Full Transcript Details

David Andriate:
So, hey everybody. My name is David Andriate, and I’m the senior marketing manager at leadPops. And today I have a very special guest. I’m talking with Megan Weil from Equity Home Mortgages. And it’s a independent brokerage located in Tampa, Florida. And Megan is the marketing manager.

Megan Weil:
Yeah, we’re a small, independent mortgage broker right now. We were started by two industry execs that wanted to kind of do it a little different really. We’re really focused on the clients and helping everybody. Independently, our loan officers all are overseen by the president and CEO. Everyone’s kind of sharing our industry knowledge. So it’s a really fun and super inspirational place to work. Yeah. Inspiring place to work. I don’t know.

David Andriate:
All of those things.

Megan Weil:
All of those things.

David Andriate:
Awesome. I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with us today. Today, we’re going to talk about how you use both leadPops and Shape to market and follow up with your leads in your business. So yeah, you’ve already introduced your business and stuff, but there’s anything that kind of makes you unique, or anything else you’d like to share?

Megan Weil:
Right now, we’re really just focused on our being local, being a small local business. We’re also veteran owned. So we try to work a lot with veterans. And yeah, it’s really just kind of it’s that closer knit feel. When you leave our company, we want you to feel like a friend and want to refer and want to come back because you feel like, oh, I can just give them a call anytime and they’ll jump on the phone with me. And we’re not hard to get ahold of or anything like that. So that’s about it. Just trying to bring a little personalization into the mortgage broker industry.

David Andriate:
For sure. Do you guys specialize in VA loans?

Megan Weil:
I wouldn’t say we specialize, but we definitely have a high knowledge base on the VA loans. Our president and one of our loan processors are both former veterans. So we take pride in being a veteran owned company. So it’s definitely, we’d like to cater to veterans.

David Andriate:
That’s super awesome. I thank them for their services. I really appreciate that.

Megan Weil:
Absolutely. Us too.

David Andriate:
And so how has 2021 started out for you guys’ business?

Megan Weil:
2021 has been a little crazy, but ultimately good. We’re rolling with the punches. The market’s been kind of volatile. Rates have been going crazy. I learned a lot about what rates are capable of doing in such a short amount of time. But it has been really, really neat to watch, especially our CEO and president, come together and teach our loan officers different ways to combat this, and how to handle things like that, and how to make sure that they’re getting the best loan possible for the potential borrower. So although it’s been a little chaotic, we’re doing great. Actually we’re closing more loans than we ever have. So we can’t complain. 2021 was, I think, towards the end just really nice and easy, and going well. So it’s been cool to see that we’re able to adjust to those crazy times.

David Andriate:
Yeah, for sure. I mean, I’ve talked to several loan officers and brokers, and they all say refinances are basically kind of falling out of the sky right now.

Megan Weil:
Yeah. Yeah. It’s been weird. When I first started, I’ve only been with the company about six months, and I was new to the mortgage industry. So I was like, oh, look at how easy. Refinance, oh, rates are low. So it’s been eyeopening for me. And it’s been cool to see the different ways that you can adjust to that. And the different options borrowers have that I didn’t even know existed. So it’s been really cool to learn all that.

David Andriate:
Oh, that’s awesome. Yeah. It’s awesome being integrated with so many experts that kind of show you an insight and stuff you learn because of that. For sure. So have you guys faced any big challenges so far this year?

Megan Weil:
With the rates being a little volatile and the market being pretty scarce, homes are hard to come by, and I don’t think buyers truly realize that when they go into a bid on a house that there might be 10 other bids the exact same day, and people are paying higher than asking price, and it’s kind of crazy. So we’re just trying to make sure that our borrowers come in with the best that they can do. And that they’re fully prepared to pull the plug when they’re ready to buy a house. So that’s…

David Andriate:
Absolutely. It’s so competitive right now. So you need to make sure that your borrowers are competitive in their offer, but also getting a good deal at the end of the day. See you have to serve both interests.

Megan Weil:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think when I first got in the mortgage industry, I thought, well, the rate. The lowest rate’s the best, and that’s what you want. But there’s so much more that so many people, especially first time home buyers, don’t realize that they have options, and you might take a slightly higher rate for lower up front fees, or whatever it is that makes you and your mortgage feel comfortable to you. There are different options. So I think that that’s one thing that we’re really trying to prepare our buyers with when they’re going to the purchase market especially.

David Andriate:
For sure. And is that something you guys kind of pride yourselves on, just kind of say we’re going to navigate you through this process, and kind of like say, hey, it might not the best rate, but this is still the best decision for you because XYZ?

Megan Weil:
Absolutely. Transparency, transparency, transparency. That is literally our model. We want everyone to feel really good and to leave the experience a smarter borrower. I purchased a home not long before I got this job, and I wish I would have known better because I don’t feel like I left any smarter than I came into the purchase. But now I have such a better understanding, and we like our borrowers to leave like that. Well, whoever it is, Rob or Shaun, or whoever was their loan officer, told me this and they showed me this, and now I know how to look at things from this angle or whatever it is. And we’re really big on sending videos, video chats, so people can rewatch them. They can show their friends. They don’t understand it the first time, whether it be something about a particular type of loan, or the process in getting the information they need and the assets all sorted out, like, oh, I can rewatch this and it can show me. So we try to be really transparent and super involved throughout the entire process.

David Andriate:
I love that. And this is just a side tangent, but have you guys tried integrating videos into your leadPops funnels and stuff like that?

Megan Weil:
We’re on that. So right now we’re starting to build those videos up, and we’re going to put them in shortly. So I’m really, really excited about that part.

David Andriate:
Oh, that’s awesome. It makes me jump for joy. I want to go high five whoever your customer success manager is.

Megan Weil:
Awesome.

David Andriate:
Great. So yeah, merging into kind of the tools you use as a brokerage, what are some of your favorite tools, not limited to Shape or leadPops, but anything, other things that other people watching this might be like, oh, that’s a pretty good item, I kind of want to throw that into my business?

Megan Weil:
Yeah. So leadPops’, the funnels-

David Andriate:
[crosstalk 00:07:41]. I’m just kidding.

Megan Weil:
Yeah, leadPop funnels, they’re everything. You can put them anywhere, you can do anything with them. So it kind of opens you up to have all these other resources all of a sudden at your disposal. And we do the Facebook, and we do Google, and all those kind of things. But it’s really nice that, even if I just want to post a video that’s funny, of funny kids at Christmas or whatever it is, and then I can, even at the bottom, throw a funnel in there or whatever it is. So we’re using those for everything.

Megan Weil:
Shape, I like the way that everything comes together with leadPops and Shape. I feel like leadPops is getting all the information I need, and then Shape is covering all the bases and making sure that we’re following up and getting the attention from that lead. So it’s really nice. But one other thing I use, which is a really random tool is AnyImage. So yes, AnyImage. And I take that and I will take a picture or whatever. And I do a post, I put my funnel in, and bam, and I’ll post those in different places. You can put them anywhere. So that’s been fun.

David Andriate:
Awesome. It’s kind of a graphic tool.

Megan Weil:
Yeah. It’s a clickable link. So basically it turns my picture into the funnel. So I’m able to make a really pretty picture ad, and then have the funnel look like they’re all part of one little thing instead of having just the URL post or whatever.

David Andriate:
Oh, that’s awesome. Yeah. We preach that a lot, like consistency. If you see the same picture on the link, and you drive it to a page that has the same picture, people are more likely to end up as a lead because they trust you, and they’re like, oh, this makes sense. I’m in the same place.

Megan Weil:
Yeah. And I feel like a lot of times, and I think it’s across all the generations, people have been taught to be a little bit weary of just a random link they’re going to click. I mean, that’s how your Facebook invites all your friends to a new page. It’s not really yours, and yada yada yada. So having it not look like it’s some random link that they’re clicking, it feels [inaudible 00:09:55].

David Andriate:
For sure. So are you familiar with what channels are the best and most effective for you guys to share your funnel links?

Megan Weil:
So we use [Browman 00:10:09] Marketing for our, it’s a rate table. So we do that. That’s been super helpful. Facebook, I mean, it’s really, really helpful. Or I mean, Facebook and Google. I mean, I know they’re very different, but I’m just going to kind of group them. It’s really nice to have so many campaigns going at once and not having to worry about tracking them to a million different places because they’re all going back to leadPops. So I think it kind of makes all of the different platforms we use feel almost like one. Because I don’t have to go and check my Facebook leads ads. I don’t have to go in and check my Google. I just go to leadPops. I’m like, oh, they are all my leads.

David Andriate:
That’s awesome. And then-

Megan Weil:
[crosstalk 00:10:59].

David Andriate:
Go ahead.

Megan Weil:
Oh, I was just saying it makes everything feel less spread out. Funnels it in. Hence the funnel.

David Andriate:
She’s got it. She’s got it, guys. So that’s awesome. And then, so you go to leadPops to check the leads. I’m really interested in how you use Shape to kind of store the leads, auto-respond to leads. I would love to hear some more about that.

Megan Weil:
Sure. So first of all, the process is just made super easy because I go in, I create a funnel, I drop it wherever I’m going to drop it, let’s say my Facebook ad. I go into Shape. I go to the marketing source, a little tab they have for me. I just put in whatever. Let’s say I was making a refi for Florida. So I type that in. It does a post URL. I sent it to you guys, whoever my exec is [inaudible 00:11:57]. And he just sends me an email a few minutes later that says, “I’ll get those links.” I see a test lead come through. I know it’s working.

Megan Weil:
And now, not only do I have the funnel going to Shape, but it tells me exactly what campaign that’s going through. So every time I’m looking, and I’m looking at our different loan officers and what leads they’ve gotten through the day, I’m like, oh, we’ve gotten two from that one. We’ve gotten three. Because it’s listed there right for me as a source. So it’s really nice that I’m able to track them via the name without having to think much about it. So that’s really fun. Was that the question?

David Andriate:
No, that’s awesome though. I mean, just make sure the fact that they speak to each other so well, and that you’re not looking for this property over here and this person over here. It’s all like you can track the lead through every stage, whichever place you want to find it.

Megan Weil:
Yeah. And every once in a while something will go wrong. Let’s say it’s through a Facebook, something broke or whatever. It’s super easy to track because we have that post URL from Shape. We have the funnel link. So it’s easy to find. And I usually get, whenever there’s a problem and I send it in, I usually get within an hour or so like, “Hey, we’re looking into it and it’s fixed.” Because tracking, just that stuff, I don’t kind of understand because I don’t need to. Thanks guys. So you guys just kind of fix it for me and then it’s not broken anymore and our leads are coming back in.

David Andriate:
We got you.

Megan Weil:
Yeah. And then also the drip campaigns is really nice. Once someone fills out a funnel, it populates into Shape, it gets distributed to the correct loan officer. And then that drip campaign kicks in, if our loan officer isn’t available. I mean sometimes, some of the loan officers love it. They like the first text to automatically go out, it’s standard. If they’re sitting at their desk, they’re not super busy, sometimes they’ll just… We have it on a five minute delay. So after it comes in, five minutes later, that drip campaign starts. But if they’re sitting there within that five minutes and they want to just take it on their own, they can just put it in another status. We have a no campaign status, or no drip campaign status, and then take it and run with it. So it’s nice that they have those options.

David Andriate:
That’s awesome. So when you say take it and run with it, it’s like they are going to call them from the desk as soon as the lead comes in.

Megan Weil:
Yep. And they don’t need that initial text to go out. But it’s nice that they do want it to. The text, the way it’s set up, they’re all you can go in and edit them however you want. But it kind of just says, hi, my name is whatever the loan officer is. This is my company I work for. A little about us. Someone will be reaching out to you shortly, or I’ll be reaching out to you shortly. So it gives them that time if they need it, or they can take it if they want.

David Andriate:
So awesome. Because I think a big challenge with loan officers in general, once they start generating online leads for the first time is they don’t really think about the follow-up process. And especially speed to lead. We preach that day in and day out. Because it’s like if you let that sit there without a drip campaign like you have set up, or you know what I mean, you have a list of 1,000 leads, and sometimes it’s overwhelming or sometimes people, they just don’t understand how important it is. And how, just because that person gave you their phone number, if you wait a week, they might not even remember the website that they were on and filling it out.

Megan Weil:
[inaudible 00:15:30].

David Andriate:
So that follow-up process is just as important as the process to get the lead itself.

Megan Weil:
100%. And I think too, especially with refinance, some people don’t really understand the refinance process. They think it’s going to cost them a lot of money. They do it on a whim. They’re like, let me just see. I’ll just click in here and I’ll just see. But they’re a little intimidated by it. So if a week goes by, or even a day goes by, they kind of lose their nerve. It’s going to be too much of a hassle. But if you get them right when they’re like, you know what, I’m going to do it, you get them when they’re pumped, and then they’re more likely to listen to you and understand that it could be a really great opportunity for them, as opposed to letting them grow cold feet, and then not want to answer your phone call and ghost you.

David Andriate:
Absolutely. And they just fall out the back end after you did all that work to get them to your website.

Megan Weil:
Yeah. And it does suck. And I understand from a borrower’s perspective, they don’t know how the backend works with getting rates and all of that stuff. So a lot of people are just scared to be ripped off, and they come in it almost defensive. So if you’re slacking, if you’re calling them days later, if you call them at odd hours and weird stuff like that, they’re going to just have a bad feeling. So you can really tailor the drip campaigns and tailor this stuff to make them feel more comfortable. And we try to be really candid and open in the drip campaigns so that they know who they’re talking to. They can look us up, they kind of can get our vibe. I mean, we’re in t-shirts, we’re not a stuffy mortgage brokerage where it’s just like normal people just trying to help. This is our job.

David Andriate:
Awesome. How did you find ways to write and create the drip campaign?

Megan Weil:
So when I very first started, it was really nice because leadPops offers, I think it was once a month, I was meeting with our account executive. And I would say, “Oh, I’m doing this.” And he would say, “Oh, that’s awesome. Did you try this?” Or, “We’ve seen people have success with this.” So that was really nice to have some guidance along the way. Because you don’t really know what’s working unless you’re going and filling out everyone else’s funnel and seeing what you like from there. So it was really nice to have that.

Megan Weil:
And I also really like that, in the middle of the campaign, so if I’m running a Facebook ad campaign, and it’s not working, and I’m like, oh, I don’t understand, I can go change the funnel and see if maybe my funnel just wasn’t having the call to action correctly or something. And I can switch it middle of the day. I don’t have to do anything else. I just go on to leadPops, switch it, and it updates. So that’s huge. And I think that’s really helped me when I’m seeing that people are clicking, but I’m not getting them through the funnel. And I’ll go, all right, let me make this adjustment. Let me see what this does. And I’ve noticed what’s kind of working. So that’s been really helpful.

David Andriate:
That’s awesome to hear. I love hearing that. And a big motivation for us is to get people like you that are passionate about it and understand the point of optimizing things, and testing things, and seeing what works. And getting them, we call it the admin panel, you know what I mean? And you having experience in that is so awesome. Because that’s a big struggle for a lot of people is that you can set it up and it works out of the box great. But then changing the language to say get pre-qualified in Tampa, Florida, or just things like that to hone in, and speak more to the people you’re trying to either refinance or give purchase loans to, that will make all the difference in the world.

Megan Weil:
Yeah. Yeah. And it’s super easy to do. And you can even do, we’re licensed in a few different states, so I’ll have one running in New Jersey and one running in Florida, and I’ll see which one’s working better. And if the Jersey one seems to have a higher pull, then I’ll just duplicate it over there. So that’s really nice to kind of side-by-side see what’s happening.

David Andriate:
For sure. Oh, that’s my favorite. That’s like just copy and paste it. That’s all you got to do. Can you talk to me about when you use leadPops versus when you use Shape?

Megan Weil:
Yeah. So we also, and I guess I didn’t mention this earlier, we also have a leadPops website. So we use leadPops for the website, for anyone who’s interested and wants to apply now, wants to learn more, wants to whatever catchy phrase we want to put on a little button that they click to go to a funnel where it collects all their information that we need to start the process. So we use that there. I mean, we put them on everything. So leadPops kind of has its fingers on everything that we do. And then Shape comes in to organize us and to help us understand where everything is at in the process. Sorry, did I say that? LeadPops is our first line, and then Shape kicks in to back up the rest.

Megan Weil:
So it’s a really nice feeling when you have Shape and leadPops because you feel like everything is kind of covered. I’m getting all their information from leadPops. All the information, their name, the state, what they want, how much they want to borrow, or whatever it is. And then Shape says, all right, now I’m given it, I have designated loan officers. I can round-robin them. I can do whatever I want over here.

Megan Weil:
I’m going to follow up with the drip campaign. So I’ll start with an email and a text. So we’ll do that. And then once we get contact or whatever it is, and we start to move on in the process, we can update through Shape. And then we actually have an integration with LendingPad. And Shape pushes it right to LendingPad, which is where we do all of the official business. All the loan officer stuff that I don’t do. So all that goes in there. So it’s a really nice seamless process that it takes a lot of the stress out of dropping the ball. It catches everything.

David Andriate:
That’s awesome. Thank you so much. You broke it down so clearly. Thank you so much. And one question too, how do you designate which loan officer gets which lead? I’m super interested in that.

Megan Weil:
Shape does a really good job with their distribution rules. So I can go in and I can break it down by state. I can break it down by campaign. However I want to do it. So we have a few guys working in Florida. So each campaign there just round-robins them. Each refi lead that comes in, goes to the next one. We have a few campaigns like our president, the veteran, he’s great with VA loans. And also a guru with construction loans, like one-time close construction loans. So any of those we have, they automatically go to him because I’ve designated that with the different campaigns. So it makes it pretty easy.

Megan Weil:
And then there’s a catch-all. So if I’ve missed something, it’ll catch all to go to our CEO so that he can divvy it out on his own. There’s also something called shark tank, which means that when loans go stagnant, and no one’s been working on them for a while, they go back into the pool into like a shark tank pool. And you can round-robin those, or people can go in and claim them at certain times. So that’s a pretty neat feature. Once you start getting bigger, and you’re afraid people are dropping the ball on loans, so they go into a free for all shark tank kind of thing. So that’s a neat feature they have that I’m really excited to use one day.

David Andriate:
Awesome. Oh, that’s fun. I can imagine how competitive it gets.

Megan Weil:
I know, right? I love a little competition.

David Andriate:
Awesome. Sweet. Well, I think we about covered everything. I mean, you painted a really clear picture. I’m happy that both solutions really provide a lot of value for you, which is super exciting to hear. Do you have any last words or parting words for loan officers that are considering using both, or might have questions about…

Megan Weil:
Well first is definitely utilize all the resources you have, especially with leadPops. You guys are spot on, always there to help any time if I ever feel overwhelmed. I didn’t really have any website experience going into this, and I have learned so much. But it has a lot to do with me being like, “Hey, can you help me?” Or, “I need a little guidance here.” And also, start small, get your confidence up. Because that’s how I did it. I just kind of started small. And would make a few funnels, try this out, try this out. And now, I mean, I have funnels going all over the place. And I’m able to organize them and stuff. But it’s baby steps. And then you can start to really run with it. Because once it clicks and you understand, and you can start duplicating, and you’re running them here and you’re running them there, it’s great. So that’s about it. Yeah. Great system. You don’t have to worry about dropping the ball on a lot of stuff, and that’s the most important thing I think in my opinion.

David Andriate:
That is awesome. I would love to hear more about your idea about starting small. Because that’s definitely what we tell clients too. And then you build momentum. What are some places that you started in? Where do you start to see traction?

Megan Weil:
Let’s see. So when I first made the funnel, it was a call to action, a little brief line or two, and then fill out your zip code, and let’s go from here. Then I started really working on the footer. Let’s teach them what’s going on, or let’s show them what’s going to happen, or whatever that is. And then I started messing around with the thank you and that kind of thing. And then what else? Where else have I gone now? Right now, like I had mentioned earlier, we’re starting to get into videos. So we’re about to get videos in there. Which, like I said, super excited about that. I think videos, I mean, they go so far. When you realize you’re talking to a real person, it’s game changer. So I’m really excited about that.

Megan Weil:
But I wasn’t ready to start putting videos in on day one because I know I would’ve gotten overwhelmed. I think my messages would have been all over the place. So yeah. And then, like I said, start small. See which one works here. Tweak the next one just a little bit, and see if that helped. And then adjust the next one. And then adjust that one. And yeah, so start small, grow big. Like a little flower.

David Andriate:
Yeah. Exactly. You got to plant the seed.

Megan Weil:
Yeah. You got to plant the seed. Let it grow, get some water, change up some words. Go bold, and see if a bold… I’ve done some where I’m like, oh, this is little… I mean, I’m not a very… Maybe I am an animated person. But normally when I’m doing things, I’m not. And some of the things I’m like, don’t miss this. You are literally going to miss out on whatever. So yeah. And have fun with them. You can put pictures, colors, all kinds of stuff you can add. I have a little Superman figure that I use now that I absolutely love him. I feel like he’s saving the day for all these people. So yeah.

David Andriate:
That is so exciting. And then I feel the same way, where sometimes I go and I’m like I’m going to get somebody to do something today. I’m going to convince them. And then next day I’m like, all right, that was all caps and all bold.

Megan Weil:
Yeah. Sorry, not yelling at you.

David Andriate:
I take it back, but you should still do business with us please.

Megan Weil:
Exactly. Exactly.

David Andriate:
Okay, Megan, I had such a good time talking with you today. Thank you so much-

Megan Weil:
Same.

David Andriate:
… for taking time out of your day.

Megan Weil:
My pleasure. Good luck with everything. You guys are doing great. I know you guys have some new stuff on the horizons I’ve noticed on the website. On the website I click over some things and it’s like coming soon.

David Andriate:
Oh yeah.

Megan Weil:
Very excited about those.

David Andriate:
You’ll be first to know.

Megan Weil:
Come sooner. Let’s do it.

David Andriate:
We’ll get you on the wait list. We got ConversionPro blog service coming up. So we have something where it’s going to post a blog post for you every month on your website, which is pretty cool. And then we just launched Originator Everywhere, which is like banner ads. So it’s super exciting.

Megan Weil:
Awesome. Love it.

David Andriate:
Awesome. Thank you so much.

Megan Weil:
[crosstalk 00:28:07].

David Andriate:
Hope to talk to you soon, and see you later.

Megan Weil:
All right. Have a good one. Bye.