A Complete Guide to Internet Mortgage Leads.

The Internet has revolutionized the way consumer’s evaluate, compare and choose mortgage products and services. Every day more and more mortgage shoppers utilize the Internet to study and purchase home mortgages. As a mortgage broker you must recognize this industry shift and learn to utilize this tool. Each day thousands of mortgage seekers fill out forms on thousands of mortgage leads generation websites requesting more information on mortgage loans or quotes from mortgage lenders. These mortgage leads are made available to you by an array of internet mortgage leads generation brokers. The BIG question is, are these internet mortgage leads worth your effort and money? Will the return on investment be there? In this article we will discuss the in and outs, do and don’ts and questions you should ask when purchasing internet mortgage leads. Careful consideration must be given to purchasing internet mortgage leads. In this mortgage lead guide we will discuss:

What makes a quality Internet Mortgage Leads
What you should expect from an Internet Mortgage Leads
Closing the sell to your Internet Mortgage Leads
Questions to ask before purchasing Internet Mortgage Leads

Quality Internet Mortgage Leads
What makes a quality internet mortgage lead? A lead that CLOSES. Not necessarily. We all know that not all leads will close. In fact if I was able to close between 8% and 14% of the mortgage leads I purchase on the internet, I would be happy. I consider a mortgage lead to be a high quality lead if it meets the following criteria:

-The Lead is Fresh -

It is critical to find out how quickly mortgage lead brokers turns the lead around and delivers it to you. Best case scenario, the lead is delivered instantly (a real-time mortgage lead) and it is an exclusive mortgage lead (only delivered to you). At a minimum you want to make sure the lead is delivered in less than 48 hours. Otherwise, the lead is less valuable and should not be sold at the same premium as a real-time mortgage lead. The more time that passes from the time the user requested information, the less your chances of closing the sale to this lead. I’ve seen many cases where users deny even requesting information. The quicker you contact them, the less likely this is to happen. Hit while the iron is hot.

-The Lead is Accurate

One of the biggest challenges mortgage lead generation companies face is obtaining accurate data from users. No matter what type of technology a mortgage lead company claims to have, no company can completely stop users from entering inaccurate data. A recent example of technology to improve data accuracy is telephone number/location verification. Companies use software to make sure the area code in the phone number matches the state. This is a nice feature because chances are if a user is going to enter a bogus phone number they will not enter the correct area code. What you must do is evaluate mortgage lead generation companies and decide who has the best solution to fit your needs.

-The Lead is a True Lead

What do I mean by a true lead? I consider a true lead to be a lead that was actually generated by someone that is truly interested in obtaining a mortgage. You have to be careful that the lead is not an ‘Incentivized Lead’. For those of you that aren’t familiar with this new term I will explain. Many websites today offer users incentives to fill out forms. In exchange for filling out these forms users are given points towards the purchase of merchandise or even money. Make sure you stay away from companies that have anything to do with incentivized leads. These leads are worthless !!!
What you should expect from an Internet Mortgage Lead?
This is simple. Don’t set your expectations to high. Like I said earlier it would be great to close at a rate 8% – 14%. Remember that you are buying leads, not sales. Expect accurate data 80% of the time and try to close at least 8% of these leads and you should be doing very well for yourself.
Closing the sell to your Internet Mortgage Leads
Again, this is a simple concept. The quicker you contact the lead, the better the chance of closing the sale. The first thing you should do is make contact. Once you have made contact with the lead ask questions and find out what they are looking for. After this initial contact you can follow up with a quote and answers to their questions. Quick response, quick response, quick response !!!!

Questions to ask your Mortgage Lead Generation Company
These are the not so obvious but very important questions to ask.

What is your lead return policy?

It is vital that you find this out before purchasing Internet Mortgage Leads. Bad leads are worthless to you and at approximately $50 each, this can get expensive quick. No batch of leads will be completely accurate, but you want to make sure that the percentage that is bad is not greater than 10% – 15%. Tip:
Ask the company what makes a lead returnable. What makes the lead invalid? Different companies will have different policies on what constitutes a bad lead.

How many times are your leads sold?

When purchasing leads you must make sure those companies aren’t overselling the leads they generate. The best lead is an exclusive mortgage lead, meaning you are the only person the lead was sold to. Exclusive mortgage leads are more expensive but you are ensured that you should be the only person receiving the lead. If the lead isn’t exclusive find out how many other times the lead has been sold. The more mortgage brokers that receive the same lead the less chance you have of closing the sale.  

What filters are available for your leads?

Filters allow you to set criteria for the mortgage leads you receive. Example: You could specify that you only want leads for mortgage seekers that have a ‘Good’ credit rating or better or you could specify that you only want leads from ‘Colorado’.

How are the leads delivered?

Find out what format the leads are delivered. Leads may be delivered in text format, Microsoft Excel, email, etc. Make sure it is a format you are able to work with.

How do you generate your leads?

Find out what method the company uses to generate Internet Mortgage Leads. Make absolutely sure there is NO INCENTIVIZING.

-Mortgage Lead Guide-

Do you want to reach millions of potential customers for FREE! Well, you can if you know how. The Internet, that massive network of thousands of computers around the world, also know as the “Information Super Highway,” is your ticket to generating free leads and sales.

But beware the Internet is generally VERY MUCH AGAINST ANY COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY. The Internet was originally set up by the government for individuals and universities to have a massive database of information. The Internet has pretty much gotten out of control with its explosive growth over the past few months and years.

The Internet is know basically as an Anarchy. There isn’t really any how runs and regulates the Internet, at least not for now. So pretty much anything goes on the Net. But beware that there are several thousand Net users who have self-appointed themselves as the Net Police. The Net users have been know to devastate other Net users if they do not follow their rules. The rules are pretty basic: only post in areas that are related to your message, and DO NOT ADVERTISE! The world we live in is a very commercial one, and it was only a matter of time when someone realized that a vehicle, like the Internet, that had the capability to reach millions could be used to promote business. And so people began to conduct business on the Net by placing ads and sending unsolicited E-mail letters.

Several of these advertisers were in for a big surprise. Many of them have received thousands of hate mail letters known as “flames.” Their boxes were overflowed with hate mail that a lot of them were forced to go out of business online. Many of these self-appointed net policeman have even developed blacklists for advertisers. These lists are then sent to thousands of Net users and they can send these blacklist members hate mail until they leave the Net. So advertising is frowned upon on the Net and it makes several people very angry.

But that doesn’t mean that there is not a RIGHT way to do it. There are little unknown newsgroups on the Internet where advertising is actually welcome. You can place ads in these sections and have confidence that you will get some good response from them, and not much hate mail if any.

These newsgroups are:

alt.forsale alt.business.import-export alt.business.misc aol.misc-ads alt.make.money.fast biz.comp.software biz.comp.services biz.general biz.misc biz.next.newprod misc.forsale misc.entrepreneurs ns.forsale

THERE ARE SEVERAL MORE IF YOU DO SOME HUNTING FOR THEM. THERE ARE NEW NEWSGROUPS ADDED DAILY, AND SOME MAY WELCOME YOUR ADS.

These newsgroups have several sub topics for you to advertise in.

You can do some careful “digging” on the Internet and find some hidden areas to advertise in also if you look.

These newsgroups have the ability to be seen by millions, and for FREE!

Your ad will last about two weeks in each of these groups, at this time you should re-post your ads.

Keep track of your individual ad response. You may find some areas are extremely good for your business, and some aren’t. You will save time and money just concentrating on the good ones.

DO NOT JUST PLACE ADS ANYWHERE! Although you possibly could make some money by placing ads in all kinds of newsgroups, it will not outweigh the trouble you will go through to get it. There is no reason to anger several thousand people just to make a few bucks. You’ll make a lot more if you use good “netiquette” and develop a good Internet reputation for your business. If you are into Online Business do it for the long run, and you will be much better off. As more and more people come online everyday, you eventually be able to reach more and more potential customers.

One other way to do advertising, is sort of a “sneaky” but often welcomed way. Kind of like of press release, or editorial new product feature. “Donate” a nice article to one of the relevant topics in common with your business. Then at the end of your contributed article give a SHORT AND CONCISE “plug” for you product or service. Let them contact you for more information. Do not use the ad to do the selling, do that with information you will send them later.

You can also create what is called a “sig file” which stands for signature file. This is a footer that is added to the bottom of all of your posts. Your sig file can have your name, company, e-mail address, and any short sales message you would like others to see. This is a good place to tell others to e- mail you for more info on what you are marketing.