Is your marketing pushing or pulling? A good strategy will get Realtors excited about working with you and have them knocking on your door, writes Hani Faraj
Instead of chasing Realtors for referrals, I would like to empower you to be chased by many Realtors soliciting your help, your expertise and your pre-approved mortgage leads. Imagine a mortgage business where every morning, you wake up and you have people looking to get pre-approved for a mortgage in your email inbox – and once you approve them, you get to select which Realtor to send them to. This takes sacrifice, hard work, effort and an investment – but more importantly, it takes a pull method of marketing.
The lending climate is difficult right now. A good mortgage broker is essential to making a deal come together, and Realtors do need brokers. However, when I ask brokers, ‘What is your marketing budget?’, the answer is often none or very little.
What if you were to reach out to real estate agents with a value proposition that benefited both of you instead of merely asking for business? Here are some ideas to try before you approach an agent or solicit for business.
-Offer to help at open houses. This is especially is effective in the condo market, where two people are often needed to cover an open house.
-Offer to split the cost of marketing at a home and garden show.
-Offer to contribute to their marketing budget. Don’t have any expectations.
-Offer them some marketing ideas that will make them money and essentially give you an opportunity to serve their clients.
-Offer them pre-approved mortgage clients – I have generated pre-approved mortgage clients for one of my broker friends in another province, and he has given them away to Realtors are tremendously grateful.
-Offer them free tickets to a coaching event by a real estate guru.
-Offer them compensation to be in their monthly newsletter.
-Introduce them to a foreclosure lawyer or a bank that has foreclosures and needs help with Realtors.
-Start a mastermind group and invite them to it as the sole Realtor.
-Offer them a guest spot on your blog where they can talk about a specific situation to watch out for.
-Do a Facebook live event with them. Ask someone else to host the event; you can later strip the audio and turn it into a podcast.
-Give them a feature sheet with a payment breakdown for all their listings. It’s a great way to insert yourself into their business.
It’s easy to see how offering help and becoming a partner in a Realtor’s success is vastly different than simply asking for business. One broker calls me constantly asking for weekend help with open houses. This certainly came in handy the time I needed help because the strata bylaws didn’t allow for access to the units without an agent.
What would pre-approved mortgage clients do to your business and your Realtor friends’ business? Probably a lot. However, the crazy world of digital marketing is not for the faint of heart. You must be committed and, most importantly, willing to pick up the phone.
I have cracked the code on landing pages that convert for mortgage brokers. You can create a simple landing page targeting those who want to get pre-approved if it includes the following six elements.
- A concise call to action
- Easy-to-complete form; ask many questions to filter out people who aren’t serious
- Testimonials from past clients with real photos (videos are even better)
- Elements such as trust logos, accredited mortgage broker, licence number and a Better Business Bureau badge, if applicable
- Picture of you with a direct contact number
- A unique selling proposition – something only you can deliver or that is unique to your company
The above formula works – all you must do is implement it and don’t be afraid to fail forward. Best of luck and happy selling!
Hani Faraj is a Realtor and a team leader with a top 1% real estate team in Vancouver, where he manages the agency’s marketing. Prior to becoming a Realtor, he worked as a mortgage broker.
