Mortgage Marketing Animals Issue 4

THE LOAN OFFICERS’ INNER CIRCLE

MEMBERS ONLY EXCLUSIVE NEWSLETTER

LEADING LOAN OFFIC RS TO FREEDOM

ISSUE 4

DON’T LISTEN TO THE LITTLE FELLA ON YOUR SHOULDER ASKING FOR BUSINESS VS. BEGGING FOR BUSINESS

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

3 | Create the Ultimate Team 3 | Script of the Month! 4 | Connect on the Internet 5 | What Freedom Means to Me 6 | Hiring & Sales Best Practices 7 | Learning From the Now 8 | Tool Time

All too often, I hear people telling salespeople, “Hey, stop begging for business.” I’ve always thought that whenever you hear this from someone, they’re either a lousy salesperson or they’re trying to sell you something. There’s nothing wrong with someone trying to sell you their services or product, but when they’re approaching it like this, it might be something that will hurt you rather than help you.

When I ask someone for business, I’m confident I can help that person in many ways and dramatically impact their life for the better. To me, when I ask for business what I’m really asking is, “Can I help you in a way I know I can?” In a sense, when I don’t ask, I’m being disrespectful to that person because I know I can enhance their experience. I don’t like to overuse the phrase “change their life,” but it’s something that genuinely does happen, as often as people change my own life. If we’re holding back on making an offer to someone because we’re afraid we’ll be “begging” for business or sounding “too salesy,” we’re not providing the service we know will ultimately help them. In the mortgage industry, if someone doesn’t come to our business, they’ll probably end up with a guy in the big-box banks. The loan officer they start working with might be so worried about hitting their quota that they put their clients into a program that’s not in the clients’ best interests, because they only want to hit their numbers. You and I know we’re looking

Some people don’t realize there’s a big difference between begging for business and asking for a sale.When I think of begging, I think of someone on their hands and knees pleading for their life, like in an old Western. Asking for a sale, on the other hand, is good salesmanship — something we call “closing.” I believe a good salesman thinks of selling as a great thing, while a lousy salesperson views it as unpleasant.

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... COVER CONTINUED to help these clients and save them from getting involved with unscrupulous people who are only trying to knock out a quota. There are four parts in a sale: traffic, relationship, call to action, and follow-up. Traffic refers to who and how many people you’re talking to about your business. Relationship focuses on how those people feel about you — you could have a decent amount of traffic coming your way, but if you’re insulting them, you’re not likely to get a sale. The call to action is one of the most critical parts of making a sale. You could be getting a lot of traffic, and everyone can absolutely love you, but if you don’t tell them how you can help them, no one’s going to come to you. Finally, follow-up is ensuring that you’re efficient in the second and third parts: relationship and call to action. All companies have bottlenecks in one of these four areas. Overall, about a quarter of any given business fits into each of these steps — 25 percent goes into traffic, 25 percent into relationship, and so forth. Any time someone comes to me with a problem about sales and they tell me they’re meeting with clients and agents but not asking for business, it’s good news. It means what they’re missing is a call to action, which is the quickest, easiest, and cheapest of the four to fix. It’s nothing more than asking for business. I believe the main reason no one likes to ask is the looming obstacle of fear in the form of rejection.When people say no to us in the sales world, they’re not saying, “I don’t like you,” even though that’s kind of what we hear sometimes. It’s a lie the little guy or girl on our shoulder tells us, and it’s 100 percent not true. The reason we’re told no is almost always because that individual doesn’t need what we’re currently offering. Here’s a good example: Not too long ago, I bought a new set of tires for my Jeep. I thoroughly enjoyed the business I purchased the tires from, the tires themselves are spectacular, and the salesman, Larry, was a great guy. Imagine if Larry were to call me up today and tell me, “Hey Carl, you know those big expensive tires you bought? I’ve got the deal of a lifetime. For $100, a fraction of the original price, I’ll sell you a whole new set. You just have to use them for yourself and not sell them.” Unfortunately, I’d have to tell him, “Larry, no thank you” — not because my experience was terrible, but because I don’t need another set of brand-new tires at the moment. If an agent tells us “no,” it just means they’re already working with an amazing loan officer and everything is working great. But you and I know things go wrong all the time, and when they do, we have an opportunity. If their loan officer isn’t asking for business and you are, eventually you’ll win out because you’re the one who’s doing all the asking. A gentleman I saw speak at a seminar once told me something

that has been invaluable to me. He said, “Carl, whoever makes the most offers wins. If you want to make more sales, make more offers. Ask for more business.” So, as you’re having a conversation with someone — I don’t care who you’re talking to, how the first part of that conversation started, or what script you’re using — one of the things you need to say last is, “Can I count on you to give me a call?” Asking this question ensures that you’ll close on time, secure ongoing updates, get follow-ups on your leads, and increase the number of referrals you receive going forward. The last part I want to go over with you is what happens if you haven’t presented a call to action before. A lot of people think that giving a call to action sounds weird and is “too salesy.” However, the first thing to keep in mind is that a call to action only seems weird to the person giving it. For example, if I were to ask you, “Hey, you’ve been receiving these newsletters and have been a member of our group for a while — has it been helping you?” I think most everyone would say, “Well, yes.” I would respond, “Could I ask you for a favor? If you know of another loan officer in your area who may not be part of our group, could I count on you to introduce us so that we can tell them what we do over here? I’d like to help them out, too.” When you hear that, or as you’re reading this, I doubt you’ll sit there thinking, “The nerve of Carl — I can’t believe he actually asked me that. Just a horrible thing for him to do.” In fact, you and many others wouldn’t find it odd at all. You might think, “Of course I’d like to help you out, Carl. You help me, and I’d like to do the same for you.” Even though I know I can help you and other loan officers and that my call to action is received positively, it feels weird every time I present that call to action live. However, for the person receiving that information, it doesn’t sound weird at all. Always remember that the call to action only sounds or feels weird to you, not the person receiving it. So, flick the little guy or girl off your shoulder who’s telling you it’s a bad idea and just do it. Personally, I have never seen any salesman literally beg for business, but I have seen great salespeople ask for it. Be one of the great people. Thank you for reading. I hope all of you have a great month.

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HOW TO CREATE A “WOW” EXPERIENCE THAT ENSURES CLIENTS AND REFERRAL PARTNERS ONLY WANT TOWORK WITH YOU. CREATE THE ULTIMATE TEAM

THISSCRIPT ISUSED IF YOUHAVEARATE SHOPPER ORARE LOSINGA LOANTOANONLINE SOURCE. Hello Mr. or Mrs. X. This is calling from . I understand you have decided to go with a different lender. May I ask why or what was better? Well, just a couple of things I would like to point out to you. First, I care about you and your business! This is one of the largest purchases you will make in your life, so you definitely want to use someone local. Even if you don’t do business with me, my best advice is to use someone local. The reason is because if something goes right, you can come into my office to discuss it with me, but if something goes wrong, you can still come into my office and speak to me. I am here for you before closing and afterward! My service level is unmatched. Here are some specific things you can do to make sure your clients love working with you and your team. 1. Hire the right Loan Partner with the right mortgage experience.Take the time and commit to train your Loan Partner.On what? 2. Clarify job descriptions, roles, and expectations—what kind of expectations do you have for your Loan Partner and team? 3. Define teamwork and team culture—are you intentionally hiring team-oriented people? Does culture matter to you? What would it take to be a great teammember on your team? 4. Have a detailed, clearly defined loan process.Create and train from a written, step-by-step process from lead to close,with detailed checklists for each step.Use specific scripts and dialogues that don’t make Loan Partners “feel” like they are “salespeople” but that they create referrals. 5. Have regular script and role-play time with your Loan Partner and teammembers.Practicing the right dialogues will help you and your teamget comfortable using them.Success happens when we practice the right things.

6. Create a training outline or manual.Commit to taking the time to follow a training schedule and be consistent.Block out training time in calendars and have existing teammembers help train new ones. We are in a relationship business.Building and strengthening relationships with our team, our clients, and our referral partners is more important in this market than ever before.You stand out when you have strong relationships and treat people like they are important to your business.People will keep coming back and referring people to a team that connects with them andmakes them feel great. When you have a team that is fully trained in an amazing loan process where things don’t slip through the cracks, they know how to connect with clients and referral partners and exude positive synergy on the team. It will give you more freedom,more peace of mind, andmore mojo to go out there, connect with referral partners, and bringmore business in. Would you like me to help you do the training? Go to www. loanteamtraining.com for more info on our next LIVE “Loan Partner “WOW” Training,” or call me at 928-530-2964 for more info.

SCRIPTS WITH SCOTT

Also, I wanted to point out that Box A on the second page of your loan estimate is really the only box to compare apples to apples between mortgage companies. This is where your lender fees are located. Everything else is going to be a cost of closing your mortgage.We disclose the actual taxes and attorney-related fees to you that we get directly from the attorney. I have seen some lenders lowball these numbers just to make the loan estimate look better, but in reality you will have the fees that I have disclosed to you. I would always rather over prepare you for your closing than under prepare you. Let’s look at the competitor’s fee sheet. Do you mind sharing it with me? If so, I’ll dive right in to see what we can do to beat it. Just let them know you care and will be here for them every step of the way.

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CONNECT ON THE INTERNET HOW TO GET MORE REFERRALS FROM PAST CLIENTS USING FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, GOOGLE, AND YOUTUBE.

This year you are going to get more referrals from your past client >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8

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