WEEKEND READING: Effective Marketing of Your Loan Modification Firm
Anyone that has read my column in the past year knows that I see private sector loan modification firms as being a key component to the ultimate solution to our nation’s economic crisis. After months investigating the loan modification industry, it’s become abundantly clear that only the private sector has the potential to solve the enormous problem of home foreclosures. The president’s plan isn’t even designed to solve the problem. And the banks themselves… well, let’s just say that we certainly cannot count on the banks to fix the foreclosure problem and leave it at that.
It’s not going to be easy, by any means. Private sector loan modification companies are up against some major competition these days… and when I say major competition, I’m talking the President of the United States, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Chair of the FDIC, and every major financial institution in the country. That’s the kind of competition that would make you wish you were up against Microsoft.
So, at the very least, the question that should be on every private sector loan modification firm’s mind is how to market to the homeowners in need, both efficiently and effectively.
Since I want private sector loan modification firms to succeed, frankly because I want homeowners to keep their homes if at all possible, it falls to me to do whatever I can to help. Why? Well, because I’ve spent the past twenty years as the CEO of my own marketing communications and market strategy consulting firm. Not only that, but my firm has always been widely recognized as one of the best, and has specialized in professional services, such as financial service firms, insurance companies, accounting and law firms, among others.
Over the years, I’ve handled the strategic market planning and creative development for hundreds of firms, 76 of the Fortune 500… all over the country and internationally. I’ve won 22 Tellys for Cable Television Excellence, dozens of Apex Awards for Communications Excellence, and have worked for such firms as JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, Nationwide, Warner Bros., Centura Health Systems, AXA, and so many others I couldn’t even list them.
If you want more information on my background in direct marketing, perhaps the best thing to do is Google me, by typing my name in quotes into Google, “Martin Andelman”. There’s plenty there. You can also watch me lecture on the subject of marketing in front of 700 insurance executives in Chicago a couple of years ago. You’ll probably like it. People say I’m funny. I’ve provided a link to the video a little later in this article.
(I’ve also written a couple of books… you can find one of them on Amazon. Click here: http://www.rfpnation.com if you want to learn more. The other book I wrote a few years back: “The Simplified Guide to Nonqualified Deferred Compensation,” but you can probably wait for the movie on that one.)
Okay, enough of that.
As a private sector loan modification firm today, distressed homeowners represent only one of the audiences you should be targeting with your marketing messages. If you really want to see growth beyond your expectations, you need to think beyond addressing potential customers to communicating with key influencers and even the entire communities you serve.
And thanks to Web 2.0 technologies, you can do more… reach more… impact more… more often and with less time, fewer resources and for less money than ever before. It’s actually, and this may come as a surprise, the best possible time to be marketing your firm’s capabilities.
You heard me right. The best possible time… could not be better. Why? Here’s why… and stay with me, because this is important and my best thinking… thinking that I’ve been paid quite a bit for over the years. (I’m really not comfortable “bragging,” but it’s important that you know who’s saying this.)
Timing is Everything…
1. The obvious reason is that there will be millions of homeowners at risk of foreclosure in the years to come… two or three years, easily. Maybe four or five, and beyond. And with the president’s plan not even designed to address those at real risk of foreclosure, it will come down to the option of retaining a private sector firm and going up against the banks directly. And, suffice it to say that your firm competing against the banks should be something like Heaven competing against Hell.
2. Competition can be a plus, especially when marketing professional services. Think about the early to mid-1900s… the go-go days of the personal computer. You needed a new one every year or two because they kept getting better by leaps and bounds. And there were new competitors popping up everywhere. But, competition in product marketing has the tendency to force down prices and soon the more successful companies are either gobbling up their weaker brethren or watching them fall by the wayside.
In professional services, however, this is not the case. Prices have a tendency to stabilize for long periods of time, and the greater the competition, the easier it becomes for the smart marketers to eliminate their competitors. People are already thinking about what you have to offer, so it’s just a matter of nudging them in your firm’s direction. Compare that with trying to get them to think about something in the first place.
3. Today is the perfect time to harness the power of Web 2.0 technologies. Couldn’t be more ideal. These new technologies are now only a few years old, which is old enough to be proven and understood, yet young enough so that your firm can still use them to out gun others who are less knowledgeable and therefore ill equipped.
Just to make sure that the irony isn’t lost on anyone reading this, Web 2.0 technologies are the communications tools and strategies that Barack Obama used so masterfully to become President of the United States. So, it will only be fitting to see loan modification firms use them to overcome the administration’s campaign against them, don’t you think? And, Web 2.0 tools are free… that’s right… free, so even the President of the United States has no monetary advantage over your firm, no matter its size.
Web 2.0, which is a term coined to describe a basket of relatively new communications technologies, works very differently than the World Wide Web we all became familiar with during the late 1990s. For example, with Web 2.0 tools no one has to know your Website’s address to find the content you publish, and that means you don’t have to spend a dime advertising your Web address in order to drive traffic to your site.
Web 2.0 tools include Blogs, Social Nets, Bookmarking, Video Sharing, Podcasts, Wikis, Folksonomies, Newsfeeds and News Publishers. None are difficult to use, in that they don’t require any technical skill or programming experience, and they’re Web based tools so it’s easy to measure their relative contribution.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about… go online and type in “Web 2.0″. There’s a huge amount of very good content on the subject. Then, and this is an invaluable tip… go to You Tube and search for tutorials on which ever techie tool you want to know about. There’s a whole series of short videos that a 7 year old could understand. (Seriously, and not even a particularly sharp seven year old.)
4. Marketing in a down economy is always easier than when things are booming, because in a down economy people slow down… pay attention to things they otherwise wouldn’t when they’re running around in a spending frenzy. If you don’t see that, just think about how you were during the Christmas season in 1998 or 1999, compared to how you see yourself being during this year’s holiday season. I plan to do quite a bit of baking come this Christmas, for example, and I don’t even bake.
The cold harsh reality is that the loan modification field is actually only about to begin… everything up until now was just a preface to the main event. I’ll admit… I was hoping that the president’s plan would have the potential to do more towards solving the foreclosure crisis. But, now that I see that our politicians in Washington are much more concerned with the mid-term elections than most anything else, the future is clear: loan modification firms… it’s your time. It’s rare in our society, but you now have the potential to benefit from a true win, win, win scenario.
You can win… homeowners can win… and our society can win… all at the same time, depending on how good you are, of course.
Of course, none of this means that it will be easy… and those that think it will, won’t make it for long. There’s no such thing as “easy money” in our capitalist marketplace, so if that’s what you’ve been counting on, count again. Many loan modification firms will fail… or stay small… while others are likely to develop practices that go on to become large national players for decades to come. The opportunity is yours to lose. This is not a dress rehearsal. The game has begun.
A Marketing Primer for Loan Modification Firms…
Building an effective and efficient marketing organization is something few professional services firms know much about. They’re used to hanging out a shingle and growing by reputation, word-of-mouth, publishing, speaking, and networking with peers.
When it comes to marketing a firm focused on loan modifications and related services, however, most firms don’t appear to think about these means of communication, favoring the more direct and traditional mediums, such as print, direct mail, radio and television.
The problem with these mediums, in the environment in which loan modification firms operate, is that they can very quickly become saturated with competing messages, and unless produced as part of a carefully conceived strategic branding and positioning strategy, they will increasingly become less and less effective. In other words, if they’re not done right, they’ll cost more and more to produce less and less – a downward spiral, to use a term with which we’ve all become familiar of late.
To avoid this article becoming a book, which it undoubtedly could with me at the keyboard, I think it will be most helpful if I provide the following thoughts that need to be taken into account in any successful strategic marketing plan and initiative. Then, at least one of my columns each month will drill down into a specific component of effective marketing. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve provided marketing consulting services to hundreds of companies on thousands of initiatives over the last twenty-something years, so you might as well benefit from that experience. After all, you can’t save someone’s home, if they don’t ask you to.
It’s important that private sector firms succeed in their marketing efforts, and unfortunately, there’s more than enough business out there for everyone… if you know how to attract it to your firm… without breaking any rules or using deceptive practices. The best advertising campaigns, it’s important to remember… don’t trick anyone into anything. Should loan modification firms want additional information, they can contact me directly via email and I’ll be more than happy to answer specific questions generally within a day or two, unless I’m on a deadline, in which case it might take me up to a week to get back to you.
And just in case you’re thinking that law firms shouldn’t advertise, relax. Advertising isn’t marketing. All organizations market, its just that some do it better than others. Even Harvard University markets itself, and very effectively I might add, but that doesn’t mean you find print ads displaying the headline: “Learn more, come to Harvard… Mention this ad and get your first semester free!” I’ve created marketing strategies and tactics for several law firms with which most attorneys are familiar.
1. Strategic Planning - Most of us have heard all kinds of phrases about the importance of planning. Yet, few firms take the time to create a strategic growth plan for their organizations. I can tell you that strategic planning always pays off. However, I also realize that few are good at it.
If you’re choosing an expert to assist you in strategic planning, ask for two things before you write the check: sample strategic plans they’ve authored in the past… and references. Period. Creating a strategic plan is not inexpensive, and following the wrong plan could not be more costly, so choosing the right partner is mission critical.
Even if you’re not planning on strategic planning with the help of an expert, that’s no reason not to create your firm’s own written plan. There are enough books already written on strategic planning to easily fill a four-bedroom, three bath, split-level, so I won’t go into the details here, just make sure you don’t get caught up in an academic exercise… the plan you create should be an action plan, not one on which you’ll be graded, except in terms of its ultimate effectiveness, it should go without saying.
2. Branding vs. Positioning - If you check online some of the papers I’ve written over the years, or even listen to me speak on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi3x8sWiWfg), you’ll see that positioning is a big deal. In fact, branding without the right positioning can be almost worthless.
Positioning can be defined as what we think of when we see a brand. Heinz Ketchup is the brand… “thicker” is the positioning. Volvo is the brand… “safety” is its positioning. American Express is the brand… “Membership having privileges” is its positioning.
Jack Trout and Al Ries first wrote about the concept of positioning in their seminal work, “Positioning… The Battle for the Mind,” back in the early 1970s, and many have built upon that work over the years, but the concept is more important today than ever before. It’s not just about your firm’s brand; it’s about what people think about when they see your brand.
All companies are different when you look below the surface, even though they may offer the same orf similar products and services at similar price points. Positioning is your chance to bring out what makes your firm different… special… better. And done right, it will resonate with your target audience and remain imprinted on their minds for years or even decades to come. Positioning is powerful stuff.
3. Direct Response - Direct response marketing is the discipline of marketing that seeks to illicit a response from the target audience directly to the organization doing the marketing. Direct response is a science and an art, and it’s not something that just anyone can do effectively. It takes practice and knowledge. If you’ve never done it before, or just want to make sure you’re doing it right… it’s worth picking up a book. A professor of mine in graduate school, a man named Bob Stone, was a legend in direct marketing and a member of the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame in New York. His most famous book, Successful Direct Marketing Methods, has been the standard throughout my career in universities across the country.
The most common misconception about direct response is that it has to be “in-your-face” type marketing, but nothing could be further from the truth. Direct response just means that you’re asking for the respondent to respond directly to your firm. Another misconception is that it’s a synonym for “direct mail,” which isn’t true either, although at one time it was certainly truer than it is today. Today, direct mail is costly and often receives very low response percentages. Today, we read our mail over our trash can and we can identify “junk mail” from across the room.
When I began my career as a direct response copywriter in the early 1980s, direct response was where the study of consumer behavior, statistics & probability, and creativity met. It was and is part science, part social science, and part art, and as a training ground, world famous adman, David Ogilvy, believed it to have no peer. Ogilvy was a hero of mine, and I still have four of his favorite phrases on my desk:
“The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.”
“Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.”
“What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.”
“If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.”
They’ve served me well for more than two decades now, and I highly recommend that you not only adopt them yourself, but also share them with your marketing team. I went so far as to have them framed, right next to my other favorite saying, “No amount of planning will replace dumb luck,” which admittedly isn’t quite as motivational, but reminds me to be grateful for the solutions that fall into my lap from time to time.
4. Community Based Marketing - I’m pretty sure I originated the concept of Community Based Marketing back in the early 1990s. The idea was simple: Think of your community as the entire USA. In that world, a small community paper could become The New York Times, a popular community venue could become Madison Square Garden, a local celebrity could become a national spokesperson. The point was and is that when you view an individual community as your universe, the choices of mediums that carry your message change.
Earlier in my career, my firm was handling the marketing for one of the two largest HMOs in California. It was the early 1990s and HMOs were competing with each other for market share in the larger, more saturated markets, while looking to expand into outlying regions. Our client was preparing to expand into Bakersfield, a rural, agricultural area in the central part of the state, about three hours northeast of Los Angeles, and our number one competitor was doing the same.
Our competitor had recently signed a national celebrity spokesperson and the strategy had been working. Over the prior year, they had eaten into our market share and were now running neck and neck with our client, whose budget didn’t allow for that kind of star power to drive marketing efforts.
We decided to tackle the expansion differently. Rather than simply rely on the campaigns and media mix that we had proven successful in other parts of Southern California, we studied Bakersfield as a “community” all unto its own. As a result, we found opportunities that we would have almost certainly overlooked had we not shifted our perspective.
We found a local celebrity, Buck Owens, whose claim to fame as a musician had largely come from his years playing his trademark red, white & blue striped guitar with Roy Clark on television’s Hee-Haw, a country and western variety show from the 1970s. Buck had been living in Bakersfield for many years and owned the local radio station. He’d even had a hit song on the radio about a year earlier, “On the Streets of Bakersfield”.
I went up to spend the day with Buck at his radio station, and we talked for hours about what a special place the small city really was; how different it was culturally than the rest of Southern California, and I, of course, told him how wonderful my client was as a provider of medical care, and how we all remembered watching him on Hee-Haw. (Yeah, so… I watched Hee-Haw… you want to make something of it?)
Buck and I got along famously that day. He drove me around and showed me the town, even presented me with a very special gift… a red, white & blue guitar that hangs in the downstairs living room of my home to this day. He agreed to be the spokesperson for my client’s ad campaign, which would rely heavily on radio ads that we’d run on his local station. They cost about $10 a piece, which compared to Los Angeles was essentially free, and I handed him a check for his spokesperson fee… $25,000. He was so thrilled to be involved in helping Bakersfield learn about the new health plan option that it was his idea to throw in use of his hit song as the intro to the spots that he’d read, often live and for much longer than 60 seconds, on the air. (I swooned appropriately.)
The end result was that we cleaned our competition’s clock in Bakersfield and never lost our lead. And, although I don’t know what they paid for Wilford Brimley and their television campaign, I’m sure it was quite a bit more than twenty-five grand. And when our client announced its next expansion into another high-desert community, I used the same local spokesperson strategy, only this time I found Pat Buttram, who I knew as Mr. Haney on television’s Green Acres, but others remembered as Roy Rodgers’ sidekick. His fee was just $2,500, plus he wanted a limo to pick him up and take him home.
I wrote the radio ads in Mr. Haney’s voice, as I remembered it from years of watching the show, which aired between 1965 and 1971, although the reruns are still on to this day, and while we were recording them, he paid me one of the nicest compliments I’ve ever received. He read the ads I had written, looked at me through the glass of the sound booth and said, “You know, you sound just like Mr. Haney”. Up until then, I thought it was he that sounded like Mr. Haney.
Community based marketing can be a very powerful tool in your arsenal, because it forces you to view your markets individually, and that can lead to a level of market intimacy that competitors will never beat with their seemingly big city ways.
5. Key Influencers - Specific to loan modifications and related services, it’s important to think about marketing to targets that, although perhaps not likely to be end users, are definitely “key influencers”. Most commonly, these include CPAs, other attorneys, Realtors, and mortgage brokers, but there are others to consider adding to the list as well.
Community centers, the local fire department, private schools, grandparents, human resource departments… the way the foreclosure crisis is spreading, there’s no limit to people who may value knowing that a quality, trusted loan modification firm is near by and just a phone call away. You may have to rethink your approach, however, because what works with one audience may not with another.
I recently suggested that a firm send something to a local psychologist who specializes in workplace issues, and even introduced them to one I know whose office happened to be a few doors down from my own. He said he was glad to have the information, and last time I saw him, he mentioned that he had referred two of his clients who had expressed frustration dealing with their banks and needed help.
Wrapping Up…
Okay, well I could go on forever, but I’m sure I’ve already gone on too long for some, so I’ll sign off here.
Some people have commented that firms offering loan modification services are “opportunists,” and they say that as if it’s a bad thing. When someone recently said that to me, I responded by saying: “Is that bad. Should companies only offer services when there’s no opportunity to do so? Since when is opportunity a bad thing in this country?”
The word, “opportunist,” implies a one-sided win. What loan modification firms are doing isn’t that. What you’re doing by offering your expertise in negotiating loan modifications is a win-win-win scenario, and one that the entire country should support and even cheer. You’re helping people save their most important asset. You’re helping the country’s economy recover by helping to stabilize a housing market that’s in free fall. And the fact that you can do it at a profit is what makes the other two benefits possible.
Don’t let the political grandstanding and negative press affect you and your personnel. I’ve spoken with literally hundreds of homeowners whose homes were saved by a for-profit loan modification firm and none of them would take their money back if they also had to take back the terms of their old mortgage. In fact, every single person I’ve spoken with had nothing short of glowing things to say about the firm that helped them do the impossible… remain in their home when they couldn’t afford to make their payments.
As I’ve pointed out in other articles, including my cover story in May’s “The Niche Report,” soon the ALT-A mortgages will begin to default and then foreclose, and at that point the crisis won’t be happening to people “over there”. It’ll affect every neighborhood in America.
And perhaps then, the misinformation will have a harder time spreading, because what you represent is the only solution to homeowners and our economic problems that doesn’t require a taxpayer bailout. Remember that. Because with the banks certain to continue their need for untold billions of our hard earned money, solutions that don’t have to rest on the backs of taxpayers are sure to be seen as a whole lot better than those that do.
How do you take your tea, by the way… one lump or two?
Ergo Bibamus!
All this nice marketing talk is the same you get in the basic Business 101 class in college..
The reality is that marketing a loan modification company has to do with RESULTS, RESULTS, RESULTS..
Marketing how nice your firm is, and how many attorneys you have on staff and all the nice awards, diplomas and so on is fine...but people who are WORRIED and STRESSED homeowners want to know one thing, "CAN YOU DO IT? WHAT IS YOUR TRACK RECORD? HOW MANY LOANS MODS DO YOU DO A MONTH? DO YOU WORK WITH MY LENDER? HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THIS? and so on.."
Please want to know in a age of ripoff mod companies, greedy lenders, YSP motivated mortgage brokers, pressured appraisers and fly by night realtors..that your LOAN MOD COMPANY can do the job..marketing the results and accomplishments of the MOD COMPANY will go much further if a loan mod company is to make it and make it big!
How timely! Just this morning my local newspaper (yeah, I still wrangle that filthy newsprint every day) had an article on how fresh law school grad's are having some difficulty finding jobs with law firms.
My favorite nephew got his law degree & passed the bar last year; hired on with a small local firm specializing in "personal injury" cases. Within 2 months he became disgusted with "ambulance chasing" & took a job with a nationally known personal finance advice/planning co. in a non-attorney position. He & his wife (a newly minted R.N.) are making a decent living but he & his parents are somewhat disappointed that after all the expense & effort, the law degree has become, essentially, irrelavant to his current occupation.
So, what does this personal anectdote have to do with the subject of mortgage mod's?
Well, there are thousands of fresh law school grad's out there who are finding out that the degree is not the automatic open door to pursue their financial/political/idealistic dreams.
A new opportunity is presented.
If someone wants to see "justice done", make a name for theirself fighting the "good fight" and make a living at the same time, there has been no better time than now. An attorney (or firm) that dares to take on the banking/mortgage industry has the potential to:
-Make some money now (short-medium term)
-Create a client base(long term income "insurance")
-Make a "Name"(for the politically ambitious and/or mercenary motivated)
A start as a mortgage mod attorney could be as good as a public defender position for those with some drive & ambition that still harbor a bit of idealism.
Just a thought.
The reality is that marketing a loan modification company has to do with RESULTS, RESULTS, RESULTS..
Marketing how nice your firm is, and how many attorneys you have on staff and all the nice awards, diplomas and so on is fine...but people who are WORRIED and STRESSED homeowners want to know one thing, "CAN YOU DO IT? WHAT IS YOUR TRACK RECORD? HOW MANY LOANS MODS DO YOU DO A MONTH? DO YOU WORK WITH MY LENDER? HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THIS? and so on.."
Please want to know in a age of ripoff mod companies, greedy lenders, YSP motivated mortgage brokers, pressured appraisers and fly by night realtors..that your LOAN MOD COMPANY can do the job..marketing the results and accomplishments of the MOD COMPANY will go much further if a loan mod company is to make it and make it big!
Dear Mortgagemess...
Well, first let me say that I'm sorry you found it too basic, but why is it then that I don't see many loan modification companies doing anything differently, or even very professionally. I've looked at maybe 1,000 Websites and they appear to be pretty much carbon copies of one another.
Now, before I say anything else, I do want to say that showing quantified outcomes and statistically valid numbers is always a good thing to do, as long as you make clear that past performance is no assurance of future results. To large degree, loan modifications are like blank canvases, each one ends up its own work of art, and no two are identical.
If all your prospect wants to know is: "CAN YOU DO IT? WHAT IS YOUR TRACK RECORD? HOW MANY LOANS MODS DO YOU DO A MONTH? DO YOU WORK WITH MY LENDER? HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THIS? then I would suggest the following:
CAN YOU DO IT? A prospect asking you this question means that they lack confidence in you, and often this is caused by your marketing. They're saying that they are concerned that you cannot do your job. If you're getting this question a lot, you need to look at the messages that prospects are receiving when being introduced to your firm.
WHAT IS YOUR TRACK RECORD: This is a perfectly reasonable question, but you have to be careful not to imply to that what's happened in the past will necessarily happen the same way in the future. I would think that having quantified data showing number of mods per month, several examples of the results of mods handled by you or your firm, along with the sustainability of the loans you've modified one year later.
All of these and the other questions you mention are commonplace and easily handled by those with the data.
The way you describe the industry doesn't really surprise me, as the industry is young and desperate, and everyone is marketing by the seat of their pants, using the same kinds of tactics that they did to sell loans back a few years ago.
Here are a few little things that can help:
A. Put a local number, a toll-free number, a street address, always a bio page of those involved with personal statements made by key executives, an About Us section, maps to the office(s).
B. List or show testimonials of happy clients... make them real, and don't script them.
C. Offer a graphic of the process and pitfalls and point out your very well defined process that's involved in creating a better outcome.
D. Have a section on the banks where detailed chronological information is presented that prepares someone for what to expect.
Mortgagemess... no one expects a crystal ball when they hire any professional service firm. They didn't know for sure whether they'd get their mortgage when they bought the house either. The reason someone hires a loan modification firm is that they believe their the right people for the job... they know their stuff, they're nice to work with... they appear trustworthy... things like that.
Someone coming to you firing off questions the way you did either has been inspired to do so by your own marketing messages, in which case I'd take a look at them, or they're in a panic and need to be calmed down.
An again, I've yet to see anyone doing a really good job marketing, in fact all I see is everyone following their competitors like lemmings, which makes all firms look the same to a consumer and suspicious of all.
The use of Web 2.0 tools is shoody to nonexistent. No one seems to have any concentrated effort geared to maximize the community buzz, I can't imagine that any of these companies bothered to create strategic plans... I'm sorry but they all look a little bit amateurish, so perhaps Marketing 101 is appropriate.
Tell me what you're doing in terms of marketing?
I disagree with your comment that you feel that the public doesn't ask the questions I stated above. As you stated, due the age of information MOST borrowers out there are leary of just accepting the fact that, "Your loan mod company LOOKS trustworthy, or seems nice or caring.. and so on."
Borrowers today in trouble realize that they now MUST ask the questions they never asked when they purchased their homes, dealt with the mortgage broker or went looking with the realtor. Today, THESE borrowers are asking and they want PROOF and a STRAIGHT answer otherwise, they go on to the next company who can provide it.
When the possible client asks, "Can you do it?" it is because they have heard the song and dance routine from eveyone else. Marketers today cannot sugar coat, make a pretty website, they must present themselves as a professional EXPERIENCED company able to produce RESULTS. Yes, they cannot promise a Loan Mod, but they can promise to have the ability to present the mod in such a way it will be a substantial improvement compared to what the borrower could do themselves.
How do I market? I SHOW the possible clients what I have been able to do..right there in black and white. On the web, I use all forms of communication from social networking, to blogs to youtube to get the message across. I also do grass roots marketing, by going to local churches, realtor offices and community centers giving talks on how my company can help.
And the questions that are coming to me are real. Why? Because these troubled homeowners are at the last bit of hope. They have heard all the nonsense and delays from their lenders. They have no savings left trying to keep their home. They don't sleep at night. They don't know what to tell their children. They have shame and feel low self esteem. So they ask the REAL questions.
I understand that you look at it from a basic marketing prospective. But part of that marketing is understanding the makeup of the clients. What is going to bring those clients through the front door and give you referrals. It isn't a accident that "Coke" looks the way it does, or that we love the "Geico" lizard and so on..marketing a loan mod company is doing an analysis of the market you are trying to hit.
I am not downgrading your advice. I just think that it isn't detailed enough for this type of business.
I do provide them with testimonials..they are videos of real people and I bring some of these real people with me to the seminars to talk if they are available. People have thanked me over and over again. It is now a growing side business for me. I also teamed up with two great attorneys. I would never have this type of business without having legal eagles.
And if you think borrowers aren't paying attention, I had one client TELL me when I incorporated the LOAN MOD company. He said he looked at other companies that had given him the same song and dance, and when he looked them up most had incorporated the beginning of this year or even later. His thoughts were, "How can you do so well if you haven't even been in business for 6 months?"
We incorporated the beginning of last year AS a loan mod company and have a proven track record with lenders.
Mandelman - I hope all loan modification firms heed your advice. Loan modification companies as well as law firms offering loan modification services are actually perpetuating this "they're all bad guys myth" by desperately trying to seperate themselves from the pack by turning into "watchdogs" themselves... posting on their websites all the "beware of scams" type info and articles. Memo to these savvy marketers: You're helping the very people who are trying to put you out of business. By doing so, you're aknowledging there's a terrible problem in the first place. This just creates more suspicion. This won't help you gain market share, it will just undo the industry quicker. This strategy is akin to climbing to the top deck of the Titanic. It would seem to me the industry as a whole should be together on this instead of shooting at each other. If you guys don't soon get it together, you'll all be on vacation and taxpayers will be on the hook again. By the way, I've seen quite a few of these websites, and Mandelman is right about the "real" addresses and phone numbers. If you're a real "brick and morter" business, start looking like one.
My favorite nephew got his law degree & passed the bar last year; hired on with a small local firm specializing in "personal injury" cases. Within 2 months he became disgusted with "ambulance chasing" & took a job with a nationally known personal finance advice/planning co. in a non-attorney position. He & his wife (a newly minted R.N.) are making a decent living but he & his parents are somewhat disappointed that after all the expense & effort, the law degree has become, essentially, irrelavant to his current occupation.
So, what does this personal anectdote have to do with the subject of mortgage mod's?
Well, there are thousands of fresh law school grad's out there who are finding out that the degree is not the automatic open door to pursue their financial/political/idealistic dreams.
A new opportunity is presented.
If someone wants to see "justice done", make a name for theirself fighting the "good fight" and make a living at the same time, there has been no better time than now. An attorney (or firm) that dares to take on the banking/mortgage industry has the potential to:
-Make some money now (short-medium term)
-Create a client base(long term income "insurance")
-Make a "Name"(for the politically ambitious and/or mercenary motivated)
A start as a mortgage mod attorney could be as good as a public defender position for those with some drive & ambition that still harbor a bit of idealism.
Just a thought.
Hey Shinola...
You know, I wasn't sure where you were going there for a moment, but then you brought it all together and I like the way you think!
Borrowers today in trouble realize that they now MUST ask the questions they never asked when they purchased their homes, dealt with the mortgage broker or went looking with the realtor. Today, THESE borrowers are asking and they want PROOF and a STRAIGHT answer otherwise, they go on to the next company who can provide it.
When the possible client asks, "Can you do it?" it is because they have heard the song and dance routine from eveyone else. Marketers today cannot sugar coat, make a pretty website, they must present themselves as a professional EXPERIENCED company able to produce RESULTS. Yes, they cannot promise a Loan Mod, but they can promise to have the ability to present the mod in such a way it will be a substantial improvement compared to what the borrower could do themselves.
How do I market? I SHOW the possible clients what I have been able to do..right there in black and white. On the web, I use all forms of communication from social networking, to blogs to youtube to get the message across. I also do grass roots marketing, by going to local churches, realtor offices and community centers giving talks on how my company can help.
And the questions that are coming to me are real. Why? Because these troubled homeowners are at the last bit of hope. They have heard all the nonsense and delays from their lenders. They have no savings left trying to keep their home. They don't sleep at night. They don't know what to tell their children. They have shame and feel low self esteem. So they ask the REAL questions.
I understand that you look at it from a basic marketing prospective. But part of that marketing is understanding the makeup of the clients. What is going to bring those clients through the front door and give you referrals. It isn't a accident that "Coke" looks the way it does, or that we love the "Geico" lizard and so on..marketing a loan mod company is doing an analysis of the market you are trying to hit.
I am not downgrading your advice. I just think that it isn't detailed enough for this type of business.
I do provide them with testimonials..they are videos of real people and I bring some of these real people with me to the seminars to talk if they are available. People have thanked me over and over again. It is now a growing side business for me. I also teamed up with two great attorneys. I would never have this type of business without having legal eagles.
And if you think borrowers aren't paying attention, I had one client TELL me when I incorporated the LOAN MOD company. He said he looked at other companies that had given him the same song and dance, and when he looked them up most had incorporated the beginning of this year or even later. His thoughts were, "How can you do so well if you haven't even been in business for 6 months?"
We incorporated the beginning of last year AS a loan mod company and have a proven track record with lenders.
Mortgagemess...
Okay, I'm not sure where you felt I said that borrowers don't ask the questions you raised. I'm sure they do. I'm also not sure why you think that I'm talking about just looking good, or that just looking good eliminates the need to present the substance of what your firm offers.
I have the feeling this is the first of my articles that you've read. Is that the case? Because that would certainly explain a lot.
I understand exactly what homeowners are enduring and feeling as a result. I've been writing about the housing meltdown for two years. I'm producing a documentary on the foreclosure crisis and have interviewed on camera dozens of homeowners at all stages of the process.
I've interviewed 80 year olds in foreclosure that shut themselves in for fear of being evicted, and children in elementary school that were forced to leave the safety of their bedrooms. I've spent hundreds of hours talking and sometimes crying with people caught up in the crisis... sometimes from profound sadness and other times as a result of unexpected joy. And I am a parent.
I've interviewed bank CEOs and ex-vice presidents who left their positions in disgust. I threatened a bank executive in an effort to save the home of a cancer patient. I went to Tent City in Sacramento in early March and have worked seven days a week ever since in an effort to bring some balance to the issue, and save an industry all but doomed by political realities.
I've also interviewed perhaps 70 loan modification firms from California to Florida, their CEOs, senior partners, and loan modification specialists. And I've knocked on the doors of senators, congressional representatives and state regulators. I'm probably the only person in the country who is putting together the data on the private sector loan modification industry so that the contribution firms such as yours are making can be credibly reported.
My staff and I spend our days contacting loan modification companies and regulatory agencies in order bring accuracy to the table and minimize the hyperbole. I do understand the industry, the crisis and its victims... intimately, as a matter or fact.
I only tell you this as a way of explaining the intent of my column this morning. While there are many outstanding loan modification firms out there... and each passionately believes they are superior to the other... the blunt truth is that the industry markets itself like a bunch of mortgage brokers trying to out claim each other in order to get the next deal.
In point of fact, I have yet to meet a firm that didn't do it better than the next guy... never met one that didn't have special relationships with lenders, or processes that are more thorough... or experience that's more substantive. And, since I've never been in the mortgage industry, am not losing my homes, and have no dog in this race, I can tell you that from above it looks like a bunch of sales people jockeying for position, each willing to step on another to get ahead. It looks desperate. And it shouldn't.
What you and others are doing is right. It's important. It's valuable to our entire nation. And you should feel very good about doing it well.
Yours is an industry that was born of chaos. As one imploded, another grew. People changed. The regulators failed us. It was a confusing time and it is understandable how we arrived at this place.
But it's time to take a step back and take a look at what the chaos has developed into and left behind. It's time for the loan modification industry, such that it is, to grow up and become stable. And strategic plans and corporate positioning are the building blocks of such stability.
I'm sure you are quite good at what you do; you're certainly passionate about it. And you seem to have a reasonable understanding of what marketing is all about. I'm quite sure I'd enjoy hearing about your experiences and might even want to interview you for a column.
I'm even willing to get more specific on which ever subject you think you might find valuable. I'm here to help firms such as yours in any way I can.
But be assured... the concepts of strategy and strategic planning, the ideas behind branding vs. positioning, the art and science of direct marketing, the discipline of community based marketing, none should be viewed as being Marketing 101.
And the loan modification industry is by no means one that can afford to ignore what these concepts teach... that much is clear. It sounds like you are doing so much right... it sounds like you're committed to being at the top of the field. Don't let your passion, your enthusiasm, or your experience push you into working in your business, as opposed to on it.
I recently was speaking with an impressive young man, age 33, who also owns a loan modification firm in LA. I told him to watch out for slick operators who might take advantage of him and he replied that he was experienced enough to see any scam coming. I replied that feeling that way is a prerequisite for being the victim of a scam.
So, take my advice on this... I've been doing it a long time now... when you start to look down on the fundamentals and speaking pejoratively about Marketing 101... well, that's exactly the time to go back and review the vital lessons of Marketing 101.
Anyway, I'm sure you have more than your share of stories to tell about this business operating within a crisis... send me an email and we'll talk more off line. As I said, I'm only here to help. And I can catch you up on what my team has been doing in relationship to the draconian SB 94, and other initiatives at the federal level.
Or, should you have any more specific questions... I mean more sophisticated marketing or consumer behavior topics you'd like me to drill into... I'm all yours. Fire away!
Duke...
I agree with what you're saying... and my group is in the process of putting together data on the industry. The overall problem, in my mind anyway, seems to be one of hyped accusations versus accurate data. And I do agree that companies should list an address and local phone number... thanks for commenting...
All I do is prepare my clients documents that they can submit to their banks. So, far they have been successful challenging their banks.
Dittos to that!
I keep reading all this self inflated, egotistical, mumbo jumbo, double talk B.S. from alot of you...seems like you're more interested in one upsmanship than pointing anyone in the right direction! Isn't the bottom line that I was succesful in getting a loan mod on my own without paying anyone?
What's the problem with someone going directly to the lender first, and if they don't get good results, find a legit attorney/service to help? Of course the problem is if someone can't even afford mortgage, how can they pay an upfront fee, without even any guarantee they'll do better than on their own?
If anyone wants to email me, I'll tell you my results, and how I did it on my own!
nowaybutup@sbcglobal.net