Strong marketing can generate leads, but without a system to nurture, organize, and follow up with those opportunities, growth stalls. In this episode of the Hit Record Podcast, Meredith Olmstead sits down with Frank Prinzivalli, VP of Residential Lending at Middlesex Federal Savings, to discuss how HubSpot transformed his lending process. From managing referral relationships to tracking borrower journeys and automating follow-up, Frank shares how technology helps lenders stay organized while creating a more personalized experience for borrowers.
Key Takeaways:
1. Organization Drives Better Follow-Up. Before implementing HubSpot, leads were coming from multiple sources, including referrals, real estate agents, attorneys, past clients, and community connections. Centralizing those opportunities into one system made it easier to track conversations, manage follow-up, and ensure no potential borrower slipped through the cracks.
2. Consistent Communication Wins More Business. Many borrowers are not ready to make a decision immediately. Automated email campaigns, educational content, and regular touchpoints help keep lenders top of mind, so when the timing is right, borrowers and referral partners know exactly who to call.
Technology Helps Personalize Relationships at Scale. The goal is not to replace personal relationships. Instead, tools like HubSpot allow lenders to maintain meaningful connections with more people by tracking activity, organizing pipelines, and providing context for every interaction throughout the lending journey.
Transcription:
Meredith Olmstead:
Hi there. I'm Meredith Olmstead, CEO and Founder of FI GROW Solutions. We are a digital marketing and sales and service consulting agency. We work exclusively with banks and credit unions. And I am here today with a guest on our podcast, which is not typical. So I have Frank Prinzivalli. Say that for me, Frank, so I get it right.
Frank Prinzivalli:
Prinzivalli. Prinzivalli.
Meredith Olmstead:
Prinzivalli. Okay. I was close. I was close.
Frank Prinzivalli:
It's okay. Most people don't get it right the first time.
Meredith Olmstead:
So Frank is the VP of residential lending at one of our longtime customers, Middlesex Federal Savings. And they are a small retail bank up in the Boston area. And Frank has been working with our team. Well, Frank's entire bank has been working with our team using HubSpot from a marketing and a sales support side for, gosh, probably six plus years now or maybe even more. But we've recently just been seeing a lot of great results and feedback from their team internally and even especially Frank's the head of lending at his bank that was a non-believer for many, many years who has now really come around to the HubSpot inbound methodology of marketing and sales. And so I was like, you know what? Let me reach out to Frank and I want to hear from a lending side, what is it about this marketing and sales approach with using the HubSpot tool that has helped?
So I know, Frank, that one of the things we always say is that when you're creating great content and you're putting it out there authentically, you keep your services and your products top of mind even with existing customers and potential new customers. And so even if they don't convert immediately, they'll be more likely to convert over time. So that's definitely something that I want to chat with you about at some point. But I know the other thing about HubSpot is that it's really, really good at helping you figure out where all of your leads are coming from and keep yourself organized so that you know where you should be reaching out more and really focusing your efforts. So tell us a little bit about how HubSpot has been kind of a game changer for you as a mortgage lender at Middlesex.
Frank Prinzivalli:
Yeah. As I tell others as well, before using HubSpot, a lot of leads were coming from all different spots, locations like referrals, realtors, attorneys, open houses, clients or whatnot, past clients. And it was difficult to try to stay consistent to follow up with everybody, having notes in one notebook and a laptop and my phone and whatnot. So the fact that HubSpot gave me one place to organize all these leads, stay in contact with everybody, track all my conversations and automated follow-up and stay in front of them without really falling through the cracks pretty much, just having that one centralized location simplified the entire process for me to follow up with everyone.
Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah. Yeah. And it's cool to be able to go in there and then see where the leads have been on the website or where if you've been in touch with them, if somebody else might've reached out to them, if they've been on specific products or service pages recently so you have a little bit of context when you're reaching out to them for sure. That would be-
Frank Prinzivalli:
Exactly, exactly.
Meredith Olmstead:
Super, super useful.
Frank Prinzivalli:
And it's timestamped, dated. So this way, it's a lot easier to keep track of everything.
Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah.
Frank Prinzivalli:
Set up my notebook, constantly scribbling things off and check boxes. Yeah.
Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah. The other cool thing about it is that you can see where the sources are, right? So-
Frank Prinzivalli:
Correct.
Meredith Olmstead:
You can see, okay, if somebody's coming from paid, if somebody came from an email that you sent out, if somebody was a self-sourced deal from a list for an event that you went to, so it's a really nice way to be able to keep track of all of your leads. I know that you also have a way, because you have referral sources that you're also, it's kind of like business development. They're not going to be-
Frank Prinzivalli:
That's correct.
Meredith Olmstead:
Actual borrowers, right, but you have some regular communications with those referral sources that you do through HubSpot as well. How does that work?
Frank Prinzivalli:
Yeah, so I have a couple different distribution email lists. So for example, attorneys, real estate agents for apartment my referral network program where they also receive emails, automatic emails or campaigns once a month just to stay in connection, stay in contact with them and so that they're still aware of what we can offer for their clients, some services we can offer for their clients. And it continues to plant the seed in their heads as well as a follow-up so that they see a certain email, "Oh, Frank can do this for us. This is a great service. Why don't we just touch base with our clients and let them know?" So it's just a good way to stay on top of all my connections in the real estate industry as well.
Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah. It's funny, I know that you mentioned that a lot of times, it's really all about timing too. So it's like-
Frank Prinzivalli:
Correct.
Meredith Olmstead:
Making sure that people are thinking about you, but then also thinking about you at the right time.
Frank Prinzivalli:
That's correct.
Meredith Olmstead:
And part of that is staying in their inbox, kind of coming back up and-
Frank Prinzivalli:
Right.
Meredith Olmstead:
If you're going to do that, you got to deliver value. Are you still doing your videos and doing some of your tips and tricks for mortgages?
Frank Prinzivalli:
I was for some time on YouTube, some videos, tips and tricks or whatnot and advice and different topics and subjects about the real estate industry, mortgages or whatnot without getting in too much details as well. I just try to keep up broad conversations and topics. So yeah, I haven't done it in a while, but it's something I need to get back on and continue doing.
Meredith Olmstead:
And social media too. I think you were-
Frank Prinzivalli:
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Meredith Olmstead:
I think Danielle told me that you were in the mix sometimes in some chat rooms and things like that, really trying to-
Frank Prinzivalli:
That's correct.
Meredith Olmstead:
Answer questions and just stay in the mix with the local real estate-
Frank Prinzivalli:
Exactly.
Meredith Olmstead:
Conversations, right, in your area.
Frank Prinzivalli:
Exactly. That's correct. That's correct.
Meredith Olmstead:
Gotcha. So definitely helps with that. All of that has helped show the benefit of HubSpot and all that we're doing on the marketing side for sure and how it's been impacting you. What about organizationally for you in terms of making sure, like what kind of stuff are you able to see and organize better using the tool?
Frank Prinzivalli:
I mean, the tool helps me, for example, like this is the whole mortgage process between the follow-ups and it gives me the lead status, where they stand. Any notes of the potential borrowers may be waiting for something to occur, a raise or whatnot. So it helps me keep notes of everything and organized with all my borrowers for the most part.
Meredith Olmstead:
Gotcha. Through the various stages of-
Frank Prinzivalli:
And it just shows exactly where they start. Exactly. It shows me exactly where they are through the stages of the pipeline as well. So that helps me, helps my process as well, view everything, kind of keep track of what's going on with my borrowers.
Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah. When you sent me your notes, you said, it helps you manage your relationships but at scale. So it's like it doesn't replace those individual relationships. You still feel like you are connected with those individuals.
Frank Prinzivalli:
Correct.
Meredith Olmstead:
And that they still know you as Frank and you know them-
Frank Prinzivalli:
Exactly.
Meredith Olmstead:
As who they are.
Frank Prinzivalli:
Exactly.
Meredith Olmstead:
But you're able to manage more of those relationships at scale, which gives you-
Frank Prinzivalli:
Exactly.
Meredith Olmstead:
Your clients a more personalized experience.
Frank Prinzivalli:
Exactly, exactly. Correct. Yeah. So and I've always stayed in communications with them through HubSpot until they're ready to pull the trigger.
Meredith Olmstead:
Awesome.
Frank Prinzivalli:
If I lose any sort of communication with them, they'll probably forget about me, right? So HubSpot definitely helps me stay in touch with all of them.
Meredith Olmstead:
Nice. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Frank. We really appreciate all-
Frank Prinzivalli:
Of course.
Meredith Olmstead:
The insight from the lending side of things. I know a lot of times people think of us, of marketing in HubSpot just on the marketing side, but we do love working and closing the loop with our lenders too. So we appreciate your time.
Frank Prinzivalli:
Of course.
Meredith Olmstead:
If you would like to learn more about HubSpot for sales, please visit us at figrow.com. We have lots of other podcasts, blogs, case studies, so we'd love for you to join our community of viewers and otherwise, let's just all get out there and make it happen.