I am an intern looking for some education. What is the best way to get leads for commercial loans besides referrals? There are so many avenues that can be very costly, I just wanted to know what has maybe worked for others? Is there a particular spot that is good to look for lenders? Any other advice for someone new to this field?
Thanks!

Good question... I think we can all use a little more advice in this area. I also would like some input from everyone.

The good thing about not being in production is that I don’t have to go out and get business. As such, what you will hear from me is second hand from friends and coworkers. The following are my observations:

1- If you happen to be in a hot real estate market, you will get a lot of leads. The problem is that everybody wants a piece of the action and some come into the business with unrealizable expectations.

2- You could build a popular website {easier said that done}. I get asked for loans via private email all the time. However, most times I do not even respond as I don’t do the loans myself and don’t like to refer people.

3- You could do what a friend of mine used to do. He joined this exclusive club/spa and used it to network and get referrals. He actually got some good contacts from that place and several muti-million dollar facilities.

4- Family contacts help a lot. To give you an example, I know two loan officers that came through the training program and graduated to lending at the same time. The one with the contacts had closed three loans in two months while the other one struggled for some time.

5- You have to consider that I am looking at this from a different perspective. While you guys are looking to become mostly non-bank real estate lenders, the bankers already have a large base of people with money ready to invest in real estate as an addition to their main activity. Those people are the business owners that have their businesses banking with us. Furthermore, we have relationships with the group that only does real estate.

Maybe someone that is not a banker can give you some idea as to how they get their leads.

Don't discount referrals. They are 80% of my business. Proeprty owners and buyers are tough to find without them having been referred to you. Loanuniverse makes a very good point:

"the bankers already have a large base of people with money ready to invest in real estate as an addition to their main activity. Those people are the business owners that have their businesses banking with us. Furthermore, we have relationships with the group that only does real estate"

The cheapest, quickest and most time consuming way to get immediate business is to put leather to pavement. Visit local commercial realtors, property managers, accountants and real estate attorneys. Offer them financing options for their clients that they can't get from the local banks. Bank LO's can be a great source of leads for deals that they cannot finance due to loan size, credit, lack of cash flow property type or location. The small banks are the best for this since they generally have a smaller lending box than the big banks. Another great source is residential mortgage brokers. They generally do not know how to to a commercial loan and would love to earn fees simply by turning a client over to you.

One caveat. With all of these sources, you had better know what you are doing and have lenders in place. If not you will burn these sources fast.

Direct mail is expensive and very hit and miss. Print ads even in business journals provide spotty results. TV and radio? Forget it. Commercial lending is to specialized to get a good return on your dollar.

You have to be willing to work the phones and the street for commercial business. As with all sales and marketing, you have to give them a reason to use you. You must provide a tangibile benefit to earn their business or referrals. If you are just going to call or show up and say "Hi, I'm insert name here[U], I can provide financing for commercial properties", you will never see their business.