The Best Custom Mortgage CRM

 What is a custom mortgage CRM? 

A custom mortgage CRM is a customer relationship management system that is built to your specific needs. For example, if you need automated SMS programmed into new lead campaigns, a custom CRM solution can solve this problem. Additionally, if you have multiple lead sources and want to wire them into your software, a custom CRM solution can solve this easily. With that said, every mortgage CRM will have limitations, however, you want to pick a framework that will give you the most customization options. 

Decide What You Want From a Mortgage CRM

When deciding on a  custom mortgage CRM, you need to look five years into the future. What will your tech stack look like? What problems are solved? How many people are using the system? What are your pain points?  Understanding your 5-year vision for the software will give you insight into what solution to pick today. 

Most mortgage brokers need a sales CRM that can communicate with clients, build automated campaigns, and plug-in other applications endlessly. To communicate with clients, your CRM needs SMS and email integrations. Most custom mortgage CRMs should have this functionality built-in. However, it is important to test the limits of this feature.

Ideally, you want the brain of your text provider to come from Twilio. This will ensure you are not getting spam filtered and your text deliverability is high.  For automation and triggers, this should be pretty straightforward. Your custom mortgage CRM will either have a workflow/trigger builder or it won’t. If it does not have a way to build internal automation, this will not be a good fit for the long run. Lastly, you want to ensure your CRM has an open API key. This will allow you to plug apps like Zapier. Zapier gives you endless customization possibilities. From simple reporting features to highly advanced lead triggers, Zapier is the future of custom mortgage CRMs. 

Once you understand your needs and long-term limitations, it is time to sift through the sea of CRMs to find the right fit. At MortgageColumn.com, we highly recommend using Go High Level (GHL) as a custom mortgage CRM. 

What is Go High Level? 

Go High Level is an all-in-one sales CRM built primarily for marketers, agencies, and freelancers. Because GHL’s primary customers are marketing agencies, there is little buzz around High Level in the mortgage and real estate community. However, this tool is highly effective for service-based businesses like mortgage brokers and real estate agents.  

GHL does a few things really well: import leads, automate communication, and scale marketing campaigns. These three functions can be applied to new lead campaigns, refinance drips, and even review management automation. For this reason, business owners and marketers rely on GHL as their entire sales funnel solution. Below is a great video explaining what Go High Level is and how it can be used as a custom mortgage CRM. 

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Now that we have discussed the capabilities of this software, I am going to build a mortgage CRM from scratch. 

How to Build a Custom Mortgage CRM? 

The first step to developing a custom mortgage CRM on  GHL is integrating your technology. Specifically, plug in your  SMS, email, website, and lead sources into your new CRM. Once all the tech is talking and leads can flow in and out of GHL, you can use your tech stack effectively. In most cases, toggle over to your settings tab and follow the basic instructions. 

Once your marketing suite is set up, it is time to develop a sales pipeline, calendar, and automated campaigns.  

When a lead gets dropped into your CRM, they will enter a sales pipeline with varying stages. The stages of your pipeline will be determined by your sales process. Below are a few examples of pipeline stages for mortgage brokers: 

1. New Lead
2. Appointment Confirmed
3. Application Submitted
4. Pre-Approval
5. Under Contract
6. Closed Loan

As a lead gets from one stage to the next, there will be a different set of rules, messages, etc. Additionally, a sales pipeline is a great way to visualize your conversion metrics and optimize how you sell. Lastly, you can create infinite pipelines depending on your sales process. For example, mortgage brokers using GHL love to create pipelines for refinances, mortgage products, or even review campaigns. Ultimately, pipelines are supposed to make your job easier – so do not overcomplicate your custom mortgage CRM if you do not have to. 

Workflows in Your Mortgage CRM

Go High Level has recently rolled out a workflow builder. The workflow builder brings together active marketing campaigns and automated triggers into one place. This function allows users to build amazing automation with endless customization. When creating your first workflow, decide what triggers the event: 

A common trigger for new lead workflows are form submissions, tags added, new contact created, and the list goes. There are almost infinite triggers that start off the automation. This simple feature makes GHL one of the best custom mortgage CRMs on the market. 

Once you have decided on a trigger, create your first action. This can be as simple as a text message to a lead, an appointment request, or creating a system of tags. There is even an ‘if-then’ automation that can filter out leads that do not match certain criteria. 

Below are a few common actions that can be automated: 

Once you add the initial trigger and first action, you can stop the workflow, add to workflow, or send to an alternate workflow. In theory, you can build automation infinitely in your custom mortgage CRM. However, for organization purposes, I recommend defining the end goal for each workflow. Once the goal is completed, end the workflow and create a new one. 

All in all, this automation feature sets GHL apart from other mortgage CRMs in the industry. Once you have a good idea of what workflows will work for your business model, it is time to customize the user interface of your CRM. 

Customize Design of Mortgage CRM

Most CRMs and marketing software have a pre-built look and feel. Often, the color scheme, fonts, and even URL strings are not directly in-line with your companies brand guidelines. For the most part, we have accepted that mortgage CRMs are going to represent Microsoft, SalesForce, etc. With that said, GHL has created a CRM that can be 100% white-labeled to your brand. This is a huge opportunity for mortgage brokers to build a proprietary custom mortgage CRM.

This piece of technology not only has fully customized automation and triggers but allows you to adjust the user interface to fit the look and feel of your brand.  

If you want to customize the skin of your mortgage CRM, start by locating the CSS code access point in your account settings tab. This is where you will add all custom code to the software. From there, navigate to the GHL Experts website. GHL Experts is a community of designers that exclusively work on GHL layouts. You can become a member for free and access an amazing library of custom templates. 

These templates can adjust colors, fonts, and even layouts. If you want a more custom look and feel, pay for a monthly subscription and work with a GHL designer that can implement your vision. 

These automation and design features set GHL apart as the premier custom mortgage CRM for brokers, loan officers, and lenders. With this said, GHL’s team management system helps utilize this CRM across your entire team. 

CRM Team Management Tools 

When you sign up for GHL, you will have an admin account. This allows you to have full control of automation, design, and team members. As an admin, you can create individual accounts and team accounts. This allows you to organize the sales team effectively. Additionally, you can assign phone numbers and calendars to each account. This gives your CRM users the ability to create their own consumer ecosystem made up of texts, calls, and calendar bookings. While this is happening, the admin can manage lead flow, pipelines, and communication to ensure all leads are getting touched. 

This level of sales management will give custom mortgage CRM a life of its own – becoming the true brain of your sales team. 

At the end of the day, there is no perfect software for mortgage brokers and loan officers. However, if you are looking for a custom mortgage CRM that can automate your workflow, GHL is a great fit. 

Final Thoughts on Custom Mortgage CRMs

Your custom mortgage CRM needs to be a reflection of your sales funnel. If your marketing strategy is heavy digital marketing (PPC, SEO, Retargetting), then it is important to use a CRM that can work with your marketing channels, not against them. Too many mortgage brokers and loan officers shift from the excel spreadsheet to clunky software that does not fit into their sales methods. This can leave a bad first impression of CRMs, pushing people to use outdated CRM solutions that make life harder, not smarter. 

With this said, the customization power of Go High Level gives everyday mortgage brokers and loan officers unbelievable processing power. If you are interested in building a custom mortgage CRM on GHL, there are endless learning resources online. Additionally, GHL offers a 14-day free trial to learn the software and better understand if it is a good fit for you. 

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