Buying Exclusive Mortgage Leads for Your Business

Note: This blog post is part of an ongoing series about mortgage lead generation via the web. Click here to access the full list of articles in this series.

I won’t spend too much time on this topic, because it’s not really a form of lead generation. Here, you are simply buying exclusive mortgage leads that are generated by somebody else, as opposed to generating the leads yourself. But it’s a relevant topic to this article series so I’ve included it as a “technique” for acquiring new business.

Exclusive Mortgage Leads Defined

So what exactly is an exclusive mortgage lead anyway? Basically, this refers to a lead that is given to one mortgage professional only. When you purchase that lead, it is essentially “off the market” and cannot be obtained by anyone else. The benefit to this, of course, is that the person you contact will not be bombarded with other offers from other brokers.

How the Process Works

Basically, you are buying mortgage leads that have been produced by somebody else. For example, there are some real estate websites that capture names and contact info from their site visitors, and then turn around and sell them as exclusive leads to mortgage professionals. There are many companies / websites who operate on this business model, and they come in all shapes and sizes. But the basic process is always the same — they capture the leads and then transfer them to third-part mortgage brokers.

Two Things to Keep in Mind

When it comes to buying leads (whether exclusive or otherwise), there are two important things to keep in mind. Currency and quality. How current are the leads you are buying? Were they produced in the last 48 hours, or within the last four weeks? In my opinion, a lead that’s more than a week old is not worth buying. The person has likely moved on already and given his or her business to somebody else.

Quality is another key criteria when buying exclusive mortgage leads for your business. And in this context, “quality” refers to the level of qualification. For example, consider the difference between the following scenarios…

• Scenario #1 – A person visits a website while researching the home buying process. They sign up for a newsletter or fill out some kind of form on the website, and thus the website owner has captured a lead. But what do we know about the person? Very little, aside from a name and basic contact info.
• Scenario #2 – A person visits a website while researching mortgage loans and finds a form that is specifically (and accurately) labeled as providing mortgage offers. The form asks for some specific information, such as the estimated time to purchase, type of loan, amount of loan, etc. It has a privacy policy that clearly explains how their contact information will be used.

When you are buying exclusive mortgage leads from another company, you should stay as close to scenario #2 as possible (and avoid scenario #1 as much as possible).

The leads produced through the first scenario above will rarely be quality leads. They will be people who (A) may or may not be seeking a mortgage anytime soon and (B) may not be expecting anyone to contact them about a mortgage loan. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t bother with that scenario.

On the contrary, the exclusive leads produced through the second scenario will be more qualified prospects and will be expecting somebody to contact them, because that’s the whole point of the form they’ve filled out.

Before you buy mortgage leads from a third-party provider, you need to do a little homeowner to find out how they are generating their leads. If they keep their techniques under “proprietary” wraps, then tell them goodbye. If a lead-provider does not tell you — or better yet show you — how they produce the exclusive mortgage leads that they sell, it’s probably because they have something to hide. In order to pursue the ideal Scenario #2 outlined above, you have to know where the information is coming from.

Experiment With Exclusive Leads

I’m an advocate of generating leads through your own website. But at the same time, I’m an advocate of firsthand experimentation. So with this strategy, as with all the other discussed in this book, you should try it for yourself to see how it works. Some providers may not work out well for you at all. Others may be the greatest thing since sliced bread. It will depend on your business model, the types of mortgage products you offer, and how you define your “ideal prospect.”

Stay Tuned — There are many more lessons to come in this series on mortgage lead generation strategy. So if you haven’t done so already, sign up for our free newsletter to stay informed!