Out of all the marketing things I do, there is one that still amazes me and it never fails to deliver reverse mortgage leads.

And the VERY BEST thing about this mortgage marketing strategy is that any reverse mortgage loan officer can do it.

It does not require any money (most of the time).
It does not require any special marketing knowledge.
In fact, there is only one thing you need to do; and anybody can do it.

TAKE ACTION!

Seriously, that is it.

If I ever get in a slump, the phones aren’t ringing, I am not getting referrals and in general I feel my world is on the brink of disaster. I stop and take stock of what I have been doing.

The answer is always this…

NOTHING!

I had been doing nothing.

I had been sitting on my ass doing nothing and expecting the phone to ring. I had been messing around on Facebook. Reading blog posts. Taking long “lunches”. Cutting out of work early. Showing up to work late. Searching online for some new whizbang, shiny object, fix all my problems solution. Wasting time trying to find the ultimate marketing / advertising / reverse mortgage lead generation solution.

I had been doing nothing and expecting something to happen.

If you are commission only. You can’t do nothing.

If you do nothing, nothing happens. And since nothing is happening, you freak out and double down on doing nothing. You pretend you are busy to trick yourself that you are doing something. But you are now doing less than before.

It’s bullshit. All of it. You can’t do nothing and expect things to happen.

The End All Be All Of Reverse Mortgage Marketing Strategies….

TAKING ACTION!

Taking action is what I refer to as Sneaker Wave marketing.

Here’s why.

A sneaker wave is – an unanticipated coastal wave that is much greater in force and height than the waves preceding it. They tend to arrive when you least expect them.

When I take action, I rarely get any leads, calls, referrals or closed loans directly from the action I take.

But, for some reason, I start getting calls from past leads, referrals from clients, referrals from referral partners and leads from the marketing I had set in place earlier.

All of this potential business is from sources that I did not take action with directly.

I call it Sneaker Wave marketing because by taking action, the leads, calls and referrals sneak up from behind and swamp you with new opportunity when you least expect it.

My personal belief is that it is God rewarding me for not being a sloth. Sloth is one of the 7 deadly sins.
And quite frankly, by doing nothing, I am being a sloth.

Now, if you don’t believe in God that is your choice. And I am not here to chastise you or have a theological debate, nor push my beliefs on you.

But, how else do you explain the phenomena?

Energy flow? Rewards from the universe? Karma?

Call it what you want. But this is a real thing.

How Do Take Action With The Ultimate Reverse Mortgage Marketing Strategy?

Do something!

Anything!

Here is a long list of simple reverse mortgage marketing actions you can do right now that are easy to do, easy to implement and will make you feel better. And best of all, get some reverse mortgage leads flowing your way.

Do not over think this stuff. TAKE ACTION and just do it.

READ IT AGAIN! DON’T OVER THINK THIS STUFF – JUST DO IT

In fact, don’t think – DO

1. Call your past clients to check in and say hi.

This is by far the easiest of all these things. They want to hear from you. They probably have questions they want to ask. It will make you feel good and it will make them feel good. It’s a good way to start taking action that will set the tone for the rest of your day.

2. Call referral partners to check in and say hi.

Once again, very simple, easy to do and always has a great outcome.

3. Call a referral partner and set up a time to go out to lunch.

Easy peasy. Everyone eats. You might need to set it up for a week or two out in the future.

4. Go to a networking event.

Be prepared with cards and a name badge. Be brave and introduce yourself to people. Being a wallflower won’t cut it.

5. Drop off a box of donuts to a referral partners office.

Better yet, buy a dozen boxes of donuts and drop them off at 12 different offices.

6. Drop in at a current referral partners office.

Even if your referral partner is not there, maybe someone else will be. And its always a good idea to be good friends with the receptionist.

7. Drop in at a potential referral partners office.

Ask if that person is there or not. You might get a yes. You might get a no. But the most important thing is you are taking action.

8. Write and mail a newsletter to all your referral partners.

I added this one hesitantly because the last thing I want you to do when taking action is sitting on your ass, hiding behind your computer. However, if you can pump it out quickly and outsource the envelope stuffing to someone else it can be a great way to touch all of your referral partners.

9. Talk to an advertising sales rep to explore new potential advertising options.

This is kind of like doing nothing. But you never know. That person might have a need for a reverse mortgage. They also might have some good marketing / advertising ideas for your reverse mortgage business that you were unaware of.

10. Put an ad on Craigslist.

This is again very close to hiding behind your computer. Again, write a good ad, get it posted and move onto something else. Don’t expect the calls to flood in. In other words, post it and move on. There is no need to wait for the leads.

11. Reach out to people you are connected with on LinkedIn and see if you can schedule a phone or in person meeting.

Again, this is an easy way to hide behind your computer. However, I have been able to secure tons of meetings with referral partners that I probably would have never met if it were not for LinkedIn.

12. Call a local organization like Lions or Rotary and see if then need a speaker.

They are always looking for speakers. Plus this is another great way to do some networking.

13. Drop off some flyers or brochures at the senior center.

Easy!

14. Reach out to a Realtor or independent insurance agent and see if you can provide a guest post for their blog.

Easy! Please read my post about Guest Posting.

15. Call the Chamber of Commerce and see what networking events they have coming up. Better yet, stop in and say hi.

Again, if you can, which there is really no reason not to, get out of the office and in front of people. You would be amazed out how excited they are when people show up and want to take advantage of the things they provide to the community.

16. Go to where a home is being built and hand out branded water bottles to everyone working there.

Not only is this a super fun way to get out of the office. But they are going to remember you. Plus they will tell the builder you stopped by. If you are trying to get in front of a home builder this is a great way to do it. I know a real estate agent, who is one of the top producing agents in my area, that got his start this way. He now sells about 120 houses a year because of this.

17. Hang some flyers at free community boards at the grocery stores.

Again, don’t expect much from this. But it is free, it gets you out of the office and it could result in some business.

18. Go to your local parks and rec office and see if they might want to host a class.

Easy!

19. Cold call potential referral partners on the phone.

To be honest, cold calling sucks. But it is something that needs to be done. Personally, if I get a financial planner on the phone, I will set an appointment 90% of the time. If it is the secretary or assistant, it is about 10% of time. This is just a numbers game. But it is seriously a game worth playing.

20. Drop in at a real estate office and ask to speak at their next meeting or offer a class.

Surprisingly this works really well for me. It will work for you too. Yes they get hit up all the time by other loan officers wanting to do the same thing. But reverse mortgage are a whole other beast and something unique.

I am going to say it again.

DON’T OVER THINK THIS STUFF – JUST DO IT

• Don’t worry about what you are going to say on the phone.
• Don’t worry about what you are going to say in person.
• Don’t worry about who you are going to see.
• Don’t worry about where you should go.
• Don’t worry about what kind of “stuff” you should drop off.
• Don’t worry about the no’s.
• Don’t worry about the yes’s.
• Don’t worry about what people think.

TAKE ACTION – DO IT NOW

Pick up the PHONE Right Now and START DIALING!
or
Get in your CAR Right Now and START DRIVING!

Does The Sneaker Wave Reverse Mortgage Marketing Strategy Work?

Of course it does.

Here are the most recent results of me taking action.

The Action I Took

I did three of the things in the list above.

1. I spent three days last week driving around dropping in at my referral partners because “I happened to be in the area” to say hi and drop of business cards.

2. I went to lunch with a referral partner.

3. I had a coffee meeting with a potential referral partner I met on LinkedIn.

The Results I Experienced – THE SNEAKER WAVE

• By Friday of that week I had a previous lead call me and tell me he was finally ready to move forward.
• I got a referral from a past client.
• I got two leads from my website.
• The referral partner I had coffee with called to let me know she had referred someone to me.

On Monday, which is the day I am writing this.

• I got a referral from another referral partner.
• I had another past lead that I had given up on call, wanting to set up an appointment for tomorrow. (Update – since I had not finished writing this blog post that appointment turned into a new loan)
• The referral partner I had lunch with had a referral for me.

To summarize what I got from taking action:

1 deal in the pipeline.
2 referrals from referral partners I had no interaction with.
2 referrals from referral partners I did have interaction with.
2 leads from my website.
1 appointment. (Update -This turned into a new application the next day.)

But all that came in the 3rd week of July 2018 in what people are calling one of the worst reverse mortgage markets ever. How the hell is that possible? I TOOK ACTION!

Out of all that, only 2 referrals came direct from action. The rest of it was the Sneaker Wave affect.

Listen, I get it. The market sucks right now.

But your have two choices.

You can do nothing.
Or
You can take action.

I can hear you know with your really lame excuses. Knock that shit off.

My market is not any better than yours.

I am not any better than you are.

I don’t have a magnetic personality. (Although I am quite charming – HA!)

There are some things that do make me different.

• I refuse to go along with the crowd in the crying, bitching and moaning of how bad the reverse mortgage market is.
• I refuse to give in to any stinking thinking.
• I truly believe that there is still a ton of business out there.
• I have fully embraced that I am going to have to work harder to keep my production up from last year.
• I believe this is a huge opportunity for anyone willing to take advantage of this market to scoop up referrals sources, gain more territory and make their presence felt.

Why?

Because everyone else is doubling down on doing nothing, lying to themselves about being productive, not getting out there doing the things they should be doing. They are busy bitching, whining and moaning about how “bad” the reverse mortgage is right now.

So, what are you going to do?

Keep sitting on your ass, hiding behind your computer, doing nothing?
Or
Take massive action, make shit happen, grab up your competitor’s territory and close some damn loans?