Now that the surge of HECM-to-HECM refinances is behind us here are 11 practical ways to grow your business even in a challenging market.
Continue reading11 ways to grow your business
Analyst who predicted 2008 crash sees home values going down this much
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EPISODE #739
The most effective product messaging for reverse mortgages
[Reverse Mortgage Daily] In RMD’s most recent podcast Chris Clow interviews one originator who’s found what he sees as the most effective approach to reverse mortgage communication.
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You’re running out of time! Here’s how to fix it
If more than one-third of your reverse mortgage loans are HECM-to-HECM refinances you’re running out of time. Time to refurbish your loan pipeline. Time to build effective and productive referral relationships.
Continue reading11 ways to grow your business
Knowing HECM-to-HECM refinances will eventually fade, here are 11 practical ways to grow your business in any market.
- Review all previous leads that were short to close. See if they may qualify with today’s low interest rates.
- Find every potential borrower lead written down on a scrap of paper, Post-It-Note, or business card and input it into your CRM. If you don’t have a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM), check out our Sales Engine CRM made for reverse mortgage professionals.
- Isolate and find your top 50 professional contacts. Now divide them up to contact each on every 6 weeks. You can schedule this on your calendar or CRM.
- Check-in with your top 50 professionals by making at least eight phone calls a week. Keep it casual, informal, and fun- the point is to make positive contact.
- Schedule at least one meeting with a professional in your market each week. It could be a quick cup of coffee, lunch, or grabbing a beer. The point is to build a relationship or keep one strong.
- Contact your local newspaper and offer to write a column about reverse mortgages, aging in place, or the challenges facing retirees.
- Time-block recurring times each week for outbound sales calls. If it’s on your calendar it will happen.
- Consider scheduling follow-up calls with every applicant on Tuesdays and Fridays. Call them even if there are no new developments. Regular communication helps avoid unnecessary stress for your applicants and possible cancelations.
- Find one inspirational book to read. Schedule two nights a week to complete.
- Find one inspirational fellow reverse mortgage professional. Ask them if you could speak once each week. Give encouragement, perspective, and ideas to each other. Avoid the trap of complaining.
- Join your local chamber of commerce, a leads group, or your local financial professionals’ group. Be a friend, helper, and fellow professional. Don’t ask for leads first. Show your value and build a relationship.
-Shannon Hicks
The Problem with Drift Net Marketing
How today’s top-producers are succeeding
Last fishing season I sat down with my friend Mike and caught up on his recent fly fishing exploits in Shasta Lake, California. As an experienced fisherman, he related to me how he adjusted his typical techniques due to the rapidly-rising waters in the reservoir after several weeks of heavy rain and snowfall. The water was brown in several spots obscuring the fish below the surface, the currents had changed, and small inlets disappeared. Basically, he had to reinvent his approach in a rapidly changing environment. His flexibility paid off with over 20 fish caught and released.
Mike’s technique is specific and targeted. The opposite approach is deep sea drift netting, which hangs several large net curtains under the water’s surface catching nearly everything in its path- often entangling smaller fish that must be thrown back.
While it is easy to lament the decline in homeowners taking a reverse mortgage, the more intriguing question is how do a handful of HECM professionals succeed in today’s marketplace? Here are just a few of the ways today’s top producers tell us they attracting and closing qualified homeowners.
- Referrals– Most salespeople in any industry fail to get referrals. One of the best ways to enter a sphere of influence is to ask each borrower if they know any local CPA, attorney, or financial planners in your community you could speak with. Take note of each name and ask them if you can use them as a reference when you make your introduction.
- Relationship management– if you have contacted professionals in the past, when is the last time you spoke with them? When was your last coffee or lunch meeting? When was your last phone conversation? Do they see you as a friend or just another salesperson looking for a free lead?
- Targeted investment– Your time is an asset you choose to invest each day. Are you spending 80% of your time on activities that produce 20% of the results? Take a hard, cold, pragmatic look at where you are marketing. Are you trying to reach every age-eligible homeowner in your area? If so, chances are you’re getting burned out on unqualified applicants. Instead, seek out the homeowners who are most likely to qualify and utilize a reverse mortgage. This could be those seeking to right-size into a new home in retirement, who want to avoid taking more taxable withdrawals from their retirement accounts or are simply looking for an alternative to a home equity line of credit.
Whichever method you choose, commit to hanging up your driftnet and pick up your fly rod and reel. Explore the smaller niche inlets and coves overlooked by most that are rich with opportunity.
How to get a local TV interview
Here’s a short ‘how-to-guide’ on how to get on your local television station and what topics to present.
Are Google Ads Dead?
Without audience targeting are Google Ads Dead? Think again…
Early this month Google announced new restrictions for targeting specific audiences. The restrictions apply to content related to housing, employment, credit, and those who are disproportionately affected by societal biases. The news of these restrictions created quite a stir among industry brokers and lenders who heavily rely upon targeted Google ad campaigns. All which may have you asking if these changes will kill future reverse mortgage advertising on the world’s most popular search engine. In just a moment we’ll hear from our online SEO expert Josh Johnson to find out.
[read more]
Google’s restrictions are not necessarily novel nor unexpected. It was just over two years ago Facebook faced scrutiny from federal regulators for allowing those offering credit or housing finance to restrict ad audiences by race or religion among other questionable metrics that would violate HUD’s fair housing rules. An investigation by ProPublica broke this news in October 2016. It was nearly two years later in August 2018 that HUD filed a formal complaint against the social media giant for discriminatory advertising practices. Seven months after HUD’s complaint Facebook announced sweeping changes. Both Facebook and later Google, took a blunt approach much to the chagrin of lenders and service providers.
What ad filters are going away? In its official release Google revealed, “credit products or services can no longer be targeted to audiences based on gender, age, parental status, marital status, or ZIP code.”
Is this the end of Google ads for reverse mortgages? To answer that question I reached out to Josh Johnson who heads up Reverse Focus’ Online Dominance SEO program and Google marketing. Here’s his explanation.
Here’s what makes Google unique from other platforms and why reverse mortgage Google ads will continue to reach the intended audience.
To summarize, older homeowners are intentionally seeking out reverse mortgage information on Google which means, yes-your ads will be seen by your target audience, even though you can no longer target specific age groups.
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The Problem with Drift Net Marketing
How today’s top-producers are succeeding
Last fishing season I sat down with my friend Mike and caught up on his recent fly fishing exploits in Shasta Lake, California. As an experienced fisherman, he related to me how he adjusted his typical techniques due to the rapidly-rising waters in the reservoir after several weeks of heavy rain and snowfall. The water was brown in several spots obscuring the fish below the surface, the currents had changed, and small inlets disappeared. Basically, he had to reinvent his approach in a rapidly changing environment. His flexibility paid off with over 20 fish caught and released.
Mike’s technique is specific and targeted. The opposite approach is deep sea drift netting, which hangs several large net curtains under the water’s surface catching nearly everything in its path- often entangling smaller fish that must be thrown back.
While it is easy to lament the decline in homeowners taking a reverse mortgage, the more intriguing question is how do a handful of HECM professionals succeed in today’s marketplace? Here are just a few of the ways today’s top producers tell us they attracting and closing qualified homeowners.
- Referrals– Most salespeople in any industry fail to get referrals. One of the best ways to enter a sphere of influence is to ask each borrower if they know any local CPA, attorney, or financial planners in your community you could speak with. Take note of each name and ask them if you can use them as a reference when you make your introduction.
- Relationship management– if you have contacted professionals in the past, when is the last time you spoke with them? When was your last coffee or lunch meeting? When was your last phone conversation? Do they see you as a friend or just another salesperson looking for a free lead?
- Targeted investment– Your time is an asset you choose to invest each day. Are you spending 80% of your time on activities that produce 20% of the results? Take a hard, cold, pragmatic look at where you are marketing. Are you trying to reach every age-eligible homeowner in your area? If so, chances are you’re getting burned out on unqualified applicants. Instead, seek out the homeowners who are most likely to qualify and utilize a reverse mortgage. This could be those seeking to right-size into a new home in retirement, who want to avoid taking more taxable withdrawals from their retirement accounts or are simply looking for an alternative to a home equity line of credit.
Whichever method you choose, commit to hanging up your driftnet and pick up your fly rod and reel. Explore the smaller niche inlets and coves overlooked by most that are rich with opportunity.
Lean Times
As dividends fall the cost of living continues to climb
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” – Charles Dickens ~ A Tale of Two Cities
While Dickens’s opening lines are not prescient they certainly could describe the current state of affairs in which we find ourselves. Lenders are seeing a significant rebound in consumer interest as evidenced in new application activity, as several retirees and seniors face lean times seeing the coronavirus continue to spread across the globe.
Today long-term inflation remains moderate, however, food prices jumped significantly this quarter as supply chains were temporarily interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. NBC reported that beef prices jumped 20.4% from April to July. Everyone is feeling the squeeze- the mass affluent, middle class, and low-income older homeowner.
However, beyond daily expenditures seniors who dutifully saved are feeling the brunt as well. Millions of older Americans count on dividends to make ends meet. These shareholders are seeing dividend payouts slashed as over 700 publicly traded companies seeking to preserve cash in an uncertain economy announced a reduction or suspension of dividends. For example, last month MarketWatch noted the highly-touted Halliburton (HAL) slashed their quarterly dividend payouts 75% in May to 18 cents a share. The Janus Henderson asset management group sees this trend continuing. In its recent Global Dividend Index report, Janus projects dividend payouts will decrease between 15-34% by the end of 2020.
Consequently, older homeowners with substantial investments who rely on dividend payouts and those whose home is their most significant asset are facing lean times; both will need a source of funds to bridge the gap. Investors may be forced to tap into their cash savings or worse, sell stocks at a significant loss. Moderate and lower-income senior homeowners have limited options and are likely to begin viewing their home’s equity in a new light.
Americans are an optimistic lot not naturally inclined to anticipate unnerving ‘what-if’ scenarios. However many ancient philosophers did anticipate potential outcomes practicing ‘premeditatio malorum’- which loosely translated means to ‘anticipate the worst and plan accordingly’. Reverse mortgage professionals can encourage this mindset by asking some simple questions. “How long would your cash reserves last if you continue to use them to cover monthly expenses?” “Do you have a plan if you no don’t receive any dividends this year or next?”. Those working with a financial professional may be hearing similar probing inquires from their advisor.
Your mission should you choose to accept it is to continually build momentum in presenting the reverse mortgage not as a cure-all for one’s financial woes, but simply as a valid and established potential solution which could help older homeowners weather the economic storm in which we find ourselves. Now is the time to schedule those financial advisor introductions you’ve been putting off or plan your first public seminar.
Fortune favors the bold, especially when opportunity presents itself in the midst of adversity.
They love a good story!
We all love a good story. Here’s how you can use storytelling with your potential borrowers.
