Lynn Armitstead, owner of Financial Insurance Services, Inc. in Alpine, Utah, has been a mortgage originator for sixteen years, and has recently surpassed his own business expectations after having his Myers website for only three months! Read what Lynn has to say about his recent achievements on the Internet.

What are the primary reasons for your success?
Overall, I have earned the trust of a lot of clients and they refer business to me. My clients know that I will conduct their transaction as if it were my own. People want to do business with people they can trust.

Also, I believe in the importance of being available 24/7. My clients know they can literally get me any time but Sunday. Clients really only want two things; to have someone to talk to and to do their transaction quickly without a lot of hassle.

Having a website that my clients can access to fill out an application that I can download and process has made a huge difference for my business. My Myers site makes it so that we can process applications very quickly.

What made you get a website?
I recognized the potential for freedom and flexibility. I could see that with my cell phone and a website I would no longer be tied to my home office. I have actually owned my own domain for a few years now in anticipation of this move. I like technical gadgets and electronic toys and I also like my freedom, so it all works. Now with a great Myers website, I am afforded the opportunity to do work and leisure at the same time. I recently received a call on my cell while I was mountain biking and had to apologize to my client for being out of breath! I can even do business while I am water-skiing.

How does the Internet influence your business?
Before getting my Myers site, I had been trying without success to do business on the Internet for four years! I test drove a site from another company for a short time but cancelled the service because they were never able to provide a tool that would allow me to download an application into Point. Their website was basically non-functional and I wasn't comfortable doing anything on it. Then last December I purchased a Myers site. It has changed my life.

I'm learning that the Internet has both positive and negative aspects. The positive side is the flexibility for the client to access it 24/7 whenever they like. It's also really good for delivery of disclosures and legal documents. But it also adds another layer of competition to take business away from us. It definitely makes consumers more knowledgeable. I still hold the opinion that customers still like a person to talk to that they can trust. I don't think the Internet will ever totally replace that, except for a very small percentage of tech savvy people.

As I mentioned before, about ninety-five percent of what I do is referral business. People know me and trust me. I suppose there's a possibility that in a few years that whole paradigm could change and that we may only be marketing through the Internet. But I still see people wanting to talk.

Also, I am now able to use a contract processor. I market and obtain information, which I download into Point and send electronically to the processor who even emails a daily progress report to me and also to the borrowers. After the docs are sent to title for closing, I make it a practice to always attend the closing with the borrowers.

What percentage of your business is influenced
by your website?
About seventy-five percent of my applications are now done through my website at http://www.luckylynn.com. I think that from zero to seventy-five percent in three months indicates that this just makes a lot of sense!

I've only just started advertising my site but I would estimate that it's already generating about ten percent of my new business.

What has been your most interesting experience using the Internet?
One of the things I'm most amazed at is finding that people love to go to my website and fill out their own application at their leisure. Just three years ago, there was a resistance. People would ask, "Oh, can't you just call me up and do it"? I see a different attitude about it now. They are actually asking if they can go online and do it themselves.

What is your biggest challenge with the Internet?
The biggest current challenge is having enough time to use it to its fullest extent. It takes time and focus to get educated and motivated to market it to it's full potential
Since I'm a hands on person, I see myself as likely to continuing to move forward with it.

How do you use your website to generate new leads?
I get people to my site by having the URL on my business cards. I also give the address to my referral sources. I am strongly considering revisiting the realtor channel by doing some flyer and email marketing to them. I think I could easily see another five to ten loans per month if I focus on that market.

How do you use your website to service existing clients?
I haven't tried to do that yet, and I need to. I'm planning to set up my client database and get familiar with doing that.

How much business do you do a year?
It depends a little on the rates, but I average between one hundred to one hundred and twenty loans per year. I'm somewhat laid back. My overhead is simple, consisting mainly of my cell phone and my website. That's why I'm able to be very competitive in the marketplace, and why I don't have to work hundreds of leads. I like my leisure and don't like to be totally stressed out. If I can maintain a steady flow the numbers are not that big of a concern to me. I don't wake up every morning asking how much am I going to make, I'm more motivated by what I'm doing for others.

One of the reasons I left working for someone else was that I was tired of hearing that I wasn't making enough on a loan for my company. Those situations bother me a lot, where my internal ethics are in conflict with management. Now I have the freedom to do my very best for them no one trying to control what I charge.

What kind of business do you do?
(Product type? Specialty?)
Although I do all kinds of loans, probably fifty percent of my business is residential investment loans.

What is the best feature about your website?
My favorite is that because of the calculators people aren't calling to ask me for payment information when I'm out in the car! Being able to do the loan application on the site is the big favorite with my clients by far.

What is your strategy for success over the next
twelve months?
I plan to enlarge my referral base by developing additional professional financial clientele. Also, I need to do a better job of marketing. I will be evaluating how I can market my site to get more people to it as well as taking advantage of some of the free classes that Myers offers.

For more information about Lynn Armitstead and his company, please go to http://www.luckylynn.com.