Five Tips Success Factors For Choosing a Mortgage Brokerage Team
With the increasing dependence on the internet for homebuyers to get mortgage information, choosing a mortgage brokerage that will help you be a great broker and a great marketer is essential.
At Tangoo, we have recently taken a deep dive into the mortgage industry and have hung our hat with a brokerage to lend millions of dollars to Canadians! It was an interesting experience for our CEO, Paul Davidescu, who will share his experience below so you can also be thorough with your process and know what questions to ask.
When I was searching for a team to work with across Vancouver and Toronto, I went through almost 10 interviews to decide which team was going to most fit with my plan to leverage technology, great people, and a strong marketing plan to get a leg up in the industry. Here are five things to consider when on your search.
1. Ask the hard questions and probe to get a deeper answer
Before diving into your future brokerage’s marketing and technology stack (i.e the tools they use), you need to have a strong list of questions to ask about the nuts of bolts of how your new team will help you learn and be financially successful. By being able to read articles like one alongside, the advice I got from people in the industry, I was able to come into interviews well-prepared.
You need to decide what criteria are most important for you but if you’re here to grow your profit and learn from your team, you need to ask uncomfortable questions. I made sure to ask about commission splits, volume bonuses, and detailed information on their training program. The ranges I saw for starting commission splits were 80/20, all the way to 50/50, which most teams will bump up after you complete 10 deals.
Some will also charge you a monthly desk fee or per deal admin fee, so make sure to weigh out your options and forecast how much volume you will get in your first year.
When I asked what set them apart, many teams said it was their “strong lender relationships” and “around-the-clock support.” Because of these generic responses, I asked them to get more specific and also asked if they were especially strong in B Deals, Private Lending, or any other niche you might focus on. Even after probing, In the end, I realized that most of the well-known teams have access to similar lenders at similar rates, so this is when doing your due diligence on their technology and marketing systems becomes an x-factor to help you rise above the noise.
2. Find out what CRM system they use and ask current agents if they actually use it
Your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform will be your oxygen as you start to build up a database of leads, customers, and referral partners. The most robust CRMs are built on top of SalesForce CRM but usually take the longest to get used to. There are far simpler ones with nicer interfaces but much more limited functions so make sure to ask how good the CRM is at tracking deals and integrating email marketing into itself.
All principal brokers will tell you how amazing their CRM is so you’ll need to go deeper and ask to be put in touch with other mortgage agents who are actually using it every day to get a more unbiased opinion.
A key thing to keep in mind is that CRMs that focus on managing deals are usually the ones your prospective brokerage will offer. But what about managing cold leads to hand in an application so you can then manage the paperwork with your broker’s CRM? There are CRMs designed for this specific use so if lead generation is something you’re going to use, you’ll need a special CRM - we like to use Contact Smarter or Chiirp (which is endorsed by former Dragons’ Den investor and now Sharktank judge, Kevin O’Leary).
3. Discover what social media and lead generation services are available.
While your database of past customers and referral partners will eventually be your main sources to generate leads, as a new broker, you don’t have this luxury and need to take matters into your own hands. You need to build an online brand through Facebook and Instagram and invest in lead generation to drive early buyers into your pipeline.
You then need to qualify and nurture them inside your CRM until they are ready to submit an application to you. Most quality lead generation services cost around $60 a lead and go up from there. If you are offered 100+ leads a month for under $10 per lead, you will get what you pay for. Progressive brokerage teams will have a marketing department that sells you leads or at least refers you to suppliers. I lean on Tangoo to generate quality leads which are nurtured with marketing automation to ensure that the leads are worked on behind the scenes. Some teams will also offer social media management services or at the very least free courses or access to photographers and marketers who can easily get you started. Most mortgage brokers completely overlook building a social media presence so the bar is extremely low, make sure you rise above it.
4. Inquire about how your team will brand you both online and offline.
Most teams will have an About Us page which is really the first sign to see how much effort they put into making you successful online.
The good broker team will either build you an independent website or give you a robust website linked to their master site. Be wary of the latter because they are usually clunky, not user-friendly, and if you one day decide to change teams...you’re stuck. This is why I recommend buying your own domain (www. [yourlastname]mortgages. com).
You should also inquire about business cards, print collateral (which can still be useful), and industry events they can plug you into to grow your brand as a broker.
5. Find out how well your team leverages technology to keep you plugged in with mortgage trends, lender rates, and team communication.
This was the deciding factor that made me decide to join the MortgagePal team. They use all the same communication tools that I use at my agency like Slack and Zoom conference calls - easily the leaders in corporate instant messaging and videoconferencing tools. They use DropBox and Lastpass for document and password managers which are essential for keeping yourself organized. They are the creators of TangoEngage CRM and LenderSpotlight which are industry-leading platforms for keeping tabs on your database and a myriad of top lenders.
Whether you’re “old school” or a tech enthusiast, you’ll need to adapt to the tools available today to help you connect with customers, mortgage products, and lenders faster, better, and more meaningfully. Make sure your new mortgage broker (realtors can also take very similar tips to their new brokerage) gives you a chance to succeed in today's online world.