How successful was this program? Very. It generated 16 new accounts in a relatively short period of time. In total, the company’s sales director conducted 42 telemeetings — a 14-percent response — and within three months of completing the campaign, the company had closed nine new pieces of business. Within five months of completion, the company had closed 15 new accounts. The return on investment was substantial. In addition, the company reaped valuable publicity, as seven different trade publications wrote stories about the campaign.

Considering past ‘novel ideas’
The great inventor Thomas Edison said, “Keep on the lookout for novel ideas that others have used successfully.” That’s good advice for inventors — and mortgage professionals.

For example, you probably wouldn’t use the same “novel ideas” used to target collision-repair shops as you would to target individual loans from consumers. But what about adapting and using these ideas to target top-performing Realtors for new referral relationships? In this case, targeting successful industry professionals with the potential to refer a large volume of business, extreme marketing makes sense. It can make you a lot of money, too.

Here are some sample mailer headlines to show how the aforementioned extreme-marketing program can help mortgage professionals target top-performing Realtors.

• Message in a bottle

“Question: How do you satisfy your clients’ thirst for competitive rates, a wide selection of financing programs AND unsurpassed customer service? Answer: You send them to Jack Jones and The Mortgage Pros.”

• Bank-bag mailing

“You know your clients. And you know what they want from a mortgage firm: competitive rates, a wide selection of financing programs AND unsurpassed customer service. They’ll get it all when you send them to Jack Jones and The Mortgage Pros. And you can take that to the bank!”

• Trash-can mailer

“Can do? Yes! Jack Jones and [prospect’s name] can build a strong working relationship that benefits everyone.” Subhead: “In case you’ve been throwing my letters into the trash, I wanted to do it for you this time. But before you trash this, my final letter, consider … .”

As for other ideas and products, you are limited only by imagination — yours and that of others whose ideas you can adapt.

For example, a different spin on the message in a bottle might be to send it out in an imprinted plastic baby bottle. For the attached message, consider these ideas: “Remember the good old days? When the world really did revolve around you? When your every want and need were tended to? Well, those good old days still exist — for you and your clients — at The Mortgage Pros.”

Here’s an alternative: “For competitive rates, a wide selection of financing programs and service so good that you’ll understand why our competitors are crying about us stealing their business, send your clients to The Mortgage Pros.”

You can also send your letter out in a light-bulb-shaped container, which will detail your “bright ideas on home financing.” Or send your letter out in a piggy bank with the promise to never treat their business like small change. The possibilities are limitless.

Remember marketing’s value

You’re probably thinking that extreme marketing sounds expensive — and relatively speaking, you’re right. That said, here are three key points to keep in mind:

• You don’t hunt elephants with a BB gun.

Remember, we’re taking the extreme-marketing approach because we’re going after the top performers — say, the top echelon of Realtors with whom all people and their brothers want a referral relationship. How many postcards, letters, phone calls and voice mails do you think they get every week? What do you think your odds are of making an impact if you’re just like everyone else?

• Your mailing program will be relatively small.

With an extreme-marketing pro-gram, you target fewer, higher-quality prospects — in some cases, as few as 50 or 100. You invest more money per pros- pect to make sure that you make an impact. But it’s worth it because any of your prospects potentially can draw in a substantial return on your marketing investment.

• You’ll get residual value from your mailers.

If you send a pink “happy pig” to a prospect’s office, I guarantee it’s not going in the trash. Best-case scenario? When you make your follow-up phone call to schedule an appointment, prospects will agree to see you because they’ve “just got to meet anyone crazy enough to send a mailer as crazy as that pig.”

Second-best case? They might not see you right away, but they’ll place the pig prominently on their desks as “the darndest thing I ever received in the mail.” Plus, with co-workers noting the pig on your prospect’s desk, more people will know who you are and what you do.

Worst case? They’ll take it home and give it to their kid, and they’ll see it every night when they’re in Junior’s room reading bedtime stories. Eventually, you’ll get your meeting.

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