few long-term partnerships with successful agents can supercharge a loan officer’s career. 

So how can LOs sustain these relationships over time? What keeps an agent referring deal after deal? 

First and foremost, the answer is good service and communication with them and their clients. Agents require timely, knowledgeable assistance that captures and closes deals. 

Here are three ways loan officers can employ real estate agent marketing to fuel long-term referral relationships. 

1. Look Past a Single Deal to Help Real Estate Agents Build Their Prospect Lists 

It can be tempting for an LO and a real estate agent to focus solely on the shared deal in front of them. But with a little help from a strong mortgage CRM, a loan officer can help close the current deal and set themselves up for future sales. 

Consider single property sites. With the Surefire℠ CRM and Mortgage Marketing Engine, loan officers can stand up cobranded single property listing sites that include lead forms for interested buyers in just moments. Agents can even use these sites to advertise open houses, create property flyers and register guests for the event. 

Not only does this help agents close deals, it lets LOs provide lists of registrants and prospects gathered from the site and the open house. Now the agent has potential buyers and sellers ready for the next deal, too. 

Cobranded real estate marketing is another way mortgage brokers can help agents build their prospect lists. For example, LOs can create informative landing pages with educational interactives or mortgage calculators that also feature a response form for new prospects. 

LOs can also package value for these partners into periodic emails that provide useful information in your market. For example, Surefire enables LOs to provide agents with a quick summary of borrower trends, and even education on loan products that are helpful in the current market (for example, how a temporary buydown works).  LOs are positioned to provide “insider” information that real estate agents can use and share with colleagues. Use those insights to gain their attention and forge a strong relationship. 

1. Ensure a Surprise-Free Purchase Process with Automated Milestone Marketing 

Homebuyers and borrowers typically say the single most important thing to them is knowing what’s happening and what to expect as they purchase and finance their home. And since they often go to either their real estate agent or their loan officer for updates, it’s important for both service providers to be able to respond quickly with answers. 

That’s where Surefire’s in-process real estate agent marketing comes in. When both agents and clients stay informed throughout the process, surprises are less likely to happen, and everyone walks away feeling good about the deal. 

Constant communication with every agent and every client at every step along the way may feel overwhelming, but this type of communication is easy to accomplish with automated milestone messaging through an advanced mortgage CRM. 

1. Keep Relationships Strong with Co–branded Post-Close Communication 

Even if loan officers and mortgage brokers close just one deal with a particular agent partner, it’s easy to stay top of mind for years. Simply start the client on a co-branded post-close marketing campaign, and inform the agent when those communications are sent. 

Again, this may seem difficult to manage, but with a strong mortgage CRM like Surefire, post-close communication can be automated from the very start. 

A Mortgage CRM Makes Real Estate Agent Marketing Easy 

Forging close relationships with RE agents is one of the most valuable things you can do to advance your lending career. Surefire’s mortgage CRM will facilitate the best real estate agent marketing programs for loan officers. It’s a CRM designed specifically for the mortgage industry with compliance controls and cobranding capabilities that generic CRMs may not offer. Plus, Surefire offers the industry’s best content library with marketing messages that make it easy to educate and inform buyers and agents alike. 

Ready to fuel your real estate agent relationships with Surefire? Join us for a demo today!

No system, no matter how great, can do everything.   

Although many software providers promise to be the ONE system that will automate every function of your business so that you can spend less time in the office and more time on sandy beaches in exotic locations, the fact is that no system can perfectly run every facet of your business.   

The mortgage industry is no exception. To operate as a lender, you need multiple systems working with one another to automate, simplify and expedite each step of the lending process.     

To get to this seamless and tightly integrated state, it’s critical that you select systems that have been specifically designed for use by the mortgage industry. In other words, the software solutions will have been designed to support the many steps of the loan process and work together like runners passing a baton forward in a relay.   

An Integrated Workflow 

The start of the loan process begins with the borrower filling out an application. A point-of-sale system (POS) provides a web-based access point for your borrowers to launch and interact with your loan application. Ideally, your application is easy to fill out and will let users save their progress, upload documents securely, or even save and continue inputting their information from another mobile device.  

Once the borrower’s information has been submitted from the application, the borrower needs to be presented with different lending options. For this to work, the POS will need to share the information with a product pricing engine (PPE). A product pricing engine generates the different loan pricing scenarios and varying rates that the lender can offer based on the borrower’s qualifications.   

In a perfect world, the borrower applying for the loan will immediately qualify and begin submitting the offer for their dream home. But, there are some who will not qualify during their first application. This is where your mortgage CRM can swoop in and save the day.   

Through different educational campaigns, your CRM can help you remain top of mind with your client as they improve their creditworthiness and are prompted through targeted messaging to return to the lending platform.   

Once the borrower qualifies and starts the process of purchasing the home, the lender’s loan origination system (LOS) takes the lead in the origination and processing of the loan supported by the mortgage CRM and POS software.   

Improving Your Workflow 

From underwriting through the appraisal process, all the way to the close, these systems work together to produce the information necessary for the borrower’s loan approval, and the more seamless the integration, the better the experience for the borrower.   

Although we’ve given a simplified version of the loan process in this post, we know that loan origination and approval is complicated.  

However, there is no software provider that can excel in the entirety of the mortgage process. Luckily, Surefire℠ CRM and Mortgage Marketing Engine and its integration partners work together to create a way for the systems to “talk” to one another and keep the loan moving forward.  

If you’d like to see how Surefire CRM can provide new innovations to your current tech stack, schedule a demo today.

While loan officers disagree on whether to give mortgage closing gifts to borrowers, it’s unlikely that gifts for clients have ever lost anyone a return customer. On the other hand, unless thoughtfully selected, these gifts don’t necessarily earn repeat business either. This is true for loan officer closing gifts as well as real estate agent closing gifts. 

The best real estate closing gifts for buyers go beyond merely thanking customers to creating lifetime clients and solidifying your business now and into the future. If that’s what you hope to accomplish, consider these six tips. 

Tip #1: Select a mortgage closing gift that welcomes the client to their new home. 

You want your borrowers to associate you with homeownership, so the ideal gift will be one they use in their home or to evokes the concept of home. 

A gift certificate to a local coffee shop or local restaurant might be nice, and they may even keep you top of mind next time your borrowers visit those places. But borrowers should associate you with the actual product you provide, which is the ability to get them into the home—and home loan—of their dreams. 

Kitchens are perhaps the easiest room to think about here. Everyone uses their kitchen (although some of us may not enjoy using it as much as others), and every home has one. Many treasured memories are created around food — its preparation and its sharing. 

The number of options for housewarming gifts outnumbers the items in your kitchen junk drawer. Good housewarming gifts include coffee to enjoy on the first morning in their new home (or a subscription that keeps the coffee coming), a nice bottle of wine or champagne, chocolate-covered fruit or a gourmet gift basket. For more longevity, knives, glassware or cutting boards they’ll regularly use for years are good options. Many gifts can even be engraved with a special message like “Enjoy your new home” or “From your Real Estate Agent for Life, Jane Doe.” 

Take a mental tour of your own home to come up with original gift ideas. What do you love and use often? If you’re setting up a home gift basket to give at every closing, you’ll want to avoid options for use outdoors. Some homes, like condos, may not have exterior spaces or entryways. 

Tip #2: Choose mortgage closing gifts with a long shelf life. 

According to the National Association of Realtors®, Baby Boomers make up the largest share of sellers at 42%. Younger Boomers will typically own their home for 13 years before selling, while older Boomers will own their home 17 years before selling, the association notes in its 2022 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report. That’s a long time to remember a mortgage company or one particular agent! 

Loan officers always hope their borrowers will refinance in the interim. Refinancing rates depend significantly on the interest rate environment.  

In a high-rate environment like we’re in now, overall refinances are down significantly from just a year ago, according to data group ATTOM. Most homebuyers will wait an average of 33 months before pursuing a refi, notes Freddie Mac. However, that’s still a long while for a borrower to remember the person who financed their loan. While gift cards, flowers and food and drink gift boxes are popular, they may not help buyers and sellers remember your name many months (or years) down the road.  

And one thing is for sure: the market won’t be down forever. You’ll want to be top of mind when homeowners are ready to put their homes on the market and buy another, or refinance to start enjoying some of their home equity. 

Tip #3: Personalize your mortgage closing gifts for buyers. 

There are a couple of reasons for providing gifts that are personalized. First, it shows the recipient that you took extra time and put some thought into the gift. It’s not just something you ordered two dozen of last year and dole out when a new loan closes. For example, there is a difference between closing gifts for first-time homeowners and closing gifts for second-home buyers. 

Second, if the gift has their name, their initials or their name and address, they’re less likely to toss or donate it. And when the time comes to purchase another home or to refinance their mortgage, the gift will still be there, reminding them of the great service you provided. 

Many home-related gifts for clients can be personalized with first and/or last name, an initial, or a full monogram. Personalized stationery (yes, people still use that!), return address labels and address stampers are examples of closing gift ideas that can include the borrower’s new home address. Engraved cutting boards or prints may even include an image of the borrower’s new home. Address plaques can show the street number and last name of the owner (remember your borrowers who don’t have exterior entryways, though). 

Tip #4: Give a practical gift that your borrowers will actually use. 

It’s one thing to give something your borrowers will keep. Take it a step further to offer something they will incorporate into their lives. That’s why kitchen-oriented home gifts work so well. Still, you don’t want your gift thrown into that junk drawer or pushed to the back of the pantry. 

Think about the kitchen items you use the most in daily activities. Can any of those be turned into a meaningful gift? Cutting boards, knives, glasses, and pitchers may fit the bill. 

Don’t stop in the kitchen. What about the home office? Even if they don’t have an official space, every homeowner has to set aside a time and place to manage the household, and this offers excellent opportunities for personalized gifts, such as the address stampers and stationery, as already mentioned. 

Tip #5: Incorporate your branding into your mortgage closing gifts, even if it’s subtle. 

There are lots of sides to this discussion, and perhaps there is no right answer. 

Critics argue that branding cheapens the closing gift. Put your face and logo on the label of a bottle of wine? The recipients aren’t likely to perceive it as a nice selection. And they’re not as likely to display or perhaps even use household items branded for a mortgage company. 

On the other hand, one of the main purposes of a closing gift is to keep you top of mind, particularly if your goal is to earn repeat business. Be sure to consider your gift choice and the type of branding you do carefully.  

For items that might be on display or in regular use, you might add your logo in an inconspicuous area, like the back of a cutting board. For home office items that will be tucked away when not in use, you can be more obvious. 

Tip #6: To build your business, use mortgage closing gifts consistently. 

When you give a closing gift, your immediate purpose is to express thanks to your clients, of course. If that were all you were doing, it might be nice to plan one-off gifts based on the borrower and their preferences when you have time to think about it. You can even go the extra mile on a gift when you have an exceptional experience with your borrowers. The downside is that gift-giving is hit-or-miss. Some borrowers may be overlooked. 

For business-building purposes, you’re going to want a consistent gift-giving program. The easiest way to do this is through marketing automation. 

Using mortgage CRM software like Surefire℠ CRM and Mortgage Marketing Engine, integrated with your LOS, you can select your preferred timing for gift giving. After closing or at funding, for example, an order for your standard closing gift (with customization) can be triggered. In classic set-it-and-forget-it style, buyers and sellers will receive housewarming gifts on time, every time, with no extra work from you. 

Surefire Takes Mortgage Closing Gifts Even Further 

When you put the tips together, you’ll settle on a home-related mortgage closing gift that is personalized, tastefully branded, utilitarian and can be delivered consistently after every closing. 

Surefire has choices to fit the bill. Our most popular closing gift is a stamper with the borrower’s new address. The loan officer’s logo and contact information are on the handle. Loan officers regularly report that repeat buyers make requests for a new stamper with their next purchase. 

Surefire also offers several choices for wood cutting boards engraved with the borrower’s name on the front and the mortgage company’s logo tastefully engraved on the back. A modern magnetic spice rack also features prominently engraved names and subtle logo placement. 

At Surefire, the mortgage closing gift is just one part of a full Client for Life campaign that delivers a combination of email, text and postal messages to each borrower over the course of five years. Again, the set-it-and-forget-it nature of marketing automation means consistent long-term follow-up with each borrower, every time, with no extra work from you. 

To learn more about Surefire’s set-it-and-forget-it opportunities, Client for Life Workflow and closing gift ideas, schedule a tour. We’d love to show you around!

In any industry, the marketing department’s path of least resistance is usually to continue doing things as they’ve always been done.

This is especially the case for banks and credit unions that offer mortgage lending. Loan officers are often in their own silo, where it’s easy for the marketing team to forget they’re out there managing their own contact lists and developing their own messaging — at least until the compliance officers come knocking.

When marketing teams at banks and credit unions set up marketing automation for their mortgage lending divisions, they break down the silos while still giving those independent-minded loan officers a sense of control.

Marketing executives will also find they can better manage compliance and branding, even while their LOs are happy to be getting more leads in the pipeline.

Banks and Credit Unions Discover More Deals With Marketing Automation

Consolidate disparate customer lists for consistent management, more repeat business, and more referrals.In some cases, LOs at banks and credit unions manage their own contact lists. Over time, the job can become daunting, and contacts fall through the cracks.

Marketing automation solves both problems by providing one place for LOs to enter and view contact records, record notes, and properly segment contacts for appropriate messaging. One-click or even no-click automation means each LO communicates with their contacts as needed, staying top of mind when the next financial need arises.

Marketing managers, branch managers, assistants and others can also understand the contact management system since it’s now consistent across the company. This means they can step in to help LOs, rather than sitting on the sideline while LOs struggle to manage marketing along with their other duties.

Not only does the improved management and communication mean that more customers are coming back for new deals and are making referrals, but it also means LOs have more time on their hands to make those deals happen.

Presidential Bank Mortgage (Presidential) provides a success story. An operating division of Presidential Bank with branches in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, Presidential had loan officers managing their own databases before they adopted marketing automation with Surefire. In some cases, the LOs had been with Presidential for several decades, so their lists of contacts had become unwieldy.

By introducing marketing automation, Presidential’s marketing director helped the LOs wrangle their databases into a manageable platform where they could nourish each relationship with automated workflows and recurring deployments. Access the full case study here.

Increase cross-selling.

When banks and credit unions use marketing automation software, they can increase their effectiveness and efficiency in cross selling their various financial services.

Consider, for example, a bank or credit union that offers investment services, auto loans, mortgage services and life insurance. A loan officer speaks with a client about a cash-out refi. The client is welcoming a new baby to the family and wants to consolidate debt and have extra cash to refurbish the nursery.

As the LO works with the client and makes notes, the client is tagged, and activities are triggered. The system starts an appropriate marketing campaign that features one or more products new parents might appreciate, such as a 529 plan, life insurance, or an auto loan. It then sends messages to appropriate team members in the organization who can help offer those products.

Identify mortgage-related opportunities.

Marketing automation platforms can also be set to identify mortgage opportunities for users.

Platforms often offer credit pull alerts, credit rating change alerts, just listed alerts, refinancing alerts and equity alerts. LOs receive a notification when the client takes action and may benefit from mortgage services; when the client’s interest rate is at a level where they’ll benefit from a refinance; or when their home equity has grown to a point, they can eliminate PMI.

As an LO fills the marketing platform with contact records, the platform will continually feed the LO leads in return.

In Presidential’s case, Just Listed Alerts triggered their LOs to follow up and offer services any time a client placed their home on the market. They learned that many clients who had not contacted them about their next home purchase were moving out of state and assumed that Presidential could not help with their next loan. Since Presidential is licensed in all states, their LOs were able to recapture this business.

Banks and Credit Unions Remain Compliant with Marketing Automation

When banks and credit unions employ automated marketing, it’s easier to review and approve all materials and access all sent items for audits later. Here are three benefits:

• First, with marketing automation, emails, text messages, and social marketing messages are now in a central location. You don’t have to worry that one rogue LO is sending unapproved messages.
• Second, strong mortgage-centered systems will include content that adheres to overall standards. With this as a starting point, marketing managers can review and use content as it is, edit existing content or create their own messages. They can then set up approved workflows and recurring deployments that will automatically send to certain contacts or that LOs can assign to contacts with a simple click.

Strong mortgage-centered systems will allow for easy review and approval processes for companies that want to give the LOs more flexibility in creating or selecting their own messages.

• Finally, robust mortgage-centered systems will offer banks and credit union customers the ability to pull commonly requested audit reports. When compliance officers need more details, strong CRM companies will have team members ready to assist.

Banks and Credit Unions Stay On-Brand with Marketing Automation

For marketing executives who live and breathe the branding for their bank or credit union, the idea of individual financial professionals creating marketing materials and graphics on their own can be the stuff of nightmares. It’s not that other team members can’t do it; it’s just that they may not be versed in the intricacies of approved colors or fonts or niceties that excite marketing executives.

With a strong mortgage-centered CRM as a marketing automation platform, bank and credit union marketing executives will find a depth of content that allows them to match their brand personality. For example, Surefire CRM and Mortgage Marketing Engine offers a whimsical in-process series of communications or a more straightforward, classically professional version.

Strong marketing automation platforms will also automatically add your logo and company colors, allowing you to adjust as necessary.

Of course, you should always have the ability to build your own marketing from scratch and deploy it through the system, too.

Banks and Credit Unions Can Do More with a Mortgage-Centered CRM Platform

Not just any marketing automation platform will do when meeting the specific needs of banks and credit unions. Surefire CRM has been working with mortgage lenders of all stripes for almost two decades. Sign up for a tour today to see how we may be able to help you, too.

Looking for an all-encompassing, free resource to get your 2021 mortgage marketing plan started with a bang? Enroll today in Mortgage Marketing University!

Mortgage marketing newsletters are commonly used by loan officers to stay in touch with their prospects, clients and referral partners. Commercially available mortgage newsletter or lead generation services publish versions that range from no more serious than the latest meatloaf recipe to jargon-packed analyses of the mortgage-backed securities market. 

Many will argue the benefits of using one email mortgage marketing approach over the other — and to each their own. However, the trick is striking the right balance if you want your mortgage newsletters to be read, and more importantly, to convert readers to applicants or business partners. 

How to know what mortgage marketing newsletters to send? 

The best way to determine what style, substance and medium you want to use is to think long and hard about who you are marketing to and for what reason. This may sound obvious as of course you want to email mortgage newsletters to prospects and referral partners so they will do business with you. 

The hurdle to overcome, however, is that while people will fall into categories, they’re still all different. 

These differences may be in their interests, their position relative to you, their seriousness, their tastes, or their preference to learn or be entertained. 

Determining what messages to send or post to social media for such a potentially diverse group is more about segmentation and targeting than it is about picking a generic, middle-of-the-road approach. 

But how do I send out mortgage marketing newsletters? 

The tasks of segmenting and targeting your messages may be easier than you think. For starters, separate your contacts into email lists by audience. For instance, referral partners are usually industry professionals, and the content that will appeal to them is generally going to be industry-specific and helpful. You can help make their job easier by educating them on topics you, as a mortgage lender, know a lot about. 

Consumers, on the other hand, may not care about mortgage industry news. They’re more likely to pay attention to articles about mortgages and the home buying process if they’re prospects or the value of their current property and how to get equity out of their home if they’re existing customers.  

Even within these groups, there are more lead generation categories. Is your prospect list made up of past clients AND unknowns that you have adopted as a lead? Ideally, you’d want to “speak” to them differently. One has shown trust and, hopefully, you earned that. The other may not be there yet, so you still must prove yourself to them. 

Does the answer to all this segmentation mean multiple email mortgage newsletters? 

Ideally, yes., the more you target the who and provide them with what they need, the more you’ll get what YOU want in return. For example: 

• Give real estate agents timely information they aren’t getting elsewhere and do it in a fashion that is easy and quick to digest. Topics they may appreciate include new or special loan pricing promotions, down payment assistance programs for local buyers, or homebuyer events or workshops coming up in the community. 
• Give past clients information about their loan and their home that’s relative to them and the current market conditions. They may be open to learning about Home Equity Lines of Credit or second mortgages to take advantage of the equity they’ve built over the years.  
• Give prospects the information they need to secure the best possible deal on their home and loan. Destroy the myths they probably came across surfing old info on the web. Give them straight facts vs. hyperbole. Teach them something they didn’t know that’s to their benefit vs. your own. As in the end, that’ll likely be to your benefit after all. 

How to manage a diverse set of email mortgage messaging and recipients. 

Let’s face it. You’re busy, or you need to be. And you don’t need to be busy producing mortgage newsletters every week and month. What you need is to be taking apps and closing loans. You need to let someone else whose mission is to produce great content for you to do their thing. 

You also need an up-to-date system to manage all your contacts into proper distribution groups so you can share content that’ll be helpful to them, exactly when they need it. 

A CRM system purpose-built for the mortgage industry already loaded with daily, weekly and any-time-you-need-it shareable content is just what’s needed. The good news is that it’s available from Surefire℠ CRM and Mortgage Marketing Engine right now.  

After all, have you ever been referred to assist in the largest financial obligation of someone’s life because you shared a new meatloaf recipe? 

Why not schedule a demo to see the Surefire system in action today? 

A Product Pricing Engine (PPE) falls into the “how did I ever live without this” category for those who use and rely on them. If you haven’t benefited from one, read on and you’ll quickly understand why using this tool will make your day, and ultimately your business, far more successful and far less stressful.

Integrating your product pricing engines allow you to work smart, not hard.

Saying goodbye to the old days of manually sifting through guidelines and rate sheets to come up with accurate pricing is something to look forward to. It takes a little bit of effort, but once your systems are connected with a Product Pricing Engine, your mortgage origination and loan process world will change for the better.

In the old days, it was more straightforward. We had rate sheets with a handful of options — zero, one, or two points. Chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry; pick your flavor and lock it in. Investor overlays, loan-level price adjustments, adverse market condition bumps and g-fee hits weren’t even a thing yet.

But now, we have all those troublesome and sometimes expensive things to consider in any given loan scenario. The biggest issue is that prospects are often unaware of the details. They’re comparison shopping, and if you want to be able to offer rates at least comparable to what they might be seeing or hearing, you better have the ability to know exactly what you can provide, and quickly.

The ability to offer your mortgage loan prospects not just any rate quote, but one specific to their scenario, is critical. Doing it instantly vs. after abundant research and guideline perusal can make the difference between your winning the deal or having it become another one for your competitors.

Along with speed to lead, explaining to the borrower as you enter data why it’s important to get an accurate quote can and will set you apart from those only offering generic quotes. Better yet, it will also distinguish you from less thorough loan officers that might lure someone in, only to upset them later.

There are other benefits to using a product pricing engine, too.

It’s not just that, a PPE will make initial loan origination easier, and save time and aggravation, too. These days, you can be on the hook for misquoting, and no one likes to work for free. We all know what more time is worth: do more deals or have more personal space.

Let’s face it — just being able to quote accurately, offer more options and account for readily identified adjustments makes you more professional in the eyes of your prospects. There will always be those who care about nothing more than the absolute best rate, and that’s fine. A mortgage product pricing engine can allow you to identify that “best” rate and where it may have originated. But the most significant value is being able to best serve your clients and prospects with knowledge and professionalism.

In the end, people will forget what rate they got, but they will remember how they were treated. Be the one that cares more about accuracy and fair pricing, and your business will reflect that with a never-ending stream of repeat and referral business that no advertisement will ever compete with.

While we’re at it, the combination of a mortgage product pricing engine and a world-class mortgage CRM that will keep your clients and prospects informed from that first inquiry all the way through many years of loan anniversaries can do exponential justice to your mortgage business.

Want to join the ranks of successfully integrated CRM and mortgage product pricing users? For starters, just request a demo with Surefire. You’ll be a mortgage quoting and marketing automation pro in no time.

Grow your mortgage marketing expertise and close more deals with our free Mortgage Marketing University courses.