How to convert finance leads into settled deals
The gap between brokers who make money on leads and brokers who do not is rarely the leads. It is the first five minutes and the next fourteen days.
Call within five minutes of delivery and the person who just submitted an enquiry is still holding their phone, still in the mindset that made them enquire. Call tomorrow and you are an interruption. Industry studies have found contact rates fall away sharply within the first hour of an enquiry. This is the single highest-leverage habit in lead conversion, and it costs nothing.
You are not selling on call one. You are confirming the situation they already described. Open with their enquiry, not your pitch: reference the loan type, amount and purpose they submitted. Ask what prompted it now. Book the next concrete step before hanging up. A qualified lead arrives with the discovery half done; use it.
Reaching a verified lead sometimes takes persistence. A simple pattern that works: call immediately, text straight after the missed call introducing yourself, call again at a different time of day, then space attempts across two weeks, alternating calls, texts and one email. Most brokers stop after two attempts. The deals are in attempts three to eight.
Contact rate
Conversations divided by leads bought. Verified leads should put this well above half. Ours runs at a published 72.5%.
Time to first call
Median minutes from delivery to your first dial. Get it under five.
Conversation-to-application
How many real conversations become lodged applications. This is where your craft shows.
Cost per funded deal
Lead spend divided by settlements. The only number that decides whether leads are worth it.