Mortgage Broker Coaching, LLC

We just built the Blog for the Arizona Association of Mortgage Brokers

As we have mentioned in previous posts, we have been very busy transitioning our company to predominantly a business blog consulting company.

Now that the tide has turned, for the mortgage industry, mortgage brokers all over the country are looking for new ways to communicate with their clients.

There is no better way to make this happen, then to build an on-line social media channel using tools like Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

We are about a month into our 13 month relationship with the Arizona Association of Mortgage Brokers.  Come by and take a peek at our work, subscribe to their blog, and watch as we grow their on-line presence. 

In just over a month, we have accomplished subscriber-ship that equals 2/3rds of their membership, and I expect to blast past that shortly.

In a few months, we will also be adding affiliate sponsorships/advertising on their blog to assist in creating a return on their investment.

We are confident that before the year is out, the Arizona Association of Mortgage Brokers will see a return on their investment, and possess a thriving, vibrant, on-line social media channel.

If you, or your state association of mortgage brokers, would like to chat about this exciting new channel of communication, we would be honored to talk.

David Porter
President/CEO/Blogger
Blog Consulting, LLC
http://www.blogconsultingllc.com

What must the Mortgage Industry learn from the closing of the Tucson Citizen newspaper?

There is a very somber mood in Tucson, Arizona today.  In just a very few days, the presses will cease, and the 138 year old Tucson Citizen will cease to exist.

Click here to visit their website, and witness the last words of a great Tucson herald.

Change is very difficult.  Visiting the Tucson Citizen website is difficult.  

The pages of this newspaper witnessed the shoot out at the O.K. Corral, and the statehood of Arizona.

As businesses, and organizations, we must clearly understand that this newspaper closing is not an isolated happenstance.  This is happening all over the world!

There is currently underway, a massive information revolution.  It has been brewing for many years, and now we are beginning to see the aftermath of this perfect storm smashing its way through centuries old newspaper dynasties. 

What is there for businesses, and organizations, to learn from this?

There is a vacuum being created, as these mighty oaks crash to the ground.  Main stream media is slowly, but surely, being brought down, and its pieces are being driven into the long tail of the Internet.

As a business, or organization, as heartless as it may seem, you have incredible opportunity in this unprecedented change of paradigm.

Quite simply, you must build your own media channel.  You now have the tools in your hands, to speak your message in your own voice, through your own media distribution system.  You now possess, through Internet technologies, a television station, a radio station, a newspaper, a magazine. 

Your company must now develop your own voice, find the proper distribution channel, and start singing, at the top of your lungs, the message you have to share.

We stand with you, and are prepared to help you find your voice, and would delight to see your company start to more powerfully share its vision.

Building a Facebook Outpost for your Mortgage Blog

One of the things that every business, organization, or professional blogger will want to do, is build an outpost on Facebook.

Facebook is easily one of the fastest growing social networks on the planet. 

Furthermore, Facebook has now provided "pages" for businesses, and organizations to have a place on their network.  It has proven to be wildly popular.

Look at these stats directly from Facebook: 

• More than 200 million active users
• More than 100 million users log on to Facebook at least once each day
• More than two-thirds of Facebook users are outside of college
• The fastest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older

• Average user has 120 friends on the site
• More than 3.5 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide)
• More than 20 million users update their statuses at least once each day
• More than 4 million users become fans of Pages each day

• More than 850 million photos uploaded to the site each month
• More than 8 million videos uploaded each month
• More than 1 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each week
• More than 2.5 million events created each month
• More than 25 million active user groups exist on the site

We just built our initial Facebook page, and within on day, I was reconnected with a business acquaintance, across the country, who is a very likely candidate for our blog consulting services.

As a client of ours, we will make certain that you have a Facebook strategy in place. 

You simply cannot afford to  be absent from 200 million active users! 

Besides, it also great fun!

10 Reasons Smart Real Estate Agents and Realtors® will build their own Blogs and/or Social Media Sites

Give your Realtor® clients a helping hand, in moving their real estate practice into the 21st century, and Web 2.0, by referring this article to them:

10 Reasons Smart Real Estate Agents and Realtors® will build their own Blogs and/or Social Media Sites

To refer this article, simple use the "Share This" button, just below.

Blog Consulting, LLC - our newly launched company!

Today we officially launched our new blog consulting company, Blog Consulting, LLC.

The paint is still wet, and we are still moving furniture around our new web site, but here is our service offering:

Blog (New Media) Consulting

This will be our flagship service.  Here we will provide the actual building of an online blogging presence for businesses, organizations, or certain individuals.  This will include, but is not limited to:

• the actual building your new blog
• connecting your new blog to all appropriate social networks, such as facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
• plugging in appropriate widgets, gizmos, and doodads to make your subscribers experience pleasant, and very Web 2.0.
• designing, with your direction, a custom banner for your new site.
• sitting you in the seat of your new blog, and teaching you how to work all the knobs, buttons, and dials.
• working with you to subscribe your clients/patrons/members, etc to your new enterprise.
• working with you to create a vision, mission, and  purpose into your new media site.
• teaching you how to create video posts, audio post, upload media to iTunes, as well as instruction in textual composition with rich photography to create extra pizazz in your posts.
• most important of all, I repeat, most important of all, I will consult, and work with you over a 12 month period to assure the success of your new enterprise.  Here lies the biggest roadblock to most blogs:  they start with will all the good intentions in the world, but three months later, it is barren waste land.

I have 20 years of business networking, and community building experience.  I have started from scratch, and sold a very successful business.  That, together with my love of technology provides me with the tools to help you succeed. 

Please drop me an e-mail to set up a free, no obligation conversation about your new site.

Social Media Management

This is where a company, organization, or individual would hire me (Blog Consulting, LLC) to actually manage the day to day operations of your online blog (new media). 

This would involve a contracted amount of dedicated time each week, where I would actually sit in the drivers seat of your online media division.   This might include such things as:

• writing a determined number of blog posts each week.
• managing your social media sites, such as facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
• conducting video interviews, for your site, and uploading them to iTunes.
• conducting audio interviews, for your site, and uploading them to iTunes.
• creating subscription, marketing, and/or fund raising campaigns.
• working in tandem with you to create, maintain, and give vision to your new media enterprise.

I could only do this for a very limited number of organizations, and it would need to be in an area where I have great passion, and expertise.  Remember, a successful new media site is built with passion!

Areas that I could entertain for this type of venture might be:

• the mortgage industry
• business consulting/management
• blogs revolving around the Christian faith
• Church and/or seminary blogs
• author blogs in business and/or faith issues
• travel blogs
• hiking blogs
• Arizona, Phoenix, and/or Scottsdale blogs
• personal finance blogs
• photography
• visual arts such as museums, galleries, and or individual visual artists

There may be others, but you get the point.  This particular service would need to be a passion of mine, in order for it to be effective.  I would be highly ineffective blogging about football, for example.

Please drop me an e-mail to set up a free, no obligation conversation about Blog Consulting, LLC managing your blog/media site.

The Top 5 Reasons Your Mortgage Organization Must Embrace Blogs (New Media)

Reason #1 - A Significant Informational Shift

If you haven't noticed, there is a gargantuan shift occurring in the way information is delivered.  When is the last time you opened the yellow pages of your phone book?  Do you even own a phone book?

Once mighty print dynasties are crumbling all over this country.   Centuries old newspapers are quickly becoming extinct, and magazines are fast becoming informational Dodo Birds.

There is a swelling black hole for information, and it is all moving to the Internet. 

In my humble opinion, 10 years from now we will all be subscribed to RSS Feeds and will have the information we want, delivered right to our desktops.  Why would you want to read what a 20 year old newspaper employee thinks about this, or that, when you can subscribe to the RSS Feed of thousands of sites, and get your information right from the horses mouth.

In the future, the Warren Buffets of the world, will have their own media sites, and control their own messages. 

I present to you exhibit #1, the President of the United States.  Whitehouse.gov is now a blog, and President Obama has built his own media distribution center.

You must do the same!

Reason #2 - Inexpensive to Own!

I used to spend around $5,000 each month to get my message out to my clients, using snail-mail.  If I had used television, radio, or newspaper it would have cost me significantly more.

With a blog (new media), you have at your disposal a television station, a radio station, a magazine, a newspaper, and an e-mail newsletter, all rolled up into one! 

You will have the ability to communicate with your patrons in video, audio, pictures, and text.  A very rich environment delivered with video podcasts, and audio podcasts delivered right to iTunes for your clients to download on their iPods.  Furthermore, you will be able to take advantage of social networks such as facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and many more.

Because you own the media distribution, it is very inexpensive.  I found that my initial investment was quickly returned, and I was able to significantly reduce the money I was spending in other communication channels. 

Reason #3 - Inbound Marketing rather than Outbound Marketing

Let's face it, your clients are sick and tired of being bombarded with advertisements everywhere they look.  Our e-mail in-boxes have become a nightmare!  Right?

This is because of outbound marketing.  You create something, and send it out in hopes of a return.

With inbound networking, the whole paradigm gets turned on its head.  With the new media you will use permission marketing, and word of mouth marketing.  In other words, people are going to choose whether or not they want to read your material.

This is good because it puts the power in the hands of the consumer, and it forces you to create better content.  If you aren't producing great content, your clients are not going to subscribe to your media site, and come back.  Furthermore, they are not going to refer your site to their friends, and family.

Reason #4 - The Ridiculously Easy Referral

Let's say you own a financial planning company.  Let's further assume that you just hit a home run for one of your clients, and they are now raving fans of your company.  In the past, it was fairly difficult to get your client to actually refer your services.

Now, through your "new media" channel, this is done very easily, with the click of a mouse. 

You may have produced, for example, a wonderful video on how to survive a market meltdown.  If 500 of your clients watch the video, it would be very easy for them to refer the video to 2,500 people, in one day!

Do you see?  If you produce great content, people will refer their friends to it.

Reason #5 - It's now, or later!

Look.  Here's the bottom line.  Regardless of whether you have a business, a non-profit organization, a church, a museum, a financial planning company, a real estate company, or are a published author, your are going to graduate your website, sooner or later, to a living, breathing, interactive, media site.

Why wouldn't you get it done before the rest of your competitors do the same thing? 

The sooner you get started, the sooner Google will start collecting your information, and you will be moved to the head of the class.

We would love to talk to you about building, and then consulting with you regarding your blog (media site).  Please drop me an e-mail today.

Hey Look! Blog Consulting, LLC is nearly open!

A few weeks ago, I posted here that I was busy at work building a second consulting company.

This one, Blog Consulting, LLC. is designed to help businesses, organizations, and individuals get their "new media" sites built, and to provide on-going support to help them build their online communities.

We will be doing this with video podcasts, audio podcasts, text, facebook, Twitter, and a whole host of new media tools.

Our company will not only get the site built and running, but ride co-pilot with you for a year to help you find success, and, most importantly, receive a return on your investment!

Come on over and take a peek!  We still have wet paint, and the banner is yet to be installed, but I would welcome your visit, your comments, and your first impressions.

Free Letter to Help Console your Mortgage Clients in Troubled Times

I have been in the mortgage industry for 22 years.  In all those years, I have never seen markets like these.  Even back in the Savings & Loan crisis, the carnage wasn't this widespread.

Take a moment to consider all this from your client's perspective. 

The stock market is fluctuating wildly from day to day, the credit markets have significantly dried up, mortgage guidelines has dramatically changed, home values are dropping all over the country, foreclosures are at record highs, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac have been in the news with financial issues, the automakers are near bankruptcy, insurance companies and banks are failing right and left, and to top that all off, unemployment is creeping higher each day.

This is a colossal mess!  Your client's are afraid!

Here is a very important question:

"What are you going to do today, to help alleviate your clients fears, give them a little assurance that the sky isn't falling, and give them some hope?

You really do have an extraordinary opportunity to build deep relationships right now.  Your clients don't know where to turn.  The question is, are they going to turn to you?

It is my strong belief that you must reach out to your clients right now.  Here is what I recommend:

1. Send your clients a letter offering some encouragement, and an offer to listen and/or help.
2. Call all of your clients and follow up after sending the letter.

To help you with this, I am offering a free sample letter to those of you who sign up for our free weekly newsletter.  Here is a glimpse of the free letter:

"As I am certain you are very much aware, our local, and national economy are having a very rough go, as of late.  It seems that everywhere we turn, there is another record breaking round of foreclosures, unemployment, gasoline prices, stock market down-turns, lower home values, and our nation’s corporations seem to be filled with cigar smoking, greed filled,  snake-oil salesmen. 

I was sitting in my office,  contemplating this mess, and I found myself thinking about you,  as a client of my business.  “What must you be thinking of this predicament”, I wondered..."

If you would like a free copy of this letter, just fill out the registration form below.  Irregardless however, get in touch with your clients.  They need you right now!

 

#1 Wealth Building System for your Mortgage Practice

The number one mistake I find mortgage brokers making, all over the United States, is that they focus all of their attention on getting the next deal, rather than a deliberate determination to build relationship with their clients.

Mortgage brokers all over America spend tremendous amounts of energy, and money, to find a client.  Once the transaction closes, they say "thank you", and move on to hunt for the next transaction.

Listen, your business has no real value under this model.  When your company is built on transactions, then you are also incredibly susceptible to the markets whims.

Your 10 year goal should, and must be, to build real relationship with 1,000 people. 

Do this, and your life will change.  Don't do this, and your mortgage practice is merely a job, hunting for the next deal.

I just read a statistic the other day, that even in this horrible market, 17% of homeowners are doing something with their mortgage this year!  If you had a relationship with your clients, then even in the worst of markets, the mature mortgage practice would have 170 closings, plus the new relationships that it would create from normal marketing practices.

Mature mortgage practices are not in risk of dying in market turn downs.  Sure, their volume reduces, but they have staying power because of their relationships with so many people!

So...what is the #1 Wealth Building System for your Mortgage Practice?

You simply must have a living, breathing database system that systematically brings value and relationship to your clients!

Read on, I will give you the steps from a 30,000 foot vantage point...