Are Your Emails Costing You Some Mortgage Business?
BATTLECALL GUEST
EXPERT: Tom Domin, Mortgage Marketing Toolkit
There is no
doubt that email is one of the greatest things that
the computer revolution has done for personal productivity. I'm not going to
list all the reasons email is good. If you're active in the Mortgage
Business, reading this article online, or surfing the internet...you know them
already.
You're probably an avid
email user.
But, used improperly, email can also be a
killer for your mortgage business. This article discusses how that can happen
and an example of how a simple email can go bad. My
purpose is not to tell you that email is evil, because
it isn't. The negative impact of email comes from the
way you use it, and not the medium itself.
In the last
couple of weeks I have received a hand-full of emails
from mortgage people promoting chain letters. You probably have seen them
yourself. The last one was a version of the
following:
* * * * * *
* * * * *
"Subject:
PLEEEEEEASE READ!!!! It was on GOOD MORNING AMERICA
Dear
Friends
Please do
not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates is sharing his fortune. If you
ignore this, you will repent later. Microsoft and AOL are now the largest
Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains
the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test.
When you
forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it (If you are a
Microsoft Windows user) for a two week time period.
For every
person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00 or every
person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $243.00
and for every third person that receives it, You will be paid $241.00. Within
two weeks, Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a
check." Etc, etc, etc.
* * * * * *
* * * * *
Suffice it
to say...this is a hoax and versions of this email
have been circulating on the internet since 1977. Over that time, only the
company names and dollar amounts have changed to make it more believable.
At first
glance, participating in such pie-in-the-sky whim appears perfectly harmless
doesn't it? But participation not only serves to clog up computer resources, it
gives the idiots who cooked up these frauds a great big laugh at your
expense.
Oh yes,
it does one other thing: the people that receive this little goodie from you now
have a different insight of you. Let's face it...this basic come-on remains
the same: fool gullible people into endlessly forwarding junk messages to their
friends and acquaintances with phony promises of cash and/or free merchandise.
Is that the impression you want to leave with your
contacts?
You know by
now that there's absolutely no free lunch...big companies aren't going to hand
out fabulous vacations, tons of cash, free trendy clothes, new computers, cases
of candies, or new cars just because someone with a functioning internet
connection does them the favor of forwarding an
e-mail.
Most of
your clients, customers, friends and contacts know that too. You need to stay
informed, be informed, and use your common sense. Do a Google search on
"email scams" or something similar, and then bookmark
sites like snopes.com and truthorfiction.com
to keep you up to date.
Just as a
side note, the chain letter emails I received from loan officers included two
additional blunders you should avoid. First, the
emails showed the names and email addresses of the
loan officer's entire contact list (I'm sure those contacts are happy to see
their names and email addresses circulating the internet unabated
forever...scary isn't it?).
And
second, the loan officers used their mortgage business signature at the
end of the emails further reinforcing a connection between a hoax
email and their mortgage business. And we sometimes wonder why we
aren't getting our fair share of mortgage business from our contact
list?
In conclusion, set-up
your own email guidelines and then continually review
and evaluate how and when you use your email. Email is
the best thing since 'sliced bread' and when used correctly can be a huge asset
and not a deterrent to your mortgage business.
About
the Author: Tom Domin has over twenty-five years of experience in sales and
training in Real Estate and as a Licensed Mortgage Broker. He is currently
publisher of "Tom's Mortgage Tips" a twice monthly Mortgage Newsletter for
Mortgage Professionals. You can sign-up
by visiting
http://www.mortgagemarketingtoolkit.com
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