The mortgage sales process is a lot of work, finding and serving clients can take a lot of time. Ask any broker with years of experience, and they’ll be able to recount how frustrating it is to put in that time and work only to find out that a prospect isn’t actually ready to apply or, worse, has gone with another broker at the last minute. In both cases, significant effort and resources are rendered all but pointless, and time and money spent without return aren’t just frustrating; they’re financially damaging. 

To avoid a frustrating and costly outcome, mortgage brokers are faced with the challenge of sorting through prospects to determine which ones have the potential to generate revenue immediately, which may be revenue generators in the future and which aren’t worth the time at all. Brokers are then faced with getting those hot, qualified leads all the way through their funnel to a closed deal and an ongoing long-term relationship. 

Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done, and many mortgage brokers still struggle with lead management, bloated mortgage sales processes, and tire-kickers that bolt at the last minute.

 

How to Streamline the Mortgage Sales Process with Tech in 2022

Luckily for mortgage brokers, there are ways to enhance and streamline the customer acquisition and sales processes to minimize the amount of time eaten up by prospects that aren’t ready to produce revenue while moving more leads through to closed deals. The following is a high-level outline of how brokers can use modern sales technology to refine their mortgage sales processes to be more efficient and more profitable in 2022 and beyond. 

1) Capture Every Lead into a Customer Resource Management System

The first and most important thing brokers must do to improve the mortgage sales process in 2022 is to capture each and every lead into a customer resource management (CRM) system. CRMs are sales tools designed to enhance lead management and customer relationship building through better data capture and utilization. By capturing leads into a CRM, brokers can utilize advanced automation, filtering, and categorization tools to make it easier to keep track of who leads are, how ready they are to apply for a mortgage, and where they are in the sales process. 

A top CRM like CRMDialer will make capturing leads into the system easy by automating lead account creation. New lead accounts can be created automatically whenever customers interact with a broker’s business in a number of ways, including web forms, email, and even phone calls. Automated lead capture ensures that human error and memory are removed from lead collection, and no good lead ever slips through a broker’s fingers unnecessarily. 

2) Contact Leads Faster than Ever Before

The longer it takes a broker to make contact with a newly generated lead, the less likely it is that the prospect will ever be closed. In fact, in some industries, the estimated ideal time from lead generation to first contact is as little as five minutes. That might not be realistic for the vast majority of brokers, but the point stands that speed to contact matters. 

One benefit of using a CRM for lead management is that the system can provide a notification every time a new lead account is automatically generated from a capture mechanism. Systems like CRMDialer can generate both on-screen and email notifications, ensuring that key parties like brokers or their client service managers will always know the second a new lead comes in, and can act accordingly. 

Getting in contact with new leads as quickly as possible can be done in two ways. The first, and most preferable, is to reach out on the phone right away. CRMDialer’s built-in power dialer makes that easy by enabling calls to be launched with a single click from within a lead’s account. The second is to schedule an automated welcome message to go out whenever a new lead is generated. Welcome messages greet the lead and let them know to expect a call soon, and can be sent automatically either by email or SMS message, depending on what contact information the lead provides. 

3) Analyze and Classify Each Lead As Soon as Possible

The key to ensuring proper prioritization of time and minimal chasing down of low-quality leads is to begin analyzing and classifying prospects as early in the process as possible. The clearer a picture a broker has of where each lead is in their home buying journey, the higher the return the broker will see on the time, effort, and money they put into the recruiting and sales process. 

An ideal way to start the classification process is with a pre-designed questionnaire that can be delivered to each new lead at their initial in-person consultation or, better still, over the phone or online before a meeting is ever scheduled. A good intake questionnaire will help brokers properly segment new leads, ensuring that the ones most ready to apply for a mortgage get top priority, but leads that are likely to be ready in the short and long terms are still given adequate attention. 

4) Use the CRM to Prioritize and Track Leads to Declutter the Sales Funnel

Once leads have been initially qualified and classified, it’s important to keep track of any changes in their status and how they’re progressing through the mortgage sales process. Sometimes the leads that seem the most promising early on cool off, and sometimes leads that seem lukewarm turn out to be the most profitable. Tracking is even more important when it comes to leads that are only exploring a mortgage right now but are likely to need a broker at some point in the future. Without a way to effectively keep track of each lead and how they progress over time, it’s inevitable that quality, qualified leads will slip through the cracks, and revenue will be needlessly lost. 

A system like CRMDialer makes tracking leads throughout the mortgage sales process simple and easy. Rather than manually tracking and updating each prospect – an enormous task – the CRM can use pre-assigned events to trigger automatic updates in lead status. For instance, the system can automatically update a new lead’s status when it confirms they’ve received their welcome message. It can then update the lead again when they schedule their introductory consultation. Status changes can be set to occur based on just about any interaction, or even lack of interaction. Letting the CRM handle tracking and prioritization results in a clearer picture of a broker’s overall sales funnel and makes truly efficient sales and marketing possible. 

5) Schedule Your Follow-Ups

With the CRM tracking leads and updating their status as they move through the funnel (or don’t), the final step is to maintain constant contact and to ensure broker intervention is happening whenever a deliverable is required from a client, or the mortgage sales process needs a jump start. The CRM’s tracking features make it easy for brokers to go in and manually review the status of their leads to determine any necessary action items, but the CRM also allows brokers to automate communications based on a lead’s status and journey through the mortgage sales process. 

For instance,  a broker could create a lead category for leads that have gone cold after beginning the mortgage sales process, which would either remind the broker to follow up or automatically fire off a follow-up email or text to the lead once a certain amount of time has passed. Likewise, brokers can use lead statuses to automatically send out standard forms and prompt prospects to return them, to thank clients after close, to ask for referrals, and much more. Allowing the CRM to handle follow-ups automatically whenever possible takes the pressure off the broker’s memory and ensures no prospect or client ever slips through the cracks, resulting in more closes, more happy clients,  and more referrals. 

 

To find out more about how utilizing a customer resource management system can revolutionize your mortgage sales process in 2022, or about the full list of benefits CRMDialer offers brokers, get in touch with a member of the team or start your no-commitment free trial of CRMDialer today.