Make them come to you

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

Make them come to you

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.

  1. A concise call to action
  2. Easy-to-complete form; ask many questions to filter out people who aren’t serious
  3. Testimonials from past clients with real photos (videos are even better)
  4. Elements such as trust logos, accredited mortgage broker, licence number and a Better Business Bureau badge, if applicable
  5. Picture of you with a direct contact number
  6. 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.