Today’s loan originators are in the car, on the road, in the living room and sometimes in the office too, using 21st-century tools our predecessors in the business could have never imagined.
In my office, I am surrounded by technology. I stare into three computer monitors, all oversized 32-inch displays, with several printers, a scanner and a fax machine stationed nearby. In addition to all that hardware, I still need software and tools that are Web-based, app-accessible and built for the many different challenges I encounter in this sales and networking business.
When it comes to reverse mortgage loan origination, there are several tools that I think can help professionals stay on top of their game. Here’s a rundown of services I have found to be extremely helpful:
SendOutCards.com // Its motto is “changing lives… one card at a time.” While this might be an ambitious statement, I have found the site’s services to be very helpful. It is my card-sending program of choice. I enter the contact information of all my clients, friends and family members into the site’s digital address book so that I can easily send a greeting card or postcard for holidays, birthdays or loan anniversaries, or send a thank-you note for a referral. It’s a great way to keep in touch with contacts without the hassle—no need to buy stamps or envelopes. You simply pick out your card, type what you want to say, and click to send. I have found that my senior clients love personalized cards, and sendoutcards.com makes this task super easy through their website and their app.
Stamps.com // While sendoutcards.com will take care of mailing cards for you, sometimes quotes and informational literature have to be mailed from your office. At stamps.com, you can get an account for a $15 monthly fee, label paper at the local store, and with a scale provided by stamps.com for a fee. With all of this, you can set up your own mailing, postage and shipping center from your office. Then you just walk it out to your mailbox and put up the flag. Now that’s easy, and you saved yourself the cost of gas and a wait in line at the post office.
Zillow.com // Zillow is an excellent resource when consulting with a client who is unsure of the estimated value of their home. You can log on to its app on your iPad, smartphone or tablet to view real estate listings in a specific area and learn more about home prices in a key market. Zillow recently acquired Trulia, so now users can find a local Realtor when researching a property. You too can be part of this for a small fee, but don’t forget to contact the Realtors on Zillow when you see them to be sure they know who you are and what you do. I call this “reverse Zillowing.”
BusinessEtouchCRM.com // Before my employer provided me with an online contact management system, I built my own system, one that was Web-based and could be accessed on my tablet or on my desktop using BETCRM, as I like to call it. I kept two database accounts: one for recruiting and one for prospects. You can build the system any way you like and it has many features, like e-marketing, Web conferencing, calendars, click-to-call and mail merge. This type of program is an essential tool for any 21st-century sales organization. There are many ways to communicate and track your progress with prospects and recruits. There are many good reasons to utilize a system like this, but one of them is the transient nature of the professionals in our industry. I have been in this business for 14 years, and like many of my colleagues, I have worked for more than one company. With BETCRM, I have one place where I can save the contact info for all my customers, partners and friends for future communication, no matter what company I work for during the span of my career.
Infofree.com // Frustrated by salesgenie.com, I discovered infofree.com and never looked back. For a small monthly fee, this site assists me in finding clients to serve by providing prospect lists that are scrubbed for DNC (do not call) registrants and come with details about home values and age. I use this list to send mailings about educational seminars and hit the phones to connect personally with appealing prospects.
SalesForce.com // This is another great CRM provider that allows users to organize their contacts and communications. Salesforce.com is well known for its streamlined platform and user-friendly applications, and many large mortgage companies and top-producing brokers utilize its services.
ConstantContact.com // This is an email marketing software service. I found constantcontact.com many years ago and I attended some of its training classes in my area. Now they are a very large national company, with TV commercials advertising their services. Some of my civic organizations, like MBA, use constantcontact.com to promote events and keep in touch with their membership. I use it to keep in touch with my referral base of like-minded senior service providers, from elder law attorneys to insurance agents to Realtors. Using this service, I send a quarterly newsletter to stay in contact with my peeps on the topic of reverse mortgages and more.
LinkedIn.com // Most of you are familiar with LinkedIn, and I’m sure many of you use its free service. For a small fee, it also offers a higher level of service that’s designed for intense recruiting or networking efforts. It’s Facebook for business. Using its platform, you can build a Web-based business network and communicate with it through regular posts to your LinkedIn page or to the group pages of other networks you belong to, like The Reverse Review’s member page.
Dropbox.com // Its motto is “your stuff, anywhere,” and its usefulness cannot be understated. One of the challenges of working on multiple computers, multiple platforms and using multiple tech tools for email, work docs, reports and contact lists is that you have to remember where your documents are—which computer, what folder, etc. Dropbox.com is your hard drive in the sky. You can stop filing on your computer’s hard drive and start filing to your Web-based Dropbox so you will never have to look for a misplaced document again. And if your computer crashes, everything saved to your Dropbox folder will be safe and secure, easily downloadable from any computer, anywhere.
TrainingPro.com // When I transitioned from a traditional banking to a mortgage lender, I found TrainingPro to get the education and testing preparation I needed to get my state and national license. Now, I use it to update my continuing education requirements annually. It’s a great system with informative online training sessions.
Xinnix.com // Xinnix.com, the Mortgage Academy, is a Georgia-based institution that teaches mortgage-related courses online. With classes on loan origination that are up-to-date with the latest policy changes, Xinnix can help take you to the next level of loan production.
