I was at a neighbors big BBQ bash this last July 4 th and met a loan consultant named Michael and his wife Cheri. Michael asked me what I did for a living and I told him that I helped companies with their CRM and marketing systems. He asked what that meant exactly and I told him that modern day salespeople, regardless of their industry, use a database tool, or CRM, so they can stay on top of their day to day business tasks, and stay in touch with all of their customers and business partners. We serve any industry but also offer some industry specific CRM templates, including one for mortgage professionals. Our mortgage CRM solution loan officers keep track of the loan needs and financial goals of their customers. It helps them organize their daily tasks, triggering follow up reminders and the like so they never lose track of the financial and/or loan needs of their customers. All of this and more regardless of whether their customer is currently in an active loan process, has closed a loan in the past, or is a future prospective client.
Michael shook his head a bit and responded, “Wow...I wish the mortgage guy that helped us when we bought our house 4 years ago would have kept track of us and stayed in touch, I would have happily given him 2 new customers this year. A friend at work hopes to refinance his house, and my nephew is relocating here in January and needs help getting a loan going. The guy who helped us with our loan was awesome; he did an excellent job for us! We only met him once, we did everything by phone or email, and when we signed the loan documents, we went to a title office. The problem is that I cannot remember his full name or what company he worked with. All I remember is that his name was Jim…Jim something. We have our loan papers somewhere in my garage under a bunch of boxes, and the computer we kept everything on has since blown its hard drive. “ Michael seemed really disappointed that he couldn’t help his friend at work or his nephew connect with someone he already trusted to help them out. At that point, a man that was standing nearby introduced himself as Robert Clark. Robert said “Excuse me, I could not help but overhear. I am a loan officer and I would love to help your friend and nephew. I use a database system that sets up a series of reminders to follow up and stay in touch with my customers so I promise I will not forget about you or anyone else you refer to me!” He spoke to Michael and Cheri for a while and then he pulled out his phone and added them to his database.
Michael also provided Robert with the contact info for his friend at work and his nephew. Robert quickly added them to his phone and told Michael they were already included in his follow up system and that he would be contacting them both the next day.
This was definitely the right place and right time for Robert who added a total of 3 new customers, and their future referrals, to his database, and a total instant loss of those same 3 customers, plus their future referrals!, for Jim Something. Who are you in this story? Are you more like loan officer “Jim Something” that provides excellent but one time loan services for his customers, or are you loan officer Robert Clark, always armed with a database tool and not afraid to use it! You can have a database tool that stays with you for the entire lifetime of your business. Having your database connected directly to your mobile devices provides access anytime and from anywhere, as well as having a super simple way to stay in touch with your new leads. Your database tool should automatically stay in touch with your contacts for you, or at least trigger you to stay in touch with your closed clients and your prospects. If ‘Jim Something’ had a database tool in place to help him stay in touch with his closed clients, he would not have lost Michael, and Michael’s 2 referrals. And if Robert has a database tool like Act!, he has services available to him that will help him make sure the 3 new prospects he obtained do not fall off of his follow up radar.
There are many database tools available and yours may have features such as the ones I will be discussing here, however the tips I provide in this article are specific to our Act! iLoan with ProAssist CRM database tool. Act! iLoan is available In the cloud so you can access your database anytime via a web browser on any computer, as well as from your mobile devices.
We provide complete automated stay in touch for your prospects, your active pipeline, closed loans, birthday messaging, annual review reminders etc. However, if you feel like you do not want to have all these items automated now, you can take advantage of the very popular and flexible Activity Series function in Act!. Act! Activity Series is a set or series of reminders that you can set up for any type of follow up, or task management that you want to do. In the example of new prospect follow up, you can use the Activity Series for Prospects included in iLoan, modify them, or create your own. After entering a new prospect into Act!, just select Schedule from the top toolbar, then Activity Series, then follow the wizard to select the series named Prospect, and click on Schedule. Voilà, you now have a series of reminders on your calendar and mobile device making sure that your clients are always in touch with you and vice versa.
By the way…did you know research shows most salespeople only follow up with a new prospects 2 times? But, 80% of sales require at least 5 follow-ups? [Source: Sirius Decisions]
How many times does your database system remind you to follow up with a new prospect? Use Act! Activity Series as your plan for consistent prospect follow up. See below for a sample of a simple Activity Series for Prospects in Act!.
Once you assign the Activity Series, the reminder will lay into your calendar in your Act and your mobile device, as well as into the open activities for the contact, on the appropriate dates as dictated by the Activity Series. See Figure below.
How about in addition to managing your new prospects with the Act! Activity Series, having something that automatically sends emails out on your behalf to your Clients and Realtors every month? We are very proud to be partnered with top industry experts authors that allows us to provide this service for you. What if you want help in designing or implementing your drip marketing plan, or just want someone to do it for you? Planning and implementing successful drip marketing campaigns can take a lot of time and thought. If you find yourself needing help or you'd rather just pay someone else to do it check out Myownemailmarketing.com .