Don't just shove a business card in everyone's hands. Go to these meetings regularly and take the time to get to know a few people well. Then try to meet them for coffee or lunch--not to sell them on you outright, but to get to know them better, to see if there's any way you can help with their business too, to just enjoy having coffee with an interesting person. Rest assured that when someone comes along who needs your services, you'll be the first referral that pops in their mind, because you're genuinely their friend.
The other thing you must do is to stay in constant contact with your entire sphere of influence. This means everyone you know: friends, family, neighbors, softball teammates, co-workers of your spouse, former clients, current clients…literally everyone. Start by creating the list. Next, hand write a personal note to everyone on the list, asking them how they are, how little Johnny is doing, et cetera, and finally asking for loan mod referrals. Include a business card. Then follow up with a call a few weeks later. Then a few weeks later, send an email. Then start over and send another handwritten note, call, and email, ad infinitum. You need to "touch" them in some way or another at least once a month.
Offer to meet for coffee regularly too. Again, just as friends. Referrals will come naturally. You still have to ask for the referrals, and be specific about what kind of referrals are best, but the overall point of the coffee meeting isn't just about referrals. It's about meeting a friend or colleague for coffee.
Especially make an effort to meet mortgage brokers, Realtors, accountants/bookkeepers, insurance agents, and financial planners. Those folks work with the same clients you're looking for, and they'll often be a great source of leads for you. Take good care of these sources, and try to meet as many as you can. Consider paying a referral fee, if it's allowed in your state. Buy them lunch. Agree to meet in their office, possibly even to teach them, or their whole office, how loan mods work and how you can help their clients save their homes.
Other stuff you can do to generate new clients: teach classes or seminars on loan mods, blog (has to have regular posts, or else it won't work), Twitter, send a weekly/monthly newsletter, start your own leads group, buy leads online (make sure to call within the first "golden hour," better yet, within the first five minutes of receiving the lead), do search engine optimization, buy pay-per-click ads on Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
Lastly, make sure to ask current and former clients for referrals. Ask more than once. The more specific you are in describing what kind of referral you'd like, the more likely you will be to get one. Occasionally you'll run into a sneezer, that is, someone who refers lots of people to you and everyone else they know. Take very good care of these referral sources.
If you earnestly do all the stuff above, within a few weeks to a few months, you'll have a steady stream of clients. If you do all this stuff for a year or more, you'll have all the clients you could possibly handle.
Matt_Sparks
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