Growing your mortgage business doesn’t have to require a major brand makeover or complete change in processes. There are a variety of small steps that you can take now to improve your current workflow and larger initiatives that you can implement long term as you look to grow your business and bring in additional borrowers.

Here are 20 steps you can take to grow your business right now.

1 – Follow up with current and former customers

Between online customer reviews and traditional word of mouth, consumers rely heavily on reviews from past customers to decide who to do business with. This is no difference in the mortgage industry, as 52% of buyers stated that they first found their lender through a referral, according to Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report 2021. A step you can take to make sure you are leaving a positive impression on those you do business with is being sure to follow up with current and past borrowers to show you care. This can greatly increase your chance of referrals from your customers.

2 – Improve your lead engagement times

Once you receive a lead, make sure you’re responding to them in a timely manner. Studies show that the odds of qualifying a lead if called in 10 minutes versus 5 minutes decreases by 400%. In the digital age, customers expect an immediate response, and if they don’t get one, the odds they move on to the next lender on their list is high. Reducing the time between points of contact is another huge aspect to successfully improve your lead conversion. Create a follow-up strategy that includes a mix of phone calls, SMS marketing, and emails that keep the leads engaged and your business top of mind.

3 – Utilize a CRM system

If you aren’t already, consider adding a customer relationship management (CRM) system to your current workflow. This software can help you keep your customers organized, respond to their needs quickly, provide personalized service, and create effective marketing campaigns centered on automation. Strong customer relationships can bring with them a lifetime of transactions, and having a tool that helps you manage, maintain, and foster those relationships can be a great benefit to your business.

4 – Ask your customers for reviews

Once you have successfully secured home financing for your customer, take a moment and ask them to write a review about their experience. Consumers put a lot of trust in this type of feedback, so reviews are an important way to show prospective borrowers that you’re the best fit for their needs. Home shoppers are actively researching lenders before choosing one. Having customer feedback on your profile is an easy way to help potential borrowers learn more about your company, see the successes you’ve had, and feel confident that you are the right lender for them.

5 – Be creative with your branded swag

An easy way to advertise your company to consumers is by offering branded giveaways that people will use. Pens, water bottles, and notebooks are timeless, but also have some fun with it and try unique items like coasters, koozies, ice molds, and power banks. There are lots of unique yet practical products* that serve as effective branding tools for your business.

6 – Keep your website up to date and clean

The digital space is competitive, and an outdated website can set you back. Review your website and analyze what might need to be changed or updated. Some items to take a look at include reviews, product content, statistics, and company contact information. If a potential borrower sees that your website information hasn’t been recently updated, they’ll be far less likely to consider you as a reliable source for timely information and service.

7 – Use your website to advertise your mortgage offers

Email campaigns and the homepage of your website are great spots to leverage for advertising information on your lending products to your borrowers. They shouldn’t have to search through your website to find critical information that they expect to find easily. If the experience isn’t simple and straightforward they may move on to another lender.

8 – Write a blog

One way to encourage repeat visits to your site is to offer your wealth of mortgage knowledge in the form of a blog. Having a well-written and regularly updated blog can help start the conversation with potential borrowers and allow you to listen, share your input, and establish a relationship before the borrowing process has even begun.

9 – Create a content calendar

When looking at your marketing initiatives, it’s important to create a content calendar that not only helps you stay organized but also keeps your brand top of mind for your audience. By providing new content on a consistent schedule your site visitors will develop a habit of consuming and sharing your content.

10 – Leverage social media

Social media is one of the easiest ways to connect with potential borrowers and make your company, website, and employees accessible. Consumers want the ability to send a quick message or tag a company when they have questions about their products. Social media gives you an additional avenue to interact with potential borrowers and provides an outlet for sharing product launches, company news, and industry updates. You also can leverage automation to easily keep your content flowing and your audience engaged.

11 – Optimize your content for search

Search engine optimization (SEO) can help you be more discoverable by home shoppers searching online, and many businesses put a lot of time and resources into improving their ranking in search results. To gain a competitive edge – every keyword, title, page description, and piece of content on your website needs to be optimized so your site shows up in front of the most borrowers and generates additional traffic. There are programs that can help you optimize your site content, but researching what keywords your target market is searching for is a great place to start.

12 – Send an email drip campaign

Is there recent industry news that affects a large portion of your borrowers? Email drip campaigns can be an easy way to keep your audience engaged and informed. When sending emails, be brief and only include the information your prospective borrowers will want to see. You can also add text messages and live phone calls into your campaign for additional touchpoints.

13 – Start a newsletter

Along with targeted email campaigns, you can also create a monthly or quarterly newsletter to demonstrate your mortgage expertise by providing your borrowers with industry news and company updates. Think about what content readers are likely to share; if your borrowers are forwarding your newsletter to family and friends, you’re likely to gain more site visitors, newsletter subscribers, and most importantly, potential customers.

14 – Experiment with video

Many online platforms and social media channels optimize video for users, and finding ways to use this to your advantage allows you to provide potential borrowers with a unique look into different aspects of your business. Whether you create small, learning-based videos about different mortgage processes or offer a weekly “vlog” to keep viewers informed, videos are a rich medium for sharing your knowledge.

15 – Track your company’s success through data

Numbers help you measure, assess and track your company’s progress and direction. Gathering performance data is an excellent way to decide how to move forward, understand what’s working well, and determine what needs to be fixed. From looking at website visitors to analyzing individual performance, data can drive everything that a company does.

16 – Set consistent, achievable goals

Setting business goals that are achievable yet challenging can be a healthy motivator. No matter what the goal is, creating a strategy and getting all of the right people on board is essential. Goal setting will not only improve company performance but also encourage collaboration between co-workers and departments.

17 – Review website analytics

Tracking website analytics is a great way to see what works, what doesn’t, and how you can further improve your website for the best possible user experience. By monitoring site analytics, you can see what pages, links, and calls to action are generating the most clicks and bringing in the most visitors. Having that data allows you to optimize your site based on the content visitors want and refine keywords to capture more traffic.

18 – Prepare for the busy season now

While summer and early fall are typically the busiest seasons for lenders, you shouldn’t spend the slower months sitting around waiting for the busy season to return. Be proactive and reach out to current and prospective customers regularly to make sure you are top of mind when they start looking at houses and thinking about a mortgage.

19 – Research current industry trends

Keep up with industry news and trends to best show up as an industry thought leader to your customers. Not only can you use this information to further your business efforts, but you can also share it with current and potential customers to show how these trends impact them and how you’re using that knowledge to their advantage. This demonstrates your credibility and expertise and shows that you know your industry inside and out.

20 – Network with other industry professionals

Networking with other professionals in your industry is not only an easy way to get new borrower leads but also a great way to showcase your business and position yourself as a lender who they feel confident in referring to their customers. If a real estate agent or other industry professional has a client who needs a mortgage, they’ll be more likely to refer them to a lender who has also referred borrowers without an agent to them.

Summary

There are many ways to grow your business, both short-term, and long-term. Implementing these steps in your current workflow can help you bring in additional borrower leads and keep your business growing throughout the year.

Grow your purchase pipeline with high-intent borrowers who are specifically requesting home financing information. Contact Us today.

*This blog post contains information obtained from third-party sources and is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be relied upon as guarantees or warranties of any kind. Nor is it an endorsement of any third-party organization or service.