This may come as a shock to many “originators,” but there is nothing difficult about filling out a 1003. Just about any high school student can explain the difference between a 15-yr. fixed rate loan and a 30-yr. adjustable, and somebody will ALWAYS have a lower interest rate than you. That’s not what being a professional loan originator is all about. It’s about the value you bring to the transaction—what I call the “Chip Value.”

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For years, as I have trained LOs around the country (as well as my own staff), I try to consistently pound away at the fact that the “secret is in the sauce.” The personal value that you, the loan officer, brings to the table, which transcends any loan form, closing cost or interest rate—is what capturing the client is really about. The same is true in the online world.

In the many articles written about marketing, it’s been pointed out that technology is not a replacement for establishing personal relationships, but rather a tool for accelerating, maintaining and fortifying that relationship-building process. So if the power of capturing and retaining clients is in communicating your personal “Chip Value”, what’s the best way to use technology to accomplish that? That’s simple—information.

Creating Personal Value

People want information, and they want it in an organized, easy-to-understand and instantly accessible format from an experienced professional. After all, that’s what drives the entire Internet. Your client list (and commission checks) are directly related to how well you are able to communicate this information as it relates to their personal financial needs.

As an experienced professional, you have a world of information to share—from how to understand credit reports, to explaining the different costs associated in a mortgage transaction. But your “value” doesn’t stop there! You also have contact with a host of other affiliated professionals that most people don’t get easy access to—such as appraisers, surveyors, underwriters, title insurers and many others. The secret is to convert your information resources to a deliverable format for potential or existing clients. The answer is in creating free reports.

Free reports (sometimes known as “White Papers”), come from one of two perspectives—personal experience, or the knowledge of affiliate partner experts. Start by making a list of the top 5 things (questions, issues, problems, etc.) that your customers ask you about. These will probably include topics such as interest rates, closing costs, credit, income or employment, various loan programs and many others. Next, make a list of the top 5 most important things that your target market wants to know about, that is related to our industry. This may include subjects such as understanding the home construction process, home maintenance and safety, tax planning strategies, moving tips, shopping for a real estate agent, or protecting themselves from identity theft—just to name a few. Once you have the topics in place, it’s time to create some simple reports.

Creating the Reports

The reports should not be long—2 to 3 pages are typical, as most people do not have the time (or attention span) for a lengthy dissertation! Take one of your selected topics and write down at least 5 things about that subject that people want or need to know. As an example, let’s use “Credit.” Five things I might list under that would include: 1) What credit scores are and how they are generated; 2) There are 3 major reporting repositories, and the information can be different; 3) Bad credit can remain on a report for 7 years or longer in most states; 4) Negative credit does not preclude someone from getting a mortgage; and 5) How someone goes about getting a copy of their credit report.

Just keep asking yourself questions—what are the questions that clients have been asking you for years! This should get the creative juices going, and allow you to think of several issues to list in your report. Next step is to actually write the report itself. You MUST have a GREAT headline! For a free detailed report on how to create great headlines, send me an e-mail at info@chipcummings.com and I will walk you through it. The headline is what sells the prospect into coming inside—the report won’t get read without a great one. For the example above, I might use “The 5 Things You Need To Know About Credit Reports BEFORE Applying For A Loan” or “5 Credit Secrets Everyone Needs To Know.”

Next comes the flow of the report itself. Start with a good solid (interest-generating) opening paragraph that will set the stage for the information you are about to share. Talk about each item on your list, then sum it up with a call to action—contacting you for more information if they are interested, including phone, e-mail, website and physical address. Don’t make this difficult or painful, just keep it simple and basic. You want to cover the topic completely, but invite them to contact you as the expert for more detailed explanation.

To create an affiliate partner report, the process is the same except that you tap into the experience of other professionals. Call your appraiser and interview them for an hour on what goes into composing an appraisal, the differences for income vs. owner-occupied properties, and the 7 most common questions he gets from clients. Take the notes and put them into an organized easy-to-read format, then ask the appraiser to review the report. Put their name on it as the resource with yours, and your contact information for follow-up! Then allow the appraiser to share the report with other clients to create what is know as a “viral effect.” This can be done with real estate agents, insurance reps, title companies, surveyors, CPAs, attorneys, financial planners, builders, interior designers, landscape architects, or moving companies—and that’s just a short list! Once the report is finished, ask a spouse, friend, relative or some one who is NOT affiliated with the industry in any way to read the report. The average 18-yr. old needs to be able to easily understand and comprehend the information in the report. Ask them what they learned, and what parts were confusing or left them with questions. Then rewrite those sections—only then will you be ready to share the report with the hungry public!

Sharing Your “Value”

Once you’ve created the reports, now comes the fun part—integrating the technology for instant automatic delivery. You need to be able to share this new report with lots of interested people, so begin by printing, scanning or saving the report in a “PDF” computer file format. This allows anyone to easily open it from an e-mail attachment, and is a universally used format. If you are unfamiliar with PDFs, go to www.adobe.com for help.

Statistics from Google, the largest Internet search engine, indicate that they receive over 200 million search requests per DAY (and that’s just on Google!). There are thousands of people in your immediate area looking for your expert information. From a marketing perspective however, you want to be able to capture the name and e-mail address of everyone who wants a copy of your report. DO NOT just post the free report as a link on your website (or the affiliate partner’s site). Instead, use a simple web form capture (name and e-mail) next to your report headline that sends them to an autoresponder system and automatically adds them to your database for follow-up. You could also have links from your affiliate partners site to your free report web form, or have them simply send you an e-mail similar to what I asked you to do above!

Once this report and delivery system is set up, it should run hands-free, and allow you to handle a steady flow (or a huge onslaught!) of prospects, and create substantial personal “Chip Value” in the marketplace for years to come!

Sharon Hassler, president of Go Get Experts adds:
If you don’t have a full-featured web site yet, you can still take advantage of Chip’s great advice: Add your offer for a free report into the Professional Summary or Business Philosophy section of your GoGetLoan web page. You could say: I believe in educating my clients so they can make informed financial decisions. Please email me for a copy of a FREE report: “5 Credit Secrets Everyone Needs To Know.” Add more titles as you develop them. Also, although writing your own report ensures you’re not handing out the same info as a competitor, there are many free reports available online. You’re also welcome to use articles in the GoGetLoan.com Customer Center. But please keep it legal: Always include the copyright and credit information on any report you copy.

©2005, Chip Cummings. All rights reserved. Chip Cummings, CMC, is president of Northwind Financial Corp., originator and a national speaker, trainer and consultant to the mortgage industry. He can be reached at 866-977-7900 or info@northwindfinancial.com. For more of Chip’s marketing tips, go to The Mortgage Minute. Chip is a member of the National Advisory Council for GoGetLoan.com. Visit his page here: GoGetLoan.com/get/chipcummings.