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Originating loans through direct mail lead generation is the most effective and profitable means to increase your monthly funding volume. Mortgage brokers should maximize their sales productivity by investing most of their time in pre-qualified leads. Think about this: Here's what I call the Millionaire-Maker Discovery: "I discovered that you can have the most wonderful product or the greatest service ever invested and still starve. I discovered that you can be a spectacular salesperson and still starve. I discovered that you can provide great value and still starve. Unless and until you have an affordable, efficient and dependable means of attracting a sufficient flow of qualified buyers to you, you cannot get rich, you may well starve and you certainly won't have peace of mind." — Dan Kennedy, Marketing Consultant Even though direct mail marketing can be very effective in providing cost-effective leads to mortgage brokers, it's not as easy as it appears to be! Why is this? Because direct mail doesn't work as well as it used to--in part because there is so much of it and in part because people have learned to ignore it. The biggest problem with any advertising medium today is that it fights for people's attention by interrupting them. There's too much going on in people's lives for them to be interrupted. America is an over-communicated society, and therein lies the problem. Even though more businesses are using direct mail, it actually is less effective. Direct mail is a victim of its own success. More mortgage brokers are using direct mail, but fewer people are responding. However, when direct-mail works, it's unbeatable! When you can find the right formula for your specific needs, direct mail can be magical. Let the magic of high-impact direct mail work for you by generating a continuous flow of cost efficient leads that can maximize your monthly funding volume dramatically. In today's communication jungle, the only hope to be successful is to deploy progressive, sophisticated and proven direct mail strategies. The following are some strategies and concepts mortgage brokers should utilize to make their direct mail marketing more effective. Direct mail requires professional support Direct mail looks easy enough. You print mailing indicia in the upper right-hand corner, get some rubber bands, trays and tags, and have at it. But should direct mail really be a do-it-yourself activity? The answer is an absolute and emphatic, "No!" Preparing mail properly has always been tough, but now it is tougher than ever thanks to the postal reclassification. Without the professional services of a direct mail company, you run the risk of losing valuable time and considerable money by trying to tackle the job yourself. Today, efficient, accurate and deliverable direct mail requires up-to-the-minute knowledge of mailing costs, mailing list hygiene, proper formats, automation discounts, carrier routes, bar codes, and much more. Think about this: You can justify spending a little more to print on a better paper in order to make your mailing look better or use a colorful envelope so that it will not be missed. But the quality of postal delivery does not get better or faster just because you inadvertently pay more for postage, or because you are not familiar with the ins-and-outs of the postal system. Since postage costs can account for half of your entire direct mail budget--and sometimes more--why would you ever want to spend more than you have to? Direct mail is a science that professional direct mail companies work with every day. That makes them experts. Just as they do not profess to be experts regarding the technology or body of knowledge that you work with in your business, you should not assume that you could do what they do with equal expertise. They do the most good for those clients who put their trust in them, who turn to them as direct mail experts, and who allow them to show them the big picture. Weigh cost of mailing against value of results When it comes to developing a direct mail campaign, it is easy to get trapped into thinking that the only important question to ask of a direct mail company is "How much (or actually 'how little') will the mailing promotion cost?" It is easy to believe that a lower price is better. The fact is that what a direct mail piece costs to produce, print and mail is not always the only or best barometer to consider. The primary consideration really ought to be results. If you are bold and brave enough to start from a premise that when it comes to direct mail, "price is no object," and you produce direct mail based on what you want to achieve in results, you may be pleasantly surprised with the results. Doing a better job doesn't mean doubling and tripling how much you spend or adopting a "sky's the limit" attitude. If you are willing to spend just a little more on a better design and better copy, your ability to attract more prospects may improve. If you invest in a slightly better mailing list, you may be able to reach some key prospects you might otherwise have missed. The best kinds of prospects are, you know, the ones who buy. If you spend a little extra for personalizing the sales letter, you might be able to entice someone who ordinarily would not give it the time of day to read every word. Look at the level of sophistication of the mail that comes to your doorstep these days--both at home and at the office. High-quality mail attracts your attention, and attracting attention means getting your message across. Don't focus on the cost of the mailing. Instead, look at the expenditure in relation to the increased results you can achieve by investing a little more. Tom Emmerson is sales manager for Tampa, Florida-based Response Mail Express, a provider of pre-designed and pre-printed direct mail formats. You may visit Response Mail's Web site at www.responsemail.com. | ||||||||||
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Concept Marketing Group, Inc.