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Since our last edition of PositiveWire, there has been a lot of talk about the mortgage market, the market in general, and marketing.
What started in March as a correction in sub-prime mortgage lending is now being described as total mortgage industry disaster. Should we be genuinely concerned or are these reports merely being leveraged by the media for their shock value? Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in the middle, but from the outside looking in, one cannot help but to wonder what the ultimate impact of these recent events will be.
So, let's dig in to the facts...
Let's start here with the most recent Mortgage Finance Forecast by the Mortgage Bankers Association. It looks to me as though total mortgage loan originations will still come in well above $2 trillion for 2007 and 2008. Those levels are significantly higher than anything we've ever seen prior to the refi-boom that began in 2001/2002. New home purchase originations continue their steady climb year-over-year, so the contraction is occurring in the always-cyclical refinance patterns.
Even at half of the $4 trillion "peak" that occurred in 2003, $2 trillion is still a VERY big number, especially when one considers that the mortgage industry historically spends approximately 100 basis points of their loan origination volume in marketing dollars in order to generate the mortgage originations. In other words, the industry will still spend more than $20 billion in marketing this year and next to attract new borrowers.
This is why DoublePositive is so nicely positioned. DoublePositive is not a mortgage company. DoublePositive provides marketing services to mortgage companies (as well as companies in several other industries). As the mortgage industry moves beyond this correction, it will begin to demand better performance and a more convincing ROI from their $20+ billion marketing/advertising budget. Paying only for LIVE genuinely interested and qualified consumers will become the clear choice. The fact that we continue to break new records every month is a testament to the resiliency of our business model, not just in the mortgage market, but in any industry where the goal is to acquire a new customer as efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible.
Thus, in the big picture, one thing is certain and all experts agree. The mortgage industry is not going away. The players that survive the corrections will need a steady flow of new customers (borrowers) in order to survive. It makes obvious business sense that these survivors will want to pay as little as possible in marketing costs to acquire a new customer (cost-per-funded-loan in the mortgage vernacular).
On an unrelated note, the sale of VoiceStar to Marchex for $28 Million was just announced. Congratulations to CEO Ari Jacoby (who several people at DoublePositive know personally), the VoiceStar investors, and the rest of the VoiceStar team on the sale. VoiceStar now represents the first company in the "Live Leads" space to have completed a successful exit.
Enjoy these final days of the summer - we have a lot of things set to take off in September that we'll discuss in the next edition of PositiveWire.
Best regards,
Sean P. Fenlon
President & CEO
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DoublePositive News
Lead2007 Conference
The Mortgage Lead Industry's First Open Forum Conference
Earlier this week DoublePositive attended the Leads2007 Conference in Tampa, Florida. The conference was a meeting of several dozen companies working together to shape the future of the mortgage leads industry. Companies representing all groups within the mortgage leads ecosystem attended – lead providers, lead buyers and providers of ancillary services – including Equity Direct Mortgage, TARGUSinfo, Oversee, Leads360, Kaleidico, QuinStreet, LeadPoint, LenderFlex, and many more.
The Leads2007 Conference sessions focused on a wide range of topics such as "Improving the Consumer's Experience," "How To Make Money – Lead Buying 101," "Balancing the Leads Ecosystem," and "Innovations in Lead Generation."
Check out DoublePositive's Leads2007 Blog for more recaps of several conference sessions.
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Trade Shows
DoublePositive will be attending and exhibiting at several industry trade shows this fall. Look for us at:
- Texas Assc of Mortgage Brokers (Sept 13-15, Bth #603)
- TARGUSinfo Lead Quality Summit 2007 (Sept 19-20)
- Direct Marketing Association (Oct 14-16, Booth #2144)
- National Association of Mortgage Brokers West (Nov 2-5)
- ad:Tech New York (Nov 6-8, Booth #905)
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LIVE Hot Transfers Video Demonstration
With the coming launch of our new website (www.doublepositive.com), DoublePositive will soon be featuring an engaging video demonstration of the LIVE Hot Transfers process. The video features actors playing the parts of the 3 participants in the LIVE Hot Transfer process: a consumer, a DoublePositive call center agent, and a sales professional. The video will help educate our prospects and clients as to how LIVE Hot Transfers work, and why LIVE Hot Transfers outperform other lead generation channels.
Featured Partner - 4thought, Inc.
Users may or may not get technology, but they ALWAYS get design.
One of the leaders of 4thought is indirectly responsible for how many DoublePositive team members know one another.
4thought is next-generation design firm. Even a quick visit to their website conveys this message. They are capable of virtually any visual or design-driven task, but without meeting them, it will be hard to fully appreciate their breadth and depth, so give them a shout.
Careers at DoublePositive
We want you! Join the DoublePositive team, and enjoy a rewarding career, top-notch colleagues, and terrific coffee! At present we're actively recruiting for a number of openings, and we're always looking for exceptionally talented individuals in any relevant field.
Current Openings:
Vice President of Sales
Vice President of Lead Supply
Inside Sales Account Representative
Program Manager
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The DP Process, XPLANEd
LIVE Hot Transfer Process
LeadScrub Process
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ROI Radio
Interview with Sean Fenlon, President & CEO of DoublePositive. Listen.
Interview with Jonathan Wallace, the Managing Partner of WWC Capital Group, an investment banking and private equity firm located in Reston, VA.Listen.
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DP is Hiring
At DoublePositive, our strategy is simple: we hire the best and the brightest, and encourage them to do what they do best. We're actively seeking candidates for the following positions for our corporate headquarters at Tide Point on Baltimore's waterfront.
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About DP
DoublePositive Marketing Group, Inc. was founded in late 2004 with the specific purpose of bridging the "last mile" of converting traditional (data-only) leads into sales. More primitive versions of marketing provide leads to sales professionals in data form, requiring sales professionals to work through the data themselves in order to find a genuinely interested and genuinely qualified consumer. DoublePositive has evolved the model of lead generation so as to provide sales professionals with a live, qualified, and interested consumer, along with the consumer's data, all in real time.
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DP Relationships
Please visit the sites of these other organizations that we have relationships with as well:
www.partnerpoint.com
www.4thoughtinc.com
www.socialsolutions.com
www.carchex.com
www.velaro.com
www.wwccapital.com
www.grosvenorfund.com
www.blueskyfactory.com
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