Learning how to get free mortgage leads can be transformative for your business as a loan officer, ensuring you have reliable leads coming directly to you without needing to budget for unnecessary expenses that do not guarantee a return.
There are several ways to find free leads, such as creating a lead funnel online, using your social media pages and previous clients to offer organic and cost-free referrals, or applying to join our tried and tested referral partnership program.
In this guide, we’ll clarify how each option works, the expertise you’ll need to get started, and why your decisions about where to get mortgage leads can significantly impact the number of leads you pursue that evolve into clients.
Is it Possible to Find Free Mortgage Leads as a Loan Officer?
Many loan officers in the market have long known that paid Zillow mortgage leads and similar fee-based lead lists from other platforms have limitations. They commonly relate to low-quality leads, a lack of exclusivity, or spending hours contacting leads who have no interest in proceeding with a mortgage loan.
The outcomes can include increases to your overheads, wasted hours, and being perceived as a less credible loan officer when consumers are unhappy about receiving unsolicited sales communications. A caveat is that, outside of an already established and proven referral program, you’ll still need to invest time and potentially cost into creating a dependable, long-term lead generation strategy–but we’ll look at all the solutions to assist with your decision-making.
Creating a Mortgage Lead Sales Funnel
The first way forward we’ve mentioned is an online lead funnel, which can work effectively, provided you have the time and skill to engage with potential clients online. Sales funnels use a combination of content creation, information sharing, and optimization to broaden your online reach.
Although sales funnels may not always have an immediate effect, they can also be heavily targeted by conducting research to define your ideal client persona and developing lead magnets that incentivize or prompt possible leads to get in touch. This might include downloading a free resource or e-book, registering for newsletters and updates, joining a digital seminar, or receiving complimentary property ownership reports.
Capturing Mortgage Leads Through Social Media
Social media channels provide varied ways to connect with potential prospects, with many loan officers using a mixture of organic, sharable content to try and encourage viewers to follow them and paid-for social media advertising. This type of marketing can be complemented with online ads, such as pay-per-click campaigns, although it’s common to need to hire a digital marketing agency to assist as this can be complex.
It remains important to avoid paying for high numbers of clicks that are unlikely to become genuine leads.
Requesting Client Mortgage Lead Referrals
If you have an established business, you can request clients and other contacts in your network to refer homebuyers to you or recommend your services to their own contact lists to help publicize you as a mortgage loan officer in the local area. A high proportion of people will trust referrals that come from somebody they know, although the drawback is that this method of generating free mortgage leads is dependent on you already having a large enough client database to provide referrals that will generate the inquiries you need.
Joining the Insurance Pro Agencies Lead Referral Network
Working in partnership through our lead referral program enables us, as a leading homeowner’s insurance provider, to improve the support we offer clients by offering referrals across our network of mortgage loan officers. We offer direct referrals to known professionals who can offer speedy, competitive quotations to help with real estate mortgage loans.
Our leads are exclusive to you, require zero payment, and represent verified, high-intent prospects with detailed insights into their buying position, budget, and priorities. This unique program offers a mutual benefit–we provide your clients with relevant, dependable insurance quotations and access to added-value packages, and you receive referrals from our experienced team specific to the types of inquiries you’d like.
We collaborate with retail lenders who need good value, secure insurance recommendations, are looking to scale their businesses, and manage three or more monthly deals. If this sounds like you, you are welcome to contact us to learn more about our Free Mortgage Leads Program as an alternative or in addition to your current lead generation strategy!
