Questions to ask your loan mod lead providers

I'm skeptical about a lot of things, and buying loan mod or any mortgage marketing lead ranks way up there. I believe in generating my own but many folks still buy loan mod leads from outside venders. A ton.

But I've bought them before and I'm sure I'll buy them again. Here are some questions I think any smart loan mod agent should ask their lead company. If they give you the run-around or can't answer any of these, be careful!

• How were the names generated - in other words, is data from a credit bureau, a national leads campaign, direct mail, etc. Most lead companies are just buying data and brokering it to you, but a handful generate their own leads. Ask questions.
  
• How many other times is the same lead sold. If they're advertising "cheap loan mod leads" there's a reason that the price is so low.
  
• On the other hand, don't fall for "exclusive loan mod leads" either. I don't believe any lead is exclusive. Sorry. But even if they were, the chances are that the lead checked out some other websites and responded to other marketing...and are getting harassing calls from your competitors.
  
• If they give you the "exclusive" line, ask how long they're exclusive for. In other words, if they're exclusive when you bought, that's one thing. But many loan mod lead companies will re-sell that lead after two weeks, 30 days, etc. Over and over. (It's good to be a lead company!)
• Find out all you can about the lead company - it's a scummy business and you want to do your best to make sure the company will deliver what they promised and that they're not engaged in any unethical business practices. Due diligence is tough, so use your gut feeling if you sense something is not on the up and up.
  
• what is the satisfaction guarantee? It's hard for lead companies to promise you any kind of close ratio, since they'd be predicting how good your salesmanship is. In other words, the lead could be great but you could suck! That wouldn't be fair to the lead co.
• what are their best clients doing for marketing and sales? I always like asking this question, although a lot of times the sales rep may have no idea - hell, they don't care, as long as the orders keep coming! Some loan mod guys may be reluctant to share their methods, too, which is understandable but pretty stupid.
• but some leads may just suck outright - you can't get them on the phone, or the phone number is disconnected, etc. The lead co should work with you here by replacing the names or discounting you on your next order.
  

I think buying leads is a good way to add to your marketing mix, although I maintain that your best lead is the one you generate yourself. Ask these questions and trust your gut!

P.S. If I left anything out, let me know!

What's the point?

Here's the first post for this blog. I'm Andy Lockwood, a/k/a the Loan Mod Warrior. I have a different site dedicated to training loan mod specialists how to make more money while working less in this explosive niche. My premise is that it's better to generate your own leads rather than depend on others.

I formed this opinion based no only on my own experiences but after hearing dozens of loan mod agents bitch about how crappy their internet leads were.

But some people, like my buddy Todd who sells leads for a living, tells me that they can work just fine, thank you very much.

So I decided to do a little experiment to see who's right and who's wrong. If I'm proven wrong, it sure won't be the first time.

I hope you'll use this site as a forum to praise, trash or just plan ol' discuss the loan mod leads you've had experience with. There's no cost and I think it's set up so you can post anonymously.

Let the debate commence!

- Andy