Have you ever marketed your services to Agents and had the unfortunate experience of attracting one that led to a horrible experience? Maybe they tried to negotiate your fees, or worse yet, at point blank asked you to cut your commission on a deal? And when you inquired if they were cutting their fees too, they acted insulted?
Although one thing alone won't ever fix this, it is possible to acutely minimize this mistake. It begins with marketing. And good marketing includes a website. But just not any website, an agent-focused website. It's specifically designed for them to learn about you and how you conduct business.
This week's issues discusses the importance of an agent-focused website.
Your Agent Marketing Hub
Have you ever written marketing strategy and was disappointed when you didn't achieve it? Was there a time when you were enthusiastic about an idea, but as time went on and little action was taken, the idea waned?
Developing more agent-referred business means taking action. Nothing ever happened sitting on the sidelines. Action requires initiative on your part. But it's easier when you break down your marketing strategy into smaller, more manageable chunks, known as processes.
The processes you want your marketing strategy to be broken down into should mirror that of the relationship building process; convert strangers into friends, friends into clients and clients into loyal clients.
This week's issue describes the three major processes to mirror in your marketing strategy.
Like the old adage says, "The best way to eat an elephant is...one bite at a time."
If you break your marketing strategy down into smaller chunks than it's easier to be consistent. And the best way to be consistent is to make each chunk a process. A process is a particular course of action intended to achieve a result in a routine way.
Process #1: Lead Generation
Everything has a starting point. This is it in the relationship building process. The primary goal is to secure permission from qualified members of your targeted audience. Think of it as a value exchange. Agents expect to get something of value from you in exchange for giving you permission to market future messages to them.
You improve your odds of securing permission the more you add Agents to your list. Marketing your services to a list of one or two Agents will not suffice. It's better to have more Agents knocking at your door inquiring about your services than having none at all.
Adding a new lead daily should become a discipline. You'll discover quickly that the key to attracting more agent-referred business begins with having more demand than supply. Your supply is constantly changing. As Agents learn more about you and your services, they decide that you're not their preferred lender of choice, as well as, the more you learn about certain Agents you discover they don't meet your profile.
If you're just beginning and haven't worked with Agents before, you'll be spending most of your time lead generating. It's important to make your lead generation process a routine, that way as you acquire more clients, you keep a full pipeline of prospects eagerly waiting to use your services.
Too often, loan officers experience peaks and valleys in their performance because they didn't sustain their efforts. Lead generation is the lifeblood of your business. Just because you acquire some clients or get busy with several loan applications, you shouldn't stop your routine of searching for your next client.
Process #2: Client Acquisition
The second major process in relationship building is client acquisition. Whereas, lead generation is about quantity, client acquisition is about quality.
It's better to acquire a few clients who are delighted to have you as their preferred lender, than to have a lot of clients who are over demanding and difficult to work with because they think they're doing you a favor.
Client acquisition is the successful result of converting friends into clients. It's achieved through an ongoing exchange of information shared between you and the prospect. Every exchange develops familiarity and fosters a greater sense of trust, eventually to the point that it materializes in the exchange of business.
Process #3: Client Retention
The final process is keeping the clients you've acquired, unless of course they've fallen out of your favor or they've decided to move on to someone else.
Remember it costs less to keep your current Agents than it does to acquire new ones. That doesn't mean that you should quit lead generating to acquire new clients, but you should invest some of your marketing budget on your retention process.
Consider the 80/20 rule, which states 80% of your business income comes from just 20% of your customers. A good client retention process will work to convert those occasional clients into loyal clients who bring you more business on a more frequent basis or become loyal clients who are low maintenance to manage.
Thanks for support,
Jeff Nelson
Salesachievers
Helping loan officers attract more clients
© 2004, 2005 by Jeff Nelson
All rights reserved
