Filling the Funnel . . . Your Building Block to Success
Written by Sam Collins Tuesday, 07 April 2009 15:18
Articles - Sales and Marketing
Critical to your success in the reverse mortgage business is gathering leads. This gathering of leads, sorting and using lead information is necessary to begin interaction with your senior prospects. This process is called “Filling the Funnel.”
You see; leads are a powerful resource to have. Today’s leads are tomorrow’s origination, or next month’s, or next year’s. Therefore, it is important for you to understand the importance of your leads.
One important concept for you as an originator or broker is the ability to create a workable senior prospect database. This database enables you to market to your prospects now and in the future. By putting your senior prospect leads in your database, you are securing a lucrative future for business, originations and ultimately referrals.
The more senior prospect leads you have in your funnel, the more originations you’re going to have down the road. Why? Because you have the list and you are going to devote yourself to be constantly standing in front of them.
Where Oh Where Has That Little Lead Gone?
Question: What happens when prospective leads are not put into the funnel? Where do they go?
Let’s say that you capture a reasonable amount of prospects and work the entire incoming leads. You discover there are some seniors who are ready to go now. So, what do you do with the rest of the leads who were not ready? My guess, many of those leads may get lost! Why? It’s probably not intentional, but because of the overwhelming nature of just doing business and living life, many of those leads just get lost and unfortunately end up in the trash can or a scrap piece of paper, then lost forever.
When I first started in the reverse mortgage business, I had hired a loan officer who was struggling. He had been working in the business for 6 months and had only closed 2 reverse mortgage loans. He came to me discouraged. I suggested he go back to his old leads and call them again, send them information, or touch base with them in some way. His response was “What Leads?” I mentioned he had been given over 100 prospects, “What happened to the other 98?” The loan officer stared at me and confessed, “I threw their stuff away. I didn’t think I would need it.” Well, I have to tell you this was a wake up call for my loan officer and for me. Sometimes that which causes you pain can make you stronger.
What is the Price of Lost Leads?
What is the ultimate result of a loss or discarded lead? Well, really there is only one answer to that question. You will have to seek out more leads. And thus, (if not corrected), the process will begin again. Yes, you’ll pour more money into purchasing leads, make the quick originations, loose or discard the lost and if you are not careful, the process repeats itself again and again.
In this process, not only are you spending more money in marketing efforts, but in purchasing more leads you are leaving thousands of dollars of profits just sitting on the table.
Let’s do a quick calculation. Let’s say you are spending $5000 per month on marketing for leads and you are able to generate 50 leads. Of those leads you generate immediately 5
originations, you gross $20K in origination fees and you feel pretty good. After 12 months you haven’t done too badly, but what about those 45 X 12 or 540 leads that were left on the table. Let’s say half of your leads or 270 were not qualified, but the remaining 270 had a chance, and you were able to close
another 5% or 14 originations, which resulted in $70K of
additional originations. Had you thrown the leads away or lost them, that additional income would be lost, and the business would have most likely gone to your competition. This is
certainly something you cannot afford to let happen.
You Don’t Have To Be Pushy To Be Successful!
This is so true in the reverse mortgage space. Senior clients can see through a pushy salesman. Your goal is to become the trust advisor through consultative approaches. When you start to understand the importance of every lead, you will notice your approach will change and your mindset creates a whole new set of values. Recognize what others are doing to close originations, toss out the bad and use the good.
Your goal is to be polite even if the senior client is not ready to move forward. We all know our senior clients will not move forward until they are ready, not when you are ready. The secret is simple, steady as she goes with polite persistence.
Capture your leads to capture more originations!
Realization: no matter where your leads are generated from, you are not the only person trying to sell to the “hot” leads. Remember the need for leads is greater than the supply, so it is common sense to recognize two or more persons may be working the same lead to win the senior client’s business.
Here is the building block strategy for you to take away. Treat each and every senior prospect as if they were already your client and remember many will be. There is no way to gauge how much a prospective lead is worth in the future. Why take risks with potential dollars? Understand that leads are only worth the originations that come from them. But, in senior marketing, you never know when the origination will occur. Remember, your senior client’s are working on their schedule, not yours.
Converting the Funnel
Assuming by now you have determined how to fill your funnel, you need a plan to make sure you cultivate all those “not so hot” leads. You should also realize that managing your funnel is a mammoth task and is one of the primary reasons why leads go in the trash or just get plain lost.
The secret to lead conversion mastery is dependent on your ability to execute faithfully. I know you have heard it before; however, the secret is really no secret at all. To master the funnel you must master follow up. When you choose to execute your follow up, you are committing to interacting with your senior client. In order to interact, you must have a message and a reason for your client to really get to know you and interact with you.
Many of you are probably using the old fashioned method of follow up. Maybe you are using a file folder system, a notebook, sticky notes, or the “I’ll remember to call them back system.” If you are still using the latter and it is working for you, then keep doing it. However, even the brightest and most knowledgeable of originators find it impossible to remember all their “non-active” clients. Why? Because in order to keep your pipeline full, your business requires many potential clients and our client is not on the same schedule as us.
Establishing a consultative follow up system requires patience. However, it requires you use some form of technology. Yes, you need some form of automation to keep up. If not, you are going to do three things; one, continue along the same old path getting the same old results; two, drive yourself crazy; and three, continue to lose money on unconverted leads that slip through the funnel.
The old days of just picking up the phone and getting an appointment are gone. Oh yes, you might get luck here and there, but this business in not for the faint of heart, it’s hard work and smart work. The arena of competition has proven they want the business also. So, don’t immediately think your senior prospect doesn’t have choices and don’t think they immediately see the value of you and a reverse mortgage. The senior client wants to be shown not told. To establish the value and relationship your senior client needs to know exactly what they will be receiving and exactly how it is going to impact their lives. It’s not about you; it’s about them.
Bottom line, if you fail to move your prospect through the funnel, you’re not going to get the opportunity to make money. So why should your senior client choose you to do business with. What have you offered them that others can’t? Usually, the answer is nothing. For example, if one dentist hands every client a toothbrush and the other dentist does the same, there is no difference. However, if you are handed a toothbrush, an egg timer, and a two-minute demonstration, you have been offered something of value. So most of us are not giving our prospective client the “why me” answer they desperately want. “Choose me” because I’ll give you a free toothbrush” is not a good reason for picking a dentist.
Your senior prospects are looking for value. Value they don’t typically find in a sales or marketing message. This value creation is where most of us go astray and fail to differentiate ourselves.
Conversion techniques to keep the funnel flowing
You must add Value in order to add Revenue
Please keep one thing in mind; content rich materials. Let’s face it not all of your materials will contain valuable information, but most of it should. The information has to be relative and be of interest to your senior client. The value I am talking about is any knowledge you can impart to your senior prospect that they will appreciate. For example, rather than the same old same old approach, you could send a report that explains the difference between adjustable and fixed rates or a report about the growth of technology among seniors and how knowing that will help them. What if you were the one person to educate your client? It would certainly set you apart.
Keeping your name in front of the prospect can only be one with follow up. Your prospect will think of your consideration every time they see your name. All the while you are building trust. This strong relationship will carry on once they become clients.
The trust is the value they receive without the hard sell.
So, your first step to becoming the welcomed guest is to be that person who is invited to all the parties because you are fun and interesting. This could be you—the person everyone wants to be around. Creating valuable content does not have to be complicated either. You already know a lot about reverse mortgages, throw in some fun facts, interesting success stories, and you’ll quickly have a fan club. Often when I visit a client, they tell me they have the Sam Collins pile of information. Yes, they actually have folders with all the information I have sent them. Now, that’s a fun feeling to see all my stuff there and guess who got the business!
At the risk of overloading you with the funnel, I saved the best conversion technique for last because I am so excited to tell you about it. Show… don’t just tell. Wouldn’t it be nice if you had the time to personally approach each one of your prospects? Wouldn’t it be great if you could sit in front of your prospects and share with them all the good stuff about how a reverse mortgage can help change their lives? Imagine being face to face without driving yourself crazy wondering who might be stealing your business and feeling good about yourself when you helped your client by saving their home or improving their way of life.
Show your senior clients you care by creating a systematic approach to each and every prospect. Become a fanatic about your follow up and hold yourself and your team accountable for each step and each contact.
There are many CRM systems and even manual systems that will provide you with the right tools to fill your funnel and keep it full with a steady flow of qualified and interested prospects. We use a rich content infused system for our follow up. There are many systems out there and choices.
Will all your prospects actually do a reverse mortgage? No, but many will eventually. All you need to do is make sure you are at the end of the funnel waiting!
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