There has been a sharp increase in the number of professionals in the mortgage industry looking for new ways to forge relationships with real estate agents. One of the more popular ways is the use of call capture systems that allow a loan officer and an agent to share leads. Many loan officers are finding great success with this tool while others can't seem to get their program off the ground. Call capture has a successful track record in the real estate industry. So why are so many loan officers struggling to turn it into a successful tool for developing relationships with real estate agents in their area? Well, before you learn how to drive a car you think it's a no-brainer, right? It looks so easy. Gas, brake, left turn, right turn... But then once you get behind the wheel you see that there are a lot of other things that you have to do while you are maneuvering the car around town.

Call capture is much the same and the difference between those that are using their systems with great success for themselves and their real estate agent partner and those that are not is simply a matter of education. It is a mistake for loan officers to get behind the wheel of their call capture system without educating themselves on how to implement it into their businesses and then expect anything but mediocre results. Probably the biggest area that loan officers neglect to educate themselves on is how they should approach real estate agents that they would like to work with. This is a vital step in getting a successful program off the ground. Here are 3 things you need to do before approaching real estate agents about partnering with you.

1. Know Your Call Capture - Your call capture system is going to be an integral tool in developing leads for both yourself and the real estate agent. It is imperative that you have a good handle on how it works, what the best practices are and the role it will play in the development of your leads. Start using the call capture system to develop your own leads before you approach real estate agents to partner with you. Use it in conjunction with free reports or with FSBO's to start generating leads. Aside from the additional leads you will develop, you will also gain solid working knowledge and experience with the system and show the real estate agent that you are already actively marketing using the system and not resting on your laurels waiting for them to come around.

2. Have A Plan - One of the major complaints that real estate agents have when being approached by loan officers is that there is no plan. You need to go into a meeting with a real estate agent knowing what the partnership will entail. There are always changes that can be made in exactly how things will work and the specific marketing that the two of you may do together but for the most part it should already be laid out. You need to go in telling the real estate agent how they are going to benefit from partnering with you. They need to know what you are going to do and what you expect in return.

3. Have A Solid Presentation - Start with a letter, email or phone call that will introduce your program for real estate agent partners. This will begin to generate interest and qualify agents for you to partner with. You should have already finished educating yourself on your call capture system and developed your program so now will be the time to share it. You should have a presentation that outlines how call capture systems work to generate leads and what the benefits of using them are. You should have already been using the call capture system to generate your own leads and will have reports that you can show them of the leads that have come in and how they were followed up on. Include in your presentation some specific ads and marketing that you have used and that you will use with your real estate agent partner. Let them know about other programs that you run that they can join you in - free seminars, free reports, e-books, FSBOs, etc. The real estate agents that you are going to want to partner with will be busy so keep it informative but brief and to the point.

Loan officers and real estate agents teaming up is not a new concept. However, loan officers are now using call capture systems to help make that partnership even stronger and more successful. As with anything, some are seeing great success while others are not. One major difference between these two groups is the level to which they have educated themselves. Just as you can imagine the guy who took Driver's Ed has more skills behind the wheel of a car than the one that didn't, the loan officer who educates himself on how to use call capture to develop relationships will have more skills behind the wheel of his real estate partner program.