It’s Not Gonna Fill Itself Up So Now What? Getting Started With MLSpulse™ For Loan Officers
OK, you took the plunge and subscribed to MLSpulse™ For Loan Officers because you recognized taking control of the online home buying process was critical for generating more purchase loan business, for establishing more loyal and rewarding Realtor relationships, and for placing yourself as the primary point of contact with prospects rather than waiting for an 11th hour call from a Realtor crying “Help my [credit-challenged] clients!” Excellent! You’re on your way to establishing more control over your business-and giving yourself less stress around your [often erratic] sales pipeline! Now let’s capture that same momentum that convinced you to subscribe and use it to start leveraging the MLSpulse™ For Loan Officers platform as a vehicle for building and maintaining opportunities.
Go To Your Base
Let’s start by getting a baseline of opportunities into the MLSpulse™ For Loan Officers platform and let them start utilizing the tools and researching the MLS in their community. Who better than the folks you already know, already have done business with, and who already have seen you as a valuable partner in their previous home buying experience– your portfolio of prior customers? Whether you funded a loan for them last week or last decade, prior customers are a wealth of referral opportunities and should be invited to join your network on the MLSpulse™ VOW. Start by coordinating a well-crafted email invitation that encourages them to enroll as MLSpulse™ members. Remind them of the many reasons why they might want to view the MLS-accurately and up-to-date-in their community. See the house for sale on the corner of your street and what it’s listed for, research possible properties for family members and friends, keep abreast of the local market as you contemplate a potential move, or search for investment or vacation properties. Encourage them to extend the invitation to their friends who might also want to view the MLS.
Create Access On Your Website
Your website, as well as your company’s website, can be the most significant source of future registrations into your MLSpulse™ For Loan Officers database of opportunities. Be sure and have an attractive call-to-action starburst added on to your website encouraging visitors to register themselves-for free-and begin searching the MLS. Again, be sure and give them a few good reasons why they might want to register. Be sure to remind them that there won’t be anywhere else on the internet with more current data than what they find inside MLSpulse™-for free-and that neither you nor any other salesperson will bombard them with calls or sales pitches.
Hold A Community Marketing Event
Sometime in the first couple of weeks after you subscribe, schedule and hold a community event designed to market yourself professionally-a Rotary speech, a consumer seminar about mortgages and financial planning, a credit file clean-up presentation to consumers with blemished credit histories. Whatever reason you can use to engage a group of people you don’t already know-use it. Then ask them all to visit your website and enroll-for free-in your MLSpulse™ VOW to begin keeping closer tabs on the housing market in your town. Remind these people that MLSpulse™ is a ‘no obligation’ courtesy you make available to the community as a whole to help them better plan financially for their home search needs-so they are free to encourage friends and family to register as well and get their own view of the local housing market.
Reach Out To Fellow Professionals
Reinvigorate that professional network by encouraging registrations from others who maintain client bases of their own who might benefit from greater exposure to the local real estate market. Financial planners, attorneys, CPAs, and investment professionals all may have clients with a need to access the MLS but who don’t themselves offer mortgages. Network with those professionals and allow them to extend this value-added free service to their clients-all the while starting a possible new relationship with you for future mortgage services.
Everyone you know will have a need or a desire to view the MLS at some point. And everyone you know knows someone else you haven’t yet met. Leverage the power of your network-personal and professional-and encourage them to pass along the opportunity to use MLSpulse™ for free to anyone they choose. All part of the ‘no obligation’ service you provide as their local mortgage professional!
