Have you tried holding a lunch seminar to get reverse mortgage leads?
If not, I suggest you do so.
Many LOs don't want to do a thing that costs them a dime.
But I think that if you are really serious about this business, that you should view spending money on marketing, lunch seminars, and such as a necessary investment to stand-out from the crowd.
Sure, not everything you do in this business has to cost you money, but you can only get so far in this business by refusing to spend any money at all.
Sure, putting on lunch seminars requires you to spend money on a mailing. It requires you to hold a lunch seminar, taking you away from the office, etcetera.
And, you'll have to buy some lunches for some folks who only came to get free food.
But so what? Don't be short-sighted.
Because do you know what else you'll get? You'll get quite a few sincerely interested people, who want and/or need a reverse mortgage!
Done properly, you'll get questions at the end of your presentation such as, "what's the next step?" or "how much do I qualify for?" or "can you call me tomorrow so we can get started?"
I make it a point to hold a question & answer session at the end of my talk. And I hold the Q & A session on microphone, in a group format.
That's because most folks have pretty much the same questions, and this format lets you knock-out several people's questions at a time.
And folks who don't have a question find that they learn about all kinds of aspects of the reverse mortgage that they hadn't considered.
And folks who were on the fence, get to hear from all the folks who are interested.
That "social proof" helps get the on-the-fence folks back in the frame-of-mind that, "geez, maybe I should do this too. Everyone else seems excited about it."
I also use a "seminar evaluation form" for folks to indicated their level of interest in hearing from me.
We tell them that "when you turn your seminar evaluation form into Tiffany, at the registration table, she'll give you your free gift, which is..."
That makes sure that the evaluation forms get filled-out and turned-in.
We get affordable gifts for them from the dollar store.
Currently, this is a nice $1 coffee mug, filled with candy (think of those large bags of halloween candy), and Tiffany has wrapped the mugs and candy in decorative plastic "paper," with a bow around the top.
They love these!
I also give them each an audio CD from my December 4th radio appearance on the nationally-syndicated Jim Bohannon Show.
I tell them that, "I've cut-out all the commercials for you! Listen to the show on the way home!"
This gives me 3rd-party credibility. Most of them have listened to Jim Bohannon for years.
The day after my reverse mortgage lunch seminar, I call all the folks who indicated on their forms that they are interested in going forward with a reverse mortgage.
We go over what I can do for them, and I set an appointment for me to show them those numbers in person, in their home.
I get to the folks who answered their forms as "need more info" next.
"Need more info" is more of a "maybe" answer than if they circled "Yes!" on their evaluation form.
After the "need more info" folks, I call the folks who didn't circle anything.
They're just below a "maybe" in their level of interest.
Then I call the "no shows," as oftentimes, they're interested, but something came-up the day of the lunch.
I've heard things like, "my sub-pump went out," "my water heater went-out," and "my wife got sick and had to go into the hospital."
Then they ask me questions about the reverse mortgage, and I begin to educate them over the phone.
Lastly, I call the folks who circled "No." You might think that's nuts, but that's what I do. Here's why...
The "No"s oftentimes ask me questions about the things that made them circle "No."
What I mean is that they didn't listen well, or don't hear well, and they still have some sort of misconception about the reverse mortgage.
After I explain the answers to their (fearful) questions, their fears have been put aside, and they now fully-understand the many safeguards, and benefits, that the FHA-insured reverse mortgage contains.
If you're not doing lunch seminars, you're really missing the boat!
Please comment below!
Sincerely, your friend,
Scott Tucker
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