Ep #27: How Velma CRM Helps You Close More Loans

Geoff interviews Brent Emler about what makes CRM implementations succeed or fail in mortgage companies, using Velma as the case study. Covers executive buy-in, LOS integration, marketing automation, and the pre-approval nurture problem. Best for managers or LOs evaluating or struggling with a CRM.

Takeaways you can run this week

• Before signing any CRM contract, hold a kickoff meeting with compliance, marketing, sales, and IT to write down 2-3 specific objectives (e.g., 'retain X% of past clients via post-close email' or 'convert 15% more pre-approvals to closed loans') — without agreed objectives you have no way to measure ROI.
• Ask your CRM vendor to schedule a Quarterly Business Review (QBR) — if they don't offer one, require it in your contract. Use each QBR to review original objectives, pull retention loan reports, and present results to the executive who approved the budget so they stay invested.
• Set up an automated pre-approval drip campaign in your CRM tied to that LOS milestone status. When a contact opens an email in that sequence, immediately call them and say: 'Hey, I just sent you something on the value of pre-approval — I noticed you opened it. Have you started looking again?'
• Export your LOS database and audit it for 'languishing' leads — pre-approvals that went cold, past refis eligible again, renters who never bought. Build one targeted campaign per segment rather than sending a generic blast to everyone.
• Send co-branded postcards to every homeowner within the neighborhood of each property your agent partners just listed or sold. Velma automates this; if your CRM doesn't, pull the neighborhood list manually and batch-mail quarterly.
• When evaluating a CRM switch, ask the vendor: 'What does your LOS integration actually automate for the loan officer — what actions are eliminated versus added?' If the answer adds more steps without removing any, the adoption rate will mirror the industry average of under 20%.

The playbook

1. Step 1: Before launch, convene executives, marketing, sales, IT, and compliance to define 2-3 measurable CRM objectives tied to specific loan products or borrower segments.
2. Step 2: Map your LOS milestones (lead, pre-approval, in-process, closed) to automated campaign triggers so marketing fires without LO manual input.
3. Step 3: Build post-close campaign as the baseline — every closed borrower enters an automated email/print sequence immediately.
4. Step 4: Add behavioral triggers: when a contact opens an email, system alerts the LO to call within the same business day.
5. Step 5: At 90 days, hold first QBR — review impressions, retention loans, and pre-approval-to-close conversion against the objectives set in Step 1.
6. Step 6: Report results to the executive sponsor at each QBR to maintain top-down buy-in and budget commitment.

Worth quoting

“For every extra action that a CRM asks a loan officer to take, the CRM better do five things.”

“There are thousands and thousands of opportunities sitting in the LOS just languishing away.”

Best for

Branch managers or LOs whose company has a CRM that nobody actually uses, or who are evaluating switching platforms and want to avoid repeating the same mistakes.