Ep 155: How this Loan Officer Gets a 5X Return on Google Pay-per-Click Leads

Michael McCallister explains how his Google PPC system generates high-intent mortgage leads for $7–10 per click, and loan officer Brent VanderGriend shares how he achieves a 5X ROI (spend $1,000, net $5,000 in revenue) using the system. Best for LOs who have tried Facebook leads and found quality lacking, or who want to add a consumer-direct pillar to an agent-referral business.

Takeaways you can run this week

• Set a minimum 90-day test budget of $750/month in ad spend (Empower Funnels' floor) and track every dollar against closed revenue before judging the channel — Brent's benchmark: $1,000 spent = $5,000 revenue = keep going.
• Build a negative keyword list of every credit score from 300–579 so your ads never serve unqualified searchers; Michael's list exceeds 1,000 negative keywords — start there before writing a single ad.
• Run broad-match ads targeting qualification questions ('how much house can I afford,' 'minimum credit score for conventional loan') rather than brand or lender searches — generic intent-based copy outperforms niche copy even for specialists like VA loan officers.
• Automate 100% of initial lead follow-up via text, email, and video (Brent uses BombBomb via text); only pick up the phone when the lead responds — Brent sees 80% text / 10% email / 10% phone-call response split.
• Pre-record ~30 personalized-feeling video responses keyed to lead form inputs (loan amount, down payment, credit tier) so the system auto-selects the right video to send — one recording session, evergreen automated delivery.
• Use Google PPC leads as agent relationship currency: hand a pre-approved buyer to a target agent in a new market, let them close it, and the reciprocal referral relationship opens naturally — Brent used this tactic to break into Minnesota without cold calls.

The playbook

1. 1. Set ad spend: minimum $750/month; expect $500–$1,000 cost per closed loan at 2–4% conversion on 75–100 leads per month.
2. 2. Cast a broad keyword net targeting mortgage qualification questions (down payment, credit score, income-to-purchase-price searches).
3. 3. Monthly: pull Google Search Terms report, add unwanted terms (low credit scores, irrelevant queries) to your negative keyword list.
4. 4. Route all clicks to a multi-field lead form (not a one-click Facebook-style form) to filter for intent.
5. 5. Trigger automated follow-up immediately: text with a pre-recorded BombBomb video matched to the lead's form inputs, plus email sequence.
6. 6. Do not call until the lead engages inbound; only then invest human time to convert to application.
7. 7. Track conversions inside a 4-month window only — anything beyond that is bonus, not baseline ROI.
8. 8. At 90 days, compare total spend to closed loan revenue; if profitable, scale ad spend up.

Worth quoting

“For every thousand dollars we spend, if we're bringing in $5,000 in revenue — that's roughly our income per loan — it makes total sense.”

“We only talk to people that want to talk to us. Automating the initial follow-up and then customizing when they engage has been huge.”

Best for

LOs who have burned money on Facebook leads with low close rates and want a proven framework for testing Google PPC as a profitable, scalable consumer-direct channel.