Welcome back to “Building Up Better,” Shape’s blog series aimed to help brokers build up stronger, more profitable businesses in 2021 by harnessing the power of technology.

In previous posts, we’ve discussed in more detail the best way to generate high-quality, qualified leads for your mortgage business. But how do you deliver a high-quality customer experience that breeds loyalty and drives referrals, especially in the “new normal” of COVID-19, where more and more consumers are looking online for lenders?

The home buying and mortgage process for most borrowers are deeply personal. Good relationships are forged on trust and developing a connection, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to build these in today’s remote world. As a result, consumer confidence and satisfaction in mortgage brokers are plummeting—only 42% of borrowers say they are satisfied with the mortgage process.

Let’s take a closer look at 3 key ways to leverage technology (yes, really) to build better client relationships and stand out from the crowd:

1. Know When to Automate

We cover efficiency a lot on this blog—it’s partly why we created Shape—to help lenders create more efficient workflows leveraging the power of automation. How do you measure the impact automation can have on your business? Mortgage teams that use CRMs and automation are 50% more productive, but more importantly, these tools help you retain 27% more clients than teams rooted in manual processes. All this automation adds up to one thing brokers need more of to build great relationships: time. 

Lenders know that one of the top drivers of new business is referrals from your existing client base since 92% of buyers trust referrals from people they know. If you’re automating the frequent daily manual tasks sucking up your time (like following up on contracts, booking appointments, and client data entry), you’ll have more bandwidth to develop and nurture your referral network, which ultimately means more revenue.  

2. Don’t Chase the Rate Chasers

Quality leads: that’s the top priority of any growing mortgage business. But in today’s wild rate rodeo, you’ll undoubtedly have “rate chasers” who will contact you only to get another quote as they do their rate shopping. They may have some intent to work with you, but likely they’re just another low-quality prospect you’ll waste valuable time on. 

Just how much can these low-quality leads negatively impact your mortgage business?

“On average, bad lead prospect data costs sales departments 550 hours and $32,000 per representative. Assuming the average cost of $60,000 per year for a sales representative, not including additional payroll-related expenses, this means individuals are spending over 50% of their time and payroll working with low-interest customers.” Ouch. 

Instead of wasting time on the chasers who won’t help your business or drive more referrals, opt for a CRM with built-in lead generation tools and lead scoring, which can help teams convert 30% more of their prospects. By leveraging AI lead-qualifying, your reps can focus on only top-quality prospects who are a great fit for your business, ensuring you’re building great client relationships from the very first touchpoint. 

3. Break Through the Noise

In today’s digital mortgage environment, how do you compete for a legitimate lead’s attention? With endless pleas for our attention online, brokers need to get personal to help them stand out from the crowd. 

Sending a welcome email to a new prospect isn’t always the best way to show who you are and why they should work with you: text lacks emotion, personality, and tone, which can leave your message ignored or misunderstood.

Instead, you can accelerate your sales cycle and rehumanize the digital mortgage experience by sending personalized video messages. Clearer communication with quick, digestible videos means less time emailing back and forth, which progresses your deals forward. Personal videos before appointments help put a face to your name, making it harder for them to no-show you.

By leveraging videos as a part of your client and prospect outreach or drip campaigns, you can infuse much needed personality and build trust at every touchpoint. 

Looking for more proven ways to build great client relationships for your mortgage business?

Join Shape Mortgage and BombBomb on Thursday, April 13 at 10:00 am MDT for an in-depth 45-minute webinar where we’ll share industry-leading tips and tricks proven to boost your client relationships and help you generate more referrals and revenue. Save your seat today!

Article Source:- https://setshape.com/blog/how-to-build-great-client-relationships-in-the-new-normal

Welcome back to “Building Up Better,” Shape’s blog series aimed to help brokers build up stronger, more profitable businesses in 2021 by harnessing the power of technology.

In this post, we’ll dive deeper into everyone’s favorite topic: money. The last 12+ months have been a wild ride for brokers everywhere, but not every lender has optimized their workflow or tech stack to capitalize on the historic influx of new and refinancing borrowers.  

If you haven’t taken the plunge and invested in a CRM to make your lending workflow more efficient, lower your processing costs, or increase your team’s productivity, you’re not too late. 

And even if you’ve already got a system in place but are hesitant to fine-tune it because it may require some upfront time investment, please read on, too, because we guarantee there’s a better way.

Let’s dive into the three ways a CRM can help you make more money for your mortgage business in 2021. 

Benefit 1: Attract More (and better) Borrowers

CRMs are more than just your digital client database—in fact, CRMs designed with lenders in mind are packed with powerful tools and integrations that make finding, qualifying, nurturing, and converting great borrowers easier than ever before.  

According to the PwC home lending report, 46% of purchase borrowers consider only one lender during their search, and the majority of borrowers won’t switch the lender they chose. Lenders must be leveraging high-performing marketing campaigns to attract the best leads possible.

Why a CRM: Mortgage CRMs give your team full control over your lead sources, so you’ll get up-the-second data to understand your top-converting marketing channels inside and out. These kinds of reporting tools help you invest more strategically in the marketing activities that give you the best results and drop the initiatives that aren’t driving ROI for your business.

Benefit 2: Lower Your Loan Processing (and other) Costs

If there’s an Achilles heel for lenders everywhere, it’s the rising costs of origination fees. If you’re looking to lower the amount you spend without passing on more costs to your clients or hiring additional team members, look no further than a mortgage CRM. 

Why a CRM: When you opt for a mortgage CRM + POS that integrates directly with your LOS, you’ll drastically reduce time spent on data entry but also minimize errors or typos with borrower data. Because CRMs reduce the need for human input, they help reduce the margin of error and lower the likelihood of unnecessary rework.

In addition, many CRMs with great UX minimize the need for costly system administrators. With all your documents in one structured and centralized system, there’s no need to spend time and money hiring and training an administrator to navigate all that paperwork.

Benefit 3: Boost Your Team’s Productivity by 29% and Sales by 34%

Most employees waste up to 55% of their time on administrative tasks, and loan officers are no exception. Preparing financial documents, qualifying borrowers, or reviewing loan agreements takes a lot of time, and generating new business only adds to an already full plate. Without some workflow automation process, there’s simply not enough time left in the day for your team to focus on lead outreach or closing more deals.

Why a CRM: The numbers don’t lie: teams who use a CRM to offload those every day, unproductive manual tasks see a boost of 29% in their productivity and 34% in their closed deals, and boosted revenue of 41%. Consider how much a third more revenue would mean to your mortgage business in 2021?

Mortgage CRMs can help achieve these kinds of results by more than just automating frequent tasks. The best mortgage CRMs can integrate with your other systems, so you never have to waste time switching between screens or wondering where to find the data you need.

In addition, tools like team tools like calendar, email, document syncing, and productivity reports help ensure that your business is data-driven, and not chance-driven. Real-time performance reports can help you see which of your loan officers perform at 100% and who needs some coaching to get back on track.

Take Action Today

Want to get started making more money for your mortgage business in 2021 with a CRM? We’ve helped thousands of brokers build more efficient workflows that have helped them grow revenue and save time. It’s not a secret; it’s CRM science. 

Schedule a chat with us to learn how we can help grow your mortgage business

Article Source:- https://setshape.com/blog/how-mortgage-brokers-can-make-more-money-in-2021

Welcome to “Build Up Better,” a new blog series from the mortgage experts at Shape, which will help you emerge from 2020’s unpredictability with the essential tips, tricks, and best practices needed to make 2021 the best year ever for your business. 

Although we’re making our way through the first quarter of another record-breaking mortgage market, it’s never too late to invest the time to set your business up for success. Whether your goals for 2021 are growth, saving more time, or just cashing in on the influx of new and refinancing borrowers, much of your focus needs to point toward making your lending workflow more efficient.

In this post, we’re going to cover 3 easy ways to automate the frequent, everyday lending tasks you waste countless hours a day on with a customer relationship manager (CRM). But first, why does this even matter?

The benefits of automation for mortgage brokers:

• CRMs provide brokers with $8.71 ROI for every $1 they invest in one 
• Mortgage teams that use CRMs and automation tools are 50% more productive
• CRM automation boosts individual sales rep revenue by 41%
• CRMs help brokers retain 27% more clients 

When used correctly, software automation can unlock new growth opportunities for your mortgage business, allowing you and your team to focus on building the human connections you need to compete in today’s market!

Tip 1: Stop Wasting Time on Your Calendar

Studies show it can take up to 52 touchpoints to convert a mortgage prospect, and on average, it may take as many as 4 separate attempts (think back and forth emailing to land on a scheduled time to meet) just to book a meeting with them. If you’re not using a CRM or other calendar automation tool, this is wasting you over 8 hours a month per teammate!
Instead, when you use a calendar automation tool, you can provide prospects with your real-time availability and automatically sync your appointments with your calendar. 

The benefits of calendar automation for mortgage brokers:

1. Keep availability real-time for prospects and clients 
2. Always be up-to-the-second on your meeting schedule at the office, or on-the-go
3. Reduce manual email scheduling time to zero 
4. Shorten the lead sales cycle and boost client satisfaction 

Tip 2: Clean Up Your Database

The cost of dirty data for brokers isn’t just disorganization: bad data has led to 12% of businesses losing revenue, 28% suffering email deliverability issues (rendering their marketing dollars useless), and 21% experiencing reputational damage. In a business where reputation is extremely important, you can’t afford to have a sloppy Excel database or lose track of important client details because you rely on manually updating your database. 

Collecting and maintaining a quality database is a business best practice, and for mortgage brokers, the power of a CRM that can help organize and automate the collection and syncing of prospect and client records to other systems (like your LOS), can’t be overstated enough. 

Think about how beneficial it becomes when a lead enters information on your website, and that data automatically syncs to your database, creates a client record, can fire off a welcome email, and kickstart the relationship all within seconds. 

The benefits of an efficient client database for mortgage brokers

1. Have “one source of truth” where client data is always up to date for your team 
2. Drastically reduce time spent on manual data entry into multiple systems
3. Ensure marketing emails and other communications will always be delivered
4. See higher customer loyalty and referrals
5. Automate your marketing campaigns and drive more revenue 

Tip 3: Automate Your Email Outreach and Marketing

If you’re still sending manual emails because you think it shows clients that you’re a real human: stop! Research shows that not only do most consumers not recognize when a seemingly well-written email is automated, but the cost is too great for manual sends: Automated email marketing generates $38 for every $1 spent!

We get it, the mortgage business must provide soft touches, and you need to form a personal connection as you’re building new client relationships. New buyers want to be reassured you’re providing them with the best rates and best service because there’s no shortage of competition out there. But you can’t focus on building a relationship when you’re knee-deep in your inbox!

The benefits of email marketing automation for mortgage brokers

1. Using a tool with tokens can make your automated messages look human, genuine, and personal: the latter leads to a 50% boost in open rates
2. Meet your clients and prospects where they want to communicate: 72% of consumers say that email is their preferred method of communication 
3. Cuts down dramatically on time you spend responding to every email in your inbox: automated drip campaigns for your FAQs save your team tons of time while simultaneously educating the buyer and building their trust, which is great for your brand!

Take Action Today

Want to get started with calendar, email, or database automation for your mortgage business? We’ve helped thousands of brokers build more efficient workflows that have helped them grow revenue and save time. It’s not a secret; it’s CRM science. 

Schedule a chat with us to learn how we can help grow your mortgage business

Article Source:- https://setshape.com/blog/3-proven-ways-to-make-your-mortgage-business-more-efficient

Finding it difficult to look ahead to 2021 with clear eyes? We get it. Most brokers we speak to express that it’s been challenging to plan a business growth strategy with a pandemic going on, even despite an influx of new client inquiries and record-breaking low rates. With so much changing about how we do business daily, how do you future proof your mortgage business for success in the coming year?

After working with thousands of mortgage businesses, we’ve learned two ways mortgage businesses can grow their businesses in 2021: 

1. Leveraging the right technology stack 
2. Breaking bad lead habits

Don’t worry; we’re here to help!

Daniel Kimm, VP of Sales at Shape CRM Software recently sat down on a free webinar with Daniel Cross of lead management platform Verse.io to talk about the lead habits that are crippling your sales and marketing teams the most—and how you can use technology to fix them. 

While many brokers understand the effectiveness and importance of tech, Cross and Kimm break down why specific tech stacks and adjustments in your sales funnel may bring more ROI and more significant revenue streams than others. 

Bad Habit #1: Stop calling first.

Solution: Text first, then offer to call.

Can you remember the last time you answered a phone call (you weren’t expecting) from an unknown number? 

You’re not alone–automated calls have changed the game with outbound marketing—and the downstream impact is wreaking havoc for brokers, too. There was a noticeable uptick of automated calls to consumers beginning in 2018 when “robocallers” took over, leading to more agitation and a massive increase in missed calls. Despite potential legitimate interest in your business from a mortgage lead, the rise of robocalls means that if you’re still outbound calling as the first contact, your success rates are going to plummet. 

Daniel Kimm points to the new “disruption” phone calls have on consumers; schedules, which is why Shape also leverages outbound SMS for engaging with prospects. With 90% of consumers preferring text communication over phone calls, it’s a no-brainer that sales reps should leverage SMS more often to get the convo started at the lead’s convenience. An added benefit is that text messages receive a response 7.5x more than a traditional phone call, so leveraging a CRM with these capabilities is a foolproof way to boost your lead response rate.  

While many prefer to text, not everyone desires to have a full conversation that way, which is why Verse texts a lead first to confirm it’s their preferred method of communication. Getting this consent allows the consumer to alert you of when they’re free to talk, but it also makes you seem more flexible and willing to work with their schedule while building a baseline of trust for the new client relationship.

CALL OUT: [39% of Marketing and Sales Directors said connecting with leads is the greatest challenge to lead conversion]

Bad Habit #2: Letting your leads sit idle. 

Solution: Respond to leads quickly, and with automation when needed.

Customer referrals are less time-sensitive when it comes to speed-to-lead because they’re much warmer leads. But for any leads who come inbound from your ad campaigns, Google searches, or other organic or paid marketing strategies have instant gratification needs and require having their questions answered immediately. Your silence or inaction about their inquiry is their first impression of your customer service skills—and that seldom goes unnoticed. 

Consider the fact that inbound leads are not only ones you’re paying good money for but also prospects that have an immediate problem and seek your services as a solution. If you’re not quick to respond or even connect with an automated message letting them know you’ll follow up soon, the likelihood of you losing that business grows exponentially by the minute. 

Consider this: if you can respond to a lead within the first hour, your chances of winning that business grow by 7X! 

On the other hand, while an influx of new leads sounds like a great problem to have, without a system in place to sort, qualify, assign, and automatically respond to inquiries may put your business at a disadvantage. Automating a speed-to-lead strategy with technology like Shape + Verse will help keep leads focused on your product or service–and less on your competition. 

Bad Habit #3: Ignoring your database.

Solution: Don’t let money languish in your database. 

Your database isn’t just your clearinghouse for all your leads and contacts—it can be a source of unearthed gold, provided you’re using the proper tools to mine. 

When you house your contact database in a tool like Shape, you can quickly run advanced queries to organize and group lead opportunities with smart AI to give your sales team an easier way to focus on leads with the highest conversion likelihood. 

Automating this type of lead engagement and qualification from your database will maximize your conversion rates and ensure no lead generation efforts (or dollars) go to waste. Not every lead will be ready to buy right away, but using proven techniques like email drip marketing or SMS campaigns, as we mentioned in tip #1, will help keep you, not your competition, top-of-mind.

Bad Habit #4: Take on work/life imbalance.

Solution: Have systems in place for after-hours to maintain team productivity. 

Time is precious but also strange in fluid in these pandemic times. While your leads and customers may keep irregular hours, that doesn’t mean you and your team should be working nights and weekends to make your leads and prospects happy. Working weekends doesn’t help home life for your reps, nor does it make them more productive. 

Instead, your business needs to leverage technology to automate manual processes, along with the check-ins reps might be conducting after hours and on weekends—like an inbound lead auto-responsder, or providing your leads with a client portal where they can self-service.

As your business grows, keeping your team energized and engaged, especially during an influx of low rates, is key to increasing a scalable and successful business. 

Bad Habit #5: Your lead flows aren’t organized.

Solution: Use a CRM to keep all your data clean and efficient. 

Leads are one of the most targeted audiences you can obtain—they’re interested people who raised their hand and showed some intent to buy. Having a manual process for responding to these leads is extremely inefficient and will prevent you from growing a profitable business entirely. 

Instead, with the right CRM like Shape in place, you can design a workflow that prioritizes the right leads for your team, automatically assigns inbound them to the right sales rep, and prime them for a conversation with a bit of automated marketing before ever taking a sales call. 

By prioritizing leads, you’ll also help sort and organize leads by which are the warmest, allowing your team to focus on those worth investing time into. Gone are the days of wasting endless time and productivity on prospects who aren’t a good fit for your business. Instead, using technology to organize your lead flow helps you better track engagement and conversion rates, helping your marketers leverage real data to spend their advertising dollars to generate higher-quality leads. 

This entire lead optimization process ensures less lead waste and more ROI on all parts of the sales funnel.

Take Action

Curious to dive deeper into the entire panel discussion and learn the lead habits to break in 2021? Watch the webinar on-demand now.  

Looking for a technology suite built to help take you close and convert more clients than ever before? 

Schedule some time to talk with our team about how Shape + Verse.io can take your mortgage business to the next level!

Article Source:- https://setshape.com/blog/free-on-demand-webinar-5-lead-habits-to-break-in-2021

When done correctly, digital marketing can be a lender or realtor’s best friend. Building an end-to-end campaign that generates high-quality leads, brings them into your funnel, nurtures them, and ultimately converts means more (ideally, repeatable) revenue for your business. Easy, right?

Well, without a proven system or technology in place to track and measure the return on your investment, marketing can be your business’s Achilles Heel, especially when you consider a quarter of companies have no idea what their return on marketing spend is. If you can’t track new leads, measure conversion rates, understand your best converting sources, or even what pieces of content are performing effectively, how can you possibly expect to invest your marketing spend wisely?

Then comes the arduous process of writing the content and building the campaign. You could hire a marketing team or even just a single marketer to help, but that can be a costly investment of both your time and money. You’ll need to get them up to speed on your services, ideal clients, and business as a whole before they even begin to build you a digital ad campaign. 

Or, you could opt for the new partnership that will simplify the end-to-end work of promoting and growing your business with mortgage and real estate experts who already know and understand the challenges and how to overcome them: Shape + Exclusive Marketing Agency!

Shape + Exclusive Marketing Agency (EMA) Partnership

With Shape’s new partnership with the financial services marketing experts at Exclusive Marketing Agency, lenders and realtors of all sizes can now get a top-tier plug-and-play marketing agency at their fingertips for less than the cost of a single employee. With Shape CRM serving as your backend platform, you can run, track, and analyze high-converting campaigns that help you focus on nurturing and building long-lasting client relationships.

How it Works

Exclusive Marketing Agency’s all-in-one program, a mortgage and real estate tailored digital marketing and lead generation offering, partners perfectly with Shape’s industry-driven CRM platform to create a complete relationship that builds and nurtures experience for your potential customers.  

EMA provides your business with:

• End-to-end marketing strategy for your mortgage or real estate business
• Brand marketing
• Content and social media
• Web design
• Landing pages
• Lead generation tools
• Digital ad campaigns
• Email marketing
• SEO
• And more!

Once you work with EMA to build your campaigns, use Shape to:

• Track and respond to incoming leads
• Automatically distribute and prioritize leads
• Nurture leads with automated email or SMS campaigns
• Track and understand lead sources
• Provide seamless client intake
• Sync with your LOS or MLS
• Call or text new leads from the integrated dialer
• View custom marketing reports to track spend and ROI
• And more!

Of the new partnership, John Seckel, President of Exclusive Marketing Agency, states, “Shape has been a terrific lead nurturing and tracking partner for EMA. Generating a lead is one thing, but having the proper infrastructure to maximize the campaign’s ROI is key. Shape provides this service to our clients.”

For a limited time only, start with Shape CRM and EMA and receive $100 off of Shape + 10% off of your first month of service with EMA.

Article Source:- https://setshape.com/blog/no-marketing-team-no-problem-how-shape-ema-help-busy-lenders-and-realtors-build-a-more-profitable-and-sustainable-business

Mortgage marketing is changing minute by minute and the pressure for brokers is on. Check out these key predictions from leading mortgage experts so you can generate and convert more leads now and in the future.

The mortgage business was never a cake walk. Brokers, loan officers and team leaders have always had to constantly find new ways to market and reinvent themselves in an often volatile and highly competitive environment.

But with recent demographic shifts and technology disruption, even the most tried-and-tested mortgage marketing simply won’t cut it anymore. 

This game is zero-sum. If your mortgage marketing ideas are not up-to-date, you may quickly find yourself struggling to keep your business afloat.

The good news is, there is a wealth of successful mortgage professionals who are able to keep themselves at the front of the pack, no matter what’s happening in the market. For these standout brokers, flexible tactics coupled with a consistent, systematic approach to marketing their mortgage business is what allows them to prosper no matter what.

We reached out to some of the mortgage industry’s top producers and experts to learn about the marketing strategies and tactics that can help you create a more resilient marketing plan for your mortgage business.

Table of Contents

• 5 Mortgage Marketing Ideas Straight from the Pros
• Mortgage Marketing Idea #1: Boost Your Online Presence with Neel Dhingra
• Mortgage Marketing Idea #2: Stand Out with an Attention-Grabbing Message with Christine Beckwith
• Mortgage Marketing Idea #3: Stop Selling to Your Sphere of Influence with Dale Vermillion
• Mortgage Marketing Idea #4: Teach Others While Creating More Demand with Brian Sacks
• Mortgage Marketing Idea #5: Stop Selling and Start Serving with Sean Herrero

5 Mortgage Marketing Ideas Straight from the Pros

Mortgage Marketing Idea #1: Boost Your Online Presence with Neel Dhingra

“If you don’t exist online, you are losing opportunities and credibility.” 

— Neel Dhingra, mortgage banker and branch manager at All Western Mortgage

Even though Neel and his multi-state team have been in the top-tier in Nevada and Cali for at least a decade, he still managed to quadruple his success (and net income!) in just one year from 2018 to 2019—and for Neel and the team at All Western Mortgage, there are no signs of stopping.

With guests like Gary Vaynerchuk and Jerry West, Neel’s YouTube channel is growing by the second. For rainmakers like Neel, putting yourself out there is no longer about gaining a competitive edge. It’s fast becoming a minimum requirement for success in mortgage marketing.

And with 90.4% of millenials and 77.5% of Gen X active social media users, there’s plenty of data to back that up.

“I’ve gained significant market share in my market through content marketing,” says Neel, “And the overall pie did not grow. This means the additional business came at a competitors expense.”

So, yes. Online content is a requirement. But that doesn’t mean you need to rush to create branded social media profiles on every major platform.

For experts like Neel, it’s less about being everywhere all the time and more about the strength of the content you put out there.

Here’s Neel on how to make sure your content works for you and not against you: “When thinking of what type of content to post online, regardless of the platform, you need to ask yourself:

“What would someone get from watching or reading this piece of content?”

“If your content marketing is helping others, then it will work,” Neel continues, “If the goal is solely to get yourself more business or make more sales, it won’t work.”

It really is that simple.

Neel’s YouTube channel includes dozens of interviews with star guests from Tom Ferry to Ryan Serhant.

Mortgage Marketing Idea #2: Stand Out with an Attention-Grabbing Message with Christine Beckwith

“There needs to truly be a standout message to penetrate the masses. Or, a completely different marketing direction.” 

— Christine Beckwith, President, CCO & Master Coach at 20/20 Vision for Success

For experts like Christine Beckwith, truly stellar mortgage marketing starts with awareness—and before you do anything else, you really need to wrap your head around just how saturated the mortgage market has become. 

Because best practices quickly become the worst practices when everyone is doing the same thing over and over. 

Christine, an award-winning author, consultant, and an industry veteran with almost two decades of experience at top executive roles in the finance mortgage industry, believes now is a great time for every business who is brave enough to try new things.

And when it comes to marketing her business, this is one mortgage expert who’s not afraid to color outside the lines. She and her team have been having a ton of fun with their new lifestyle content on social media.

Christine isn’t afraid to be herself on social media. The 20/20 Vision for Success social channels are awesomely curated with relevant business and personal success tips as well some friendly content that’s just, well… fun.

“We had one post with a cute up-close pic of  cow with its head cocked sideways, the tag line said ‘Holy Cow, we have found the true path to Success’,” says Christine, “And one with a bee pollinating this enormous sunflower and said ‘Sometime the job can BEE overwhelming!’ People are really loving these ads.”

Christine takes comfort in the fact that there’s no such thing as a magic formula for marketing your mortgage business. These days, she’s all about innovating on the fly.

“With so many homeowners working from homea good old-fashioned mailer may hit the target far harder than it would have two months ago, and be far more sentimental and meaningful,” explains Christine. 

“We had begun doing this here at 20/20 VSC last year, and every 90 days our business partners and our clients receive something of value at home. We attach a note card with a cute tag line and an ask to share on social media.”

It’s a great way to take a multi-channel approach to the classic mortgage mailer.

“Marketers have to learn to stand on their heads and clap their feet. If you can’t keep the audience’s attention, then that is the first obstacle that will defeat you.”

Mortgage Marketing Idea #3: Stop Selling to Your Sphere of Influence with Dale Vermillion

“Be relational, not transactional.”

— Dale Vermillion, mortgage expert, author and founder of Mortgage Champions

Having trained more than 1,000,000 loan originators over the last 23 years, Dale Vermillion is positive of one thing: 

Now more than ever, mortgage pros will find it extremely rewarding to reach out to their sphere of influence. 

“Organic is best,” shares Dale, a renowned mortgage expert, author, and founder of Mortgage Champions, the national best-in-class training program for mortgage professionals and organizations.

Applying for a loan is stressful enough for your customers, but doing it amidst a global crisis? That adds a whole new layer of overwhelm.

Long story short: Mortgage customers want to do business with someone they know. 

“No matter how you market (direct mail, media, internet, social, ads, etc.), the best is always mining past customers and turndowns and building repeat and referral business, both through your customers, connections and third-party sources (Realtors, builders, etc.),” says Dale.

Makes sense. But here’s the crucial part. According to experts like Dale, the trick to doing more business with your SOI is to: “Be relational, not transactional.”

In other words: “Don’t sell.” 

“Investigate and educate,” explains Dale. “Know your audience and focus on education that helps them where they are at. Don’t try to ‘sell’ them on you or your services. Focus on connection and compassion in communication.”

Mortgage Marketing Idea #4: Teach Others While Creating More Demand with Brian Sacks

“Your job is to create more demand for your services than you could possibly have time for.”

— Brian Sacks, nationally-renowned mortgage expert and Mortgage Loan Originator, Homebridge

“Most loan originators believe that it’s their job to originate loan. It’s not,” shares Brian Sacks, a nationally-renowned mortgage expert with over 5,325 mortgage transactions under his belt.“Your job is to create more demand for your services than you could possibly have time for.”

With decades of authoring courses for the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, not to mention several dozens of high-profile media appearances on ABC, NBS, and CBS under his belt, Brian is not only a master of mortgage lending, he’s also a master of mortgage marketing.

Even after 35 years in the industry, Brian still finds new ways to push his marketing even further. “Most loan officers suffer from fear rather than prosperous thinking,” he shares.

By simply staying focused on generating demand (not deals), Brian closed 38 loans last month, his most successful month to date, and he did it amidst a global public health crisis.

For example, every mortgage professional knows about the immense value of partnerships with Realtors. Yet, many still struggle to attract enough business from their referral partners.

“The typical loan officer does things backwards. They ask real estate agents: ‘Please give me a loan, I’ll do a great job for you!” Brian doesn’t play that game.

“When people chase you, you have an advantage,” he explains.

The top-producing broker regularly teaches seminars, webinars and other courses to help real estate agents keep up with trends in the market—and boost his business in the process.

“Give agents value to help them grow a business,” Brian explains, “The title company I did webinars for exposed me to a whole list of contacts I didn’t know—and vice versa. We got to meet each other’s people.”

Brian uses a simple three-step process to help his coaching members replicate his success in mortgage marketing: 

“Pick a niche. Become an expert. And let everyone know about it.”

“People are asking me: ‘Should I use social media? Yes! ‘Should I use email or mail?’ Yes! Use both. These are not mutually exclusive,” he points out.

When it comes to demand generation, it’s less of the means and more about taking consistent action to market your mortgage business. You can learn more about Brian’s unique approach to demand creation in his Top Originator Formula Facebook group.

Mortgage Marketing Idea #5: Stop Selling and Start Serving with Sean Herrero

“Stop selling and start serving.”

— Sean Herrero, loan expert, branch manager & SVP of Mortgage Lending

“I would rather have someone explain to me how I can buy a home with less money down since I lost money in the markets during COVID 19, than have someone market to me that they are a top producer for 20 years,” shares Sean Herrero, branch manager and SVP of Mortgage Lending in Danville, California.

Ironically, Sean IS a top producer. In his third year as a full-time loan officer, he closed $75M and today he is on track to close $100M in 2021. 

But you wouldn’t know that from his marketing campaigns.

“You have to start off with understanding the difference between marketing, branding, and selling,” says Sean, “These are thought to be the same thing, when they are entirely different.”

Here’s how he sees it:

“People want to work with people they can relate to. Market in a way that you are solving people’s problems, not marketing yourself in a braggadocious way.”

“We are not sales people as mortgage advisors. Put people before yourself,” Sean adds.

He’s got a point. With changes in the market the rule, not the exception, the only constant in your prospects life is the value you do (or don’t) deliver to them.

“Rates are a commodity, so what are we selling? We are advisors. Give data and analysis to help people make educated decisions,” Sean continues.

For him, it’s simple. If you want to generate and convert more leads for your mortgage business you need to “Stop selling and start serving.”

Once you’re clear on that, Sean sees flexibility to be one of the key advantages in today’s market: “Be nimble. What was working yesterday may not work today.”

“Analyze your business, the market, and the current needs of the people you serve and be willing and able to turn on a dime.”

And whatever you do, keep moving forward.

Article Source:- https://setshape.com/blog/mortgage-marketing-5-leading-brokers-on-how-to-close-more-business-in-2021-and-beyond

At a Glance

Shape’s mortgage CRM + POS has been a powerful tool for loan officers and originators looking to build efficient lending workflows, simplify their processes, and grow revenue. With our latest integration update, you can now leverage the power of Encompass LOS to shorten your lending cycle even more and drive more impact for prospects and clients alike. 

Why You Need This Combo

With the new Shape CRM + Encompass Bankers Edition LOS integration, loan originators get a seamless workflow that moves prospects from clear-to-close faster than ever before. This powerful combo simplifies your lending process by using smart automation to achieve incredible speed to contact + bi-directional tracking for an end-to-end process that is simple, easy-to-use and drives real impact for their bottom lines. 

With more borrowers than ever clamoring to take advantage of low interest rates, Shape + Encompass gives lenders a clear-cut advantage in the new digital mortgage landscape. 

How it Works

With Shape and Encompass working together, originators can now create new loans in Encompass directly from within Shape, migrate existing Encompass loan borrower contact records into Shape, instantly start a new Encompass loan file from within Shape, and synchronize borrower information between Shape and Encompass automatically. 

Benefits include:

• Effortlessly meet compliance requirements
• Create a seamless and automated lending workflow
• Eliminate wasted time on dual data entry and manual processes
• Increase your team’s efficiency 
• Shorten your lending cycle

Get the Package

Ready to take your mortgage business to the next level? Let us help you realize the impact Shape + Encompass can have on your mortgage business.

Article Source:- https://setshape.com/blog/shape-software-encompass-los-integration-is-here-to-shorten-your-lending-cycle

At a Glance

Looking for a simpler, more streamlined way to build out your mortgage pipeline without breaking the bank? The new Shape + Arlo connection helps lenders attract, pre-qualify, and nurture only the best quality leads to conversion while maximizing the use of existing marketing budgets. 

Why You Need This Duo

Shape and Arlo working in tandem help busy lenders take the work out of attracting the best borrowers by leveraging the power of automation and smart AI. With Arlo, lenders can build high-converting, engaging marketing campaigns in under a minute that drive 11X more engagement and clicks, all while helping to pre-qualify only the best borrowers. 

From there, Shape’s powerful sweet of lead management and automation tools allow you to quickly connect with and nurture these leads to drive more conversions and boost your revenue by 27%. 

How it Works

The Shape Mortgage CRM + Arlo connection is simple to set up and will provide an instant boost to your mortgage pipeline on day 1:

• Use Arlo to build and launch profitable ad campaigns that seamlessly sync incoming leads with your Shape CRM
• Arlo helps credit qualify every lead instantly with name and address—allowing you to focus only on qualified prospects who will close
• Use Shape’s Quickfire Connect to quickly contact new leads and begin nurturing the relationships
• Send perfectly timed follow ups, build nurturing drip campaigns and more—freeing up valuable time and resources!
• Increase lead efficiency by boosting pull-through rates and dropping total lead generation costs—proven to increase revenue by 27%

Better Leads, More Revenue

For a limited time, when you sign up for both Shape and Arlo together, you could earn up to $150 off.

*Valid to new customers of Shape Software and Arlo who sign up and connect their accounts by December 31, 2020.

Article Source:- https://setshape.com/blog/generate-more-loans-with-less-effort-shape-mortgage-crm-arlo

It’s getting harder to meet the expectations of modern borrowers. 

For starters, today’s mortgage customers want their loans to be processed much faster. For example, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the average loan processing time has decreased by 10 days since 2010, and keeps getting shorter.

At the same time, borrowers want an entirely online loan application experience with as little hassle as possible. In fact, research also shows that some 66% of homebuyers want a fully digital mortgage process, while 50% of borrowers chose their lender based on whether or not they had an online application portal.

And as the demand for faster loan processing grows, the bar for customer satisfaction is also rising. According to the 2019 Ellie Mae Borrower’s survey, millennials are 6X more likely than previous generations to feel that their lender didn’t reach out enough.

Suffice to say, the digital revolution is real—even when it comes to applying for a home loan. 

Luckily, there are ways for modern originators to meet the demands of today’s super savvy borrowers, without hitting pause on business growth.

In this article, we’ll reveal the benefits of a robust mortgage portal and share step-by-step insights for how to integrate an automated client portal to close more loans in less time, while keeping your borrowers satisfied. 

Let’s dive in!

The Top 3 Benefits Of an Automated Mortgage Portal

We’ve already established that today’s homebuyers are all about doing their business online, but with a million and one AI tools, chatbots and other shiny new automation systems on the market today, how do you know an automated client portal is the right tool for your business?

Here are the three main reasons to invest in an online client portal for your mortgage business. Take a minute to review each one and decide for yourself if a client portal makes sense for you.

Benefit #1: Close More Loans, Faster

More and more borrowers want to go online with their mortgage applications. Investing in an online portal allows mortgage professionals to scale toward higher volume and bigger clientele simply by meeting clients where they are. 

But another reason client portals help you grow your business is simply because they allow you to process loans faster. 

Without spending your and client’s precious time buried under an avalanche of paperwork, or tracking a dozen different documents from various file folders and inboxes, an automated client portal streamlines the whole process from start to finish by integrating with the other tools in your tech stack.

Here’s how an online portal allows mortgage professionals to close more loans in less time:

• Offer an entirely online experience. Borrowers follow the entire process online, with no wasted time commuting to the office or signing stacks of paperwork.
• Reduce documentation. No more chasing clients for key documents. With everyone in one central online hub, borrowers no longer need to spend days collecting paper documents.
• Leverage automation. With the right automation, the majority of tasks and document checks can be performed without human input.
• Track loan application status in real time. Integrate your client portal with your CRM and track every stage of a loan application, helping borrowers keep their momentum from A to Z.

Start Using Shape’s Portal!

Benefit #2: Lower Loan Processing Costs

So now you know how a client portal can help you increase your volume, but did you also know it can help you reduce your loan processing costs?

Here’s how an automated client portal and document management system helps lower the cost of processing every loan:

• Fewer errors. The data clients provide through the portal can be automatically screened for typos, errors and other costly mistakes. Because it reduces the need for human input, it also reduces the margin of error and lowers the likelihood of unnecessary rework. 
• No administrators needed. With all your documents in one structured and centralized system, there’s no need to spend time and money hiring and training an administrator to navigate all that paperwork.

Benefit #3: Greater Transparency for the New Generation of Borrowers

According to the 2019 Ellie Mae Borrower Insights survey, it’s not just millennials who love a good online experience. In fact, the number one reason Baby Boomers liked the online mortgage process is because it was simple. 

And in this business, simple matters.

Online mortgage portals with a user-friendly interface can help to demystify the loan application process and guide borrowers to success using interactive hints and automated checks.

But beware: The survey also found that up to 60% of borrowers will drop an online application if the process is ‘too complicated’, so make sure you choose a client portal with an easy-to-use interface.

Why Choose Shape’s Client Portal?

Shape’s Client Portal makes it easy for you to connect and collaborate with borrowers and help them complete the mortgage loan process in an effective and secure manner from clear to close.

The portal allows loan originators to easily upload and eSign documents, monitor status updates and approval requests, and create automated workflows that maximize your online conversions and reduce the time it takes to process each and every loan.

Below are the main benefits of Shape’s Client Portal, along with a few tips for how the portal can help you convert more loans while ensuring an unforgettable customer experience. 

Millennial-friendly Marketing Automation

With a little help from mortgage automation [link to mortgage automation piece when it’s published], originators can streamline their entire marketing to application operation to consistently grow their business, without dropping the ball on their customers.Shape’s Client Portal is directly integrated with our sales platform, allowing users to streamline almost every aspect of the loan application process from start to finish:

• Be more responsive. Get instantly notified when borrowers start their online application process to provide them with real-time tips and encourage them to take the next step.
• Eliminate duplicate entries. Shape automatically synchronizes portal customer details with your sales database so that you always have the latest information in front of you and can avoid making embarrassing mistakes.
• Create automated verification workflows. Automate income, employment, and credit verification processes to save time and resources and qualify online leads faster. 

Learn more

Better UI, Better Completion Rates

According to the same Ellie Mae report, almost 70% of borrowers didn’t complete their online application process in one sitting, or abandoned the process altogether. Yikes.

For your average borrower, online loan applications are about as fun to work on as a high school algebra equation. Shape’s Client Portal reduces client overwhelm by offering a user-friendly interface designed to make the entire process as easy and intuitive as completing any other online form. 

Because UI is a simple, yet crucial factor that can have a massive impact on your completion rates.

And just to keep things extra streamlined, the Client Portal also offers custom branding so that the user experience is directly tied to your unique business.

Make Remote Loan Processing Business As Usual

With fully streamlined e-Signature, you can completely eliminate the need for borrowers to meet in-person. Now, they can complete the entire loan application process from the comfort and safety of their own home.

The eSignature module is directly integrated within Shape’s Client Portal and CRM, saving you countless dollars on 3rd party e-signature software.

Shorten The Path To Key Milestones

According to the Borrowers Survey, millennials were contacted 11 times on average by their lenders—and still felt that it wasn’t enough.

The way we see it, this is a clear indication that timing is everything. 

After all, it’s always nice to get a check in call to see how things are going, but if you can solve the right problem at the right time, you become a hero for life. That’s why it’s crucial to make contact at the moment your customers need it most.

Using the Client Portal, you can automatically synchronize important tasks, dates, and reminders to put low-stakes communication on autopilot and save your bandwidth for when you need to be ready to jump in and save the day.

Here are some of the core communication workflows you’ll find in Shape’s Client Portal:

• In-app group messaging. Millennials and Gen X borrowers were 3X more likely to communicate with their lenders using online chat, which makes this channel a perfect, futureproof option for communicating with mortgage clients.
• Personalized email templates. Automatically send email notifications and follow up sequences pre-filled with key info from a customer’s unique loan application journey. No more navigating multiple files and screens just to write one simple email.
• Instant loan status alerts. Shape integrates with your favorite loan origination software so that you can trigger specific email or text sequences and keep the communication consistent, even after the online application is completed.

Safe and Secure

When it comes to mortgage compliance, we always go the extra mile. 

When you use Shape’s Client Portal, you can rest assured that the loan application process you’re offering your customers is not only smooth and pleasant, but also completely secure.

Your client’s data will be hosted on one of the most secure facilities available, guarded 24/7, using the most advanced network security protocols, and including regular comprehensive security and privacy audits. 

More Client Love In One Simple Hub

With an easily organized document hub you can quickly request, review, and approve documents from borrowers—all from one simple system.

Coupled with advanced security and automation features, the entire workflow of loan application processing and document management suddenly becomes quick and painless from the very first contact. So, what are you waiting for?

Try Shape’s new Client Portal for free and start offering a better borrower experience today!

Article Source:- https://setshape.com/blog/mortgage-pos-customer-portal

At a Glance

If you’re tired of wasting precious administrative time on low-quality or non-converting leads for your solar business, it’s time you tried the powerful and proven combo of Shape Solar CRM + Verse! With our new seamless connection with Verse, the lead conversion leader, you can use the power of AI lead scoring and automation to qualify your best prospects and use Shape to nurture them through to conversion. 

Why You Need This Duo

Most solar businesses waste endless hours chasing down prospects who may not be a good fit and never end up leading to actual revenue. Instead of spending valuable time you could use to grow your marketing efforts or invest in your business, you wind up wasting hours a week on emails, phone calls, and back-and-forths that don’t better your bottom line. 

Instead of endless admin, opt for a workflow that not only simplifies your day-to-day but is proven to boost your lead conversion rates by 300%.  

How it Works

The Shape Solar + Verse connection is a game-changer for solar businesses because it harnesses the power of smart AI, automation, and the right human touch to identify, qualify, nurture, and convert leads already in your pipeline! Here’s how it works:

• Verse’s AI automation helps identify the best quality leads already in your pipeline
• Verse’s genuine human outreach frees up your time by reaching out manually and qualifying your leads to send you only the best prospects for your solar business 
• Sync these qualified leads from Verse with Shape Solar CRM to immediately engage them with triggered email campaigns, marketing drips, and more
• Receive live transfer calls and book appointments directly from Verse concierge
• Use Shape’s Quickfire Connect to contact leads and begin nurturing the relationships quickly
• Automatically follow up with your qualified leads, create custom triggers and send online proposals—all from Shape’s easy-to-use platform—in just a click
• View properties in real-time with Shape’s Google Maps integration
• And more!

With solar competition heating up, give your business the edge it needs to focus on the right prospects at the right time. Streamline your workflow and start driving more revenue today! 

Better leads, More Revenue

For a limited time, when you buy Verse + Shape Solar CRM together, you’ll receive 250 free lead evaluations from Verse and $100 off Shape implementation and setup fees.*

Article Source:- https://setshape.com/blog/boost-your-solar-lead-conversion-by-300-with-shape-solar-verse