double POSITIVE Marketing Group, Inc.

Post By
Sean Fenlon

Perhaps the most over-written and over-spoken word in the business world today is the word “value.”

But what exactly does the word “value” mean?  That’s the first of several big questions.

The word “value” might refer to:

• mathematic value
• personal/cultural value
• economic value
• value theory
• marketing value
• computer science value
• law
• etc

But what are “valueS“?! (intentionally plural)

Well, even Google doesn’t know that one for sure.

Well, here’s my own personal answer…

1. For mathetmatic systems, “values” are the lowest common denominators
2. For people, “values” are their ethos
3. For businesses, “values” are their “CORE values”

Speaking of Core Values, my friend and Adchemy CEO Murthy Nukala posted his company’s (6) Core Values and provided an excellent post around them. 

By a strange coincidence, DoublePositive also recently re-affirmed our (6) Core Values this month:

1. Act with the utmost integrity
2. Encourage an environment of candor and mutual respect
3. Demonstrate a commitment to excellence and strive for the ultimate efficiencies
4. Leverage technology and strategy
5. Stay hungry
6. Reward great thinking and great ideas

These Core Values are posted on the home page of the DoublePositive corporate intranet, and team members can see them several times per day.  But they don’t need to — I know them all personally and its already in their DNA.  But then again, I’m biased. ;-)  However, I hope and expect to maintain the same “bias” with any future team member as well.

Many smart minds have speculated that if we knew more about the relationships between “Words” and “Values,” we would know a lot more about the universe than we do today — things are not always what they seem (an important and popular fact).

SPF

Post By
Joey Liner

Like most businesses concentrated in mortgage, we are all looking forward to wiping the slate clean and going into 2008 with a fresh start.  With that all that being said, when you take a look at other industries that did well in 2007, the Debt Settlement industry had a great year. 

Debt Settlement is a for profit business model, as opposed to the other side of the business that is not for profit, credit counseling.  A consumer who has at least $10k in unsecured debt (credit card, store card or hospital debt) that simply can’t afford their minimum monthly payment is a perfect candidate for Debt Settlement — as long as they make some monthly payment.  For consumers to make a monthly payment, they should have some sort of income to support that monthly payment — so a full time job or even a disability payment does suffice. Typically the monthly payment is 1.5% of the debt load, so for $10k in unsecured debt the consumer would have to agree to make a payment of a minimum $150 to enroll in a program.  When they commit to the program their credit score will go down approximately 60-90 points depending on how much is being settled. 

Debt Settlement services are a great opportunity for mortgage brokers to diversify their offerings. For those of you that are not in Debt Settlement, let me explain to how similar it is to mortgage sales: 

1. Most mortgage brokers that have bought leads online over the past 7 years through the boom have targeted sub-prime. Debt Settlement is ALL sub-prime.  Instead of telling Mr Smith who is behind on a payment and has a 500 FICO that there is nothing that you can do for him for his mortgage, now you would be able to help those consumers and put them in a program.  Most Debt Settlement Companies want to target consumers that are in hardship.
2. Consumers are going on-line in record numbers seeking help and filling out forms to get quotes. Obviously, mortgage brokers are the most experienced when it comes to dealing with and purchasing semi-exclusive Internet leads.
3. The target market is the entire country, not including just a handful of states that don’t allow settlement or where it simply is not worth it with caps on fees — very similar to mortgage as well.
4. The sales process is similar in a way where you will be sending out packages to the consumers overnight with their application for the program and they will have to return them back to get enrolled.

All these similarities aside, there is one major difference between mortgage and debt dettlement when it comes to working with Internet leads. Folks in debt are extremely hard to reach by phone — they are avoiding creditors constantly by dodging phone calls, checking caller ID, and putitng up their own personal firewalls.  

So why am I telling you this?  A lot of your friends or co-workers have probably said to you “What have you heard about debt?” “Should we get into debt settlement?” “Do you know anyone doing debt right now?” etc…

I wanted to let you know that DoublePositive can be a solution for you in Debt Settlement just like we are for mortgage. We recently joined The Association of Debt Settlement Companies, and we are actively delivering LIVE Hot Transfer Debt Leads for our clients — many of whom used to be in the mortgage origination business.

If you have any additional questions in regards to this program, please don’t hesitate to give me a call.  I can also put you in touch with some of our good friends who are folks that will allow you to join their net branch affiliation and do your back-end processing so you basically can get trained and start up tomorrow.  These folks can explain the fee structure and payout better then I can as well as they will give you some basic sales training and tips for success.

Have a happy, healthy holiday season.

From Motley Fool…

“U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday that the Fed will consider whether consumers need more information on how mortgage brokers are paid as part of its efforts to improve transparency in the mortgage industry.”

 Any brokers out there have an opinion on this?

Post By
Sean Fenlon

I was very excited to learn more about the launch of John Ferber’s latest endeavors.

John is a friend, and an investor/board-member in DoublePositive.

John is the co-founder of Advertising.com.  John and his brother sold Ad.com to AOL for a bundle in 2004.

This announcement is John’s first return to “the game.”

Today, John Ferber introduced Vandelay Industries

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=vandelay+industries&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn

The vision encapsulates several new startups including:

• Cellware (www.cellware.com)
• Miss Internet 2008 (www.missinternetpageant2008.com)
• GuessNow (www.guessnow.com)

John is also very philanthropic.  Another “business” under Vandelay Industries is MicroGiving.  The idea is brilliant and the cause is even better.

Here’s wishing a friend, an advisor, an investor, and a board member the best for all Vandely Industries’ “industries.” :-)

SPF

Post By
Sean Fenlon

There was a DoublePositive staff meeting today.  I spoke about the MTG industry and my predictions for 2008.

One thing I intentionally did not address in either is a discussion of the proposed Subprime (mortgage rate) Freeze.

Frankly, I did not address it because, quite frankly, I don’t get it — and I’m a reasonably bright guy that happens to know a LOT about the mortgage industry.  I already pleaded for a Laissez-faire government policy on this one.  Although, I was quite happy to hear Warren Buffet agree with me on something non-political:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/22207079?__source=RSS*blog*&par=RSS

Neither Warren nor I know how you can logistically pull this “subprime rate freeze” promise off.  Under the US Constitution, the federal government cannot change contracts between borrowers and investors/lenders.  Changing risk pricing is changing natural market behavior.  A reasonable analogy would be the government “freezing” stock prices on the stock market (e.g. we hereby decree under Directive 10-289 that no stock of any Fortune 500 company can fall below $20 per share).

Hmmm…

I’m hearing a lot of words in the reports about the intent of this initiative that I seem to recall from another source…

The words of Wesley Mouch (a fictional antagonist character from the book Atlas Shugged by Ayn Rand)

• hold the line
• stand still
• catch our stride
• we can’t afford to move
• we’ve got to stand still

The picture now is this,” said Wesley Mouch. “The economic condition of the country was better the year before last than it was last year, and last year it was better than it is at present. It’s obvious that we would not be able to survive another year of the same progression.  Therefore, our sole objective must now be to hold the line. To stand still in order to catch our stride. To achieve total stability. Freedom has been given a chance and has failed. Therefore, more stringent controls are necessary. Since men are unable and unwilling to solve their problems voluntarily, they must be forced to do it.” He paused, picked up the sheet of paper, then added in a less formal tone of voice, “Hell, what it comes down to is that we can manage to exist as and where we are, but we can’t afford to move! So we’ve got to stand still. We’ve got to stand still. We’ve got to make those bastards stand still!”

All I can offer to Uncle Sam in this situation is the advice that a policy intended to hold back time or markets is seldom a good policy — it’s like trying to hold back time (or water).

SPF

Post By
Sean Fenlon

Predictions have become a favorite hobby of many bloggers:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=predictions+2007

This will be my first “Predictions” post, but I suspect I am as confident as a veteran prediction-blogger may be.

The Mortgage industry finds its footing, more so than the mortgage leads industry

Rational U.S. mortgage loans will be originated throughout 2008, and the volume will spike towards the second half of the year.  However, the mortgage leads industry will continue to feel disruptive currents as the market of buyers from the mortgage industry is half that of 2006, and filtering twice as much.

The Housing Industry closes the gap between BID and ASK

In many markets, sales are off 30%+, but sale PRICES are off only 3% or less.  This is a gigantic canyon between the spirit of buyers and sellers.  This disparity will not last through 2008, thus average sale prices will drop, but sales growth rates will experience an uptick.

Online Education and traditional brick-and-mortar Education lines begin to blur

Adult consumers seek education for one dominant reason – a commitment to better education (costs) means greater career trajectories (rewards).  This phenomenon is an evergreen, and more and more potential students are searching for education options online.  Expect marketing dollars from the EDU vertical to continue to pour online.

Debt Consolidation Loans, Debt Counseling Services, and Debt Settlement Services skyrocket

Consumers literally have no idea what options exist for them in terms of help with their consumer debt.  Companies that provide genuine and valuable services for consumers feeling the pain of debt will continue to emerge, prosper, and drive awareness.

Facebook become a more-discussed Internet company than Google

Perhaps this gets tagged as “duh” or “no brainer” in history, but as of today, the Facebook brand trend had not yet caught up to Google:

http://www.google.com/trends?q=google%2C+facebook&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0
Facebook and LinkedIn have (private) merger/acquisition conversations

I may have the names/faces wrong, but I have the right concept.  A social networking leads will want to maintain separate brands for their B2B vs C2C social networks.

Mobile Advertising disappoints in 2008, but still remains a gigantic opportunity

CPM and CPC are not likely to gain any traction in mobile anytime soon; however, per-call pricing models will prosper.  However, I do believe in the predictions that mobile advertising will represent a $10 Billion market by 2010

USA elects a new President

Probably another prediction filed under “duh,” especially since I will not predict a winner of the 2008 presidential election.  I will predict, however, that DoublePositive will adapt in real time to the inclinations and directions of the winning candidate.

USA economy slows, but resists recession

Consumers represent over two thirds of the U.S. economy.  No doubt, consumers are going to “feel it” in 2008.  Lower house values, lower 401k growth rate, and indicators of lower job growth.  All that said, the 2008 U.S. GDP is predicted to exceed that of 2007 by some amount.

“Second Layer” Technologies and Solutions will continue to emerge and dominate

I will save a more extensive explanation for a later blog post, but now, sample companies include:

• DoublePositive
• TARGUSinfo
• eBureau
• vFlyer
• Dapper

SPF

We at DoublePositive have gotten to know the online education space really well these past few months.  What we’ve come to find is that online education is truly a unique field: here is a phenomenon that will change the way people think about higher education forever. With the shift from strictly-traditional to online universities, study after study proves that the market will only grow in the coming years. 

The results of the latest study done by EducationDynamics, an interactive marketing firm, echoes the same sentiment about the growing importance of qualified lead generation for enrollment activities in online education.  Out of nearly 100 not-for-profit higher education marketers surveyed at an AMA conference, 42% credit online lead generation as the best way to obtain qualified leads of potential students. However, the market is still in its earliest stage of development, with 65% of marketers contributing only 20% of their budgets to lead generation.  But the outlook is promising: half of the respondents plan on increasing their commitment to online marketing in 2008.

This information is encouraging and not at all surprising. After all, it takes time for the market to adopt new development in technology, and it looks like 2008 will be the year where all education marketers see the pivotal role that effective online lead generation will have in increasing ROI and decreasing the cost per student acquisition.