Struggling In Reverse Mortgage Marketing

The old saying goes something like this…. “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result”. This phrase came to mind when speaking to several originators across the country struggling to survive in the reverse mortgage business. I’ve found there are two types of insanity in our field.

Counterproductive Insanity:

This insanity is perfectly summarized by our earlier definition. Many originators suffering from this condition find themselves….

• Dreamy. Looking for the next great lead that will generate loans. Yes, they’ve purchased leads that didn’t work, but now need to find that elusive “magic lead” that will really work this time. They usually are asking “do you sell leads”? versus finding ways to create leads.
• Loners. Isolated originators often struggle with motivation and lack of creativity. This can be especially challenging for those working from home.
• Unplugged. Most of those struggling the worst are not plugging into the wealth of free coaching, mentoring and marketing ideas available to reverse mortgage originators today. Somehow they already have all they need to succeed.

Productive Insanity:

This is a great condition to suffer from and hopefully more will catch it. These originators have the following symptoms…

• Creative. Rather that chasing the same broken marketing that yielded so few leads, the productively insane find new and creative ways to build their business. Their rule is there are no rules! They are scouring the earth for new ideas to market reverse mortgages to more seniors and will take input from just about anybody!
• Networked. These originators seem to know just about everybody. If they’re an office environment they love to collaborate and work as a team. If they work from home or by themselves they seek out ways to partner with those like themselves who can provide mutual feedback, encouragement and training.
• Wired. They’re plugged into to anything they can find…news feeds, podcasts, RSS feed, magazines, marketing digests…anything that will help them grow. They also have worked to build a network of strategic alliance referral partners in their community.

Oh, the joys of insanity! Hopefully we find ourselves productively insane and growing. As the Apple computer ad put it so well “Think Different”. Who cares what anyone else thinks?