GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT

This old computer phrase is very relevant to Loan Officers and the quality of the applications they take. Your customers and staff are relying on you to provide accurate information rather than sloppy work that someone else needs to fix. Take pride in you 1003's. Be sure and complete every item on every application and never guess at an answer.

By doing it right the first time, you will avoid costly, time consuming problems in the future, thus giving you more time to originate and less brain damage in the process!

8000 Hours

8000 hours, almost a half million minutes or about 4-5 years is how long an electrician must work to be considered a journeyman. At the one year point the electrician has just finished their first year of apprenticeship and they make 49% of their journeyman colleagues.

Apparently, however, to become a "Senior Loan Officer" is, electricians have to put in their time and thoroughly learn their trade to make the good money. Loan officers are not much different. They just have a more flexible job and no set pay scale.

Here in Colorado a journeyman makes $53,580 per year if they work forty hours all 52 weeks of the year. I bring this up to illustrate how fortunate we are to not have to punch the clock and not to have our incomes limited by a pay scale. If you spend time to actually learn your trade as well as the electrician, you could be a "Journeyman Loan Officer"!

KEEP YOUR BORROWERS HAPPY

The most valuable asset of an experience Loan Officer is their past clients. Doing everything you can to keep them all happy is not easy right now. If you deliver poor service now due to high volumes of business you run the risk of them looking elsewhere next time.

This has happened to all of us and usually we don't even realize it. Even a valuable repeat customer will be turned off, because you can bet that no matter how wonderful you have been in the past; their most recent experience with you is the memory they will take with them.

So do whatever it takes to keep them happy. Whether is means extending their lock at a cost to you, closing their loan yourself or working a little late to return their calls, you must keep your core clientele happy and not make excuses about being too busy. One day in the not so distant future you will wish you were this busy.

Just remember, you will stay busier in the slow times if you keep people happy in the boom times!

RELATIONSHIP SELLING PART 2

Relationship selling is complex because personalities are involved which is also what makes it so satisfying. Relationships of any kind take time and they are much more likely to flourish if both parties treat each other with the golden rule. Working with people you like is great fun. So the trick is to work with people you like and who will probably like you. 

Utilize people who like you to get you started with their colleagues and friends on a warmer note. And most importantly, earn their trust and expect it in return!

RELATIONSHIP SELLING

Being a Loan Officer requires the ability to inspire trust in others.

Think about what makes you trust another person. We trust others either because we know them or someone we know trusts that person. There is no other basis to trust another person. We don't trust a stranger who we just met two minutes ago or a telemarketer we can't even see.

This is exactly why the first time you call on a Realtor or Builder they are not going to business with you unless someone they trust recommends you. Even then, one sales call or conversation, is still not likely to win them over. Chances are it will take at least five contacts with that Realtor/Builder before sufficient trust is established for them to trust you with their customers and their paychecks. Also, your chances for success with that person are increased dramatically when someone they know trusts you. 

 

RETURN YOUR CALLS

No matter how busy you may be, your customers all want attention. Being busy may be the reason you can't return all of your phone calls the same day. However, it is no excuse, and we have talked recently about how weak excuses are anyway.

Put yourself in their shoes. Your customers don't really care if you are busy or not. They want what they want, regardless of how busy you may be that day. Think of the last time you called a service provider who didn't return your call or took way too long. Hopefully you dumped them and found someone else which is exactly what will happen to you if you don't call back in a timely fashion!

Remember, the number one complaint consumers have about Loan Officers is not having their calls returned quickly. This means that maybe the number one thing you can do to improve your business may be simply returning your calls!

OPPORTUNITY COST PART 2

By losing a loan you will most likely lose future business from that customer. You could also lose out on future referrals from that customer or any other party involved in that transaction that you may have had a chance to impress. Plus referral sources can multiply exponentially. Who knows, by doing one loan for that one person you may later get a referral from someone who ends up being you biggest customer. If you ask any successful originator they will tell you that most of the business they have today can be traced back to meeting just a few people over the years who told two friends, who told two friends, and so on.

The key here is that just one loan could open so many doors for you in the future that you don't want to lose any if you don't have to. I know we are all supposed to try and be profitable on each and every transaction, but sometimes sacrificing some or all of your commission on a loan can pay huge dividends in terms of future business!

OPPORTUNITY COST

The cost of not doing a loan can be tremendous when you think of it in terms of possible benefits and/or opportunities in the future. First we will start with the obvious...

By not doing a loan obviously lost out on a commission. You also may have needed that particular loan so that you would hit a higher volume level for the month which could increase the amount you made on every other closed loan that month. There is also the possibility that a lost loan could have been the one that gets you qualified for the production trip or the President's Circle.

The real opportunity cost, however, is losing out on future chances to do much more business just from that one loan. 

 

CALL RELUCTANCE

One of the biggest stumbling blocks for most salespeople is call reluctance. Call reluctance is when we dread seeing the people, making the phone calls and asking the questions we should. Therefore we procrastinate, make excuses to ourselves and find other things to do. Making sales calls involves a certain amount of emotional risk because of the fear of rejection. Rejection, however, is a part of life and sales. If you don't get rejected at least a few times, you definitely aren't trying hard enough.

As human beings, no one enjoys rejection, but the rewards a salesperson can reap from enduring a small amount of rejection are enormous. Think of it this way. You could contact 10 prospects and be rejected 70% of the time which means you were successful with three prospects. This is obviously better than contacting 2 prospects and being successful 50% of the time. 

OPTIMISM

In his Creed for Optimists, Christian Larsen tells us...

  • Be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
  • Talk health, happiness, and prosperity to everyone you meet.
  • Make all your friends feel there is something special in them.
  • Look at the sunny side of everything.
  • Think of only the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best. 
  • Be as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
  • Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
  • Give everyone a smile.
  • Spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time left to criticize others.
  • Be too big for worry and too noble for anger. 

RAVING FANS

One of the greatest books ever written about service business is Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles. It is a quick read and it will make you think like never before about customer service. If you don't have the book, buy it! Even if you have read Raving Fans, read it again. You will be glad you did!

ADDRESS STAMPS

The return address stamps from the Media Center are one of the best closing gifts imaginable. People love them, they have a long shelf life and no one has one already because they haven't even moved yet! I encourage everyone to give them to all of your closed borrowers.

Another use for them is to give them to your Realtors! Have stamps made for them and you will have done a favor that won't be forgotten. At $11 apiece you will get quite a "bang for the buck".

READ FOR SUCCESS

In our business, you almost can't read enough and sometimes it seems that we have an overwhelming amount of material to read to keep up with all of the changes. Remember change is inevitable and it is also a golden opportunity, if you read.

These days, children are encouraged to read a minimum of 20 minutes per day 20 days a month. Most of us could dramatically improve our knowledge and our business just by spending our 20 minutes each working day keeping up with our profession.

In addition to mortgage products, programs and guidelines you should also read a broad variety of finance and investment related material. Money, Kiplinger's, Smart Money, Wall Street Journal etc. are all excellent publications you can read and become a better resource and a better Loan Officer.  

HOW TO BUILD A CUSTOMER'S EGO

Sales success relates directly to one's ability to get alone with customers and build their egos. By taking these steps with your customers you will help them to have a better opinion of themselves and usually it follows that they will have a better opinion of you as well. 

1. Establish a friendly connection-find something to admire and/or compliment the customer about.

2. Get them talking-ask open ended (not yes-no) questions that will get them talking about themselves and their life and accomplishments.

3. Listen carefully-everyone likes to talk and know they are being heard.

The reverse of the above is true as well. If you take time to feel better about your customers you will probably feel better about yourself. Rewards all around!!!

ENJOY YOUR JOB

Even though some days you may feel that you would love to do any job in the world other than Mortgage Loan Originator. The grass on our side of the fence is very green.

Think about it:

  • everyday is different
  • every customer is different
  • you can always learn new things
  • you get to help people with the biggest purhcase of their lives
  • you get to "make people's day" with loan approvals
  • you are in control of your own schedule
  • you are in control of you own income

There is an old saying that "if you enjoy your job you never have to work a day in your life." So enjoy your job. You could have to work for a living!

LISTING AGENTS

Most of your competition doesn't even call the listing agent, which is a great reason for you to be calling them. You should be calling the listing agent as soon as your are finished with the application and before you turn in a file to processing. The benefits of this simple call are almost endless. You can ask for business; you will have immediately impressed a potential referral source; they are probably going to call you anyway; and it is just professional courtesy. This routine will enhance your reputation in your area because chances are you will come across that person again at some point in the future.

You should also call the listing agent when you have received the appraisal and also upon loan approval. Keep in mind that as long as that transaction is in process, you are very important person to the listing agent! You are given a window of opportunity with each and every one of them. Use it wisely. 

GOAL SETTING

Establishing goals is one of the most effective success tools available to anyone. When setting goals be sure and write down your goal in a place where you will see it every day or multiple times a day. By taking the simple step of writing down your goals you will program yourself to achieve whatever you goal may be. By consciously paying attention to your goals every day you will subconsciously program yourself to reach your desired result.

It doesn't matter if your goal is to make the top 200 in the nation, or whether your goal is to close five or fifty loans per month. Write it down, look at it every day, and you will reach your goals. 

EMPATHY PART 2

Your purchasing borrowers are worthy, even needy, of your empathy! in most cases, your borrowers are dealing with one or more of the most stressful things people can have to deal with in their lives. Relocation, job change, divorce, marriage, and change in family size are just some of the challenges facing these people at the time of your contact with them. Not to mention most of them have a home to sell and most of them just want their loan to be approved. By "putting yourself in their shoes" an understanding their issues and making them more at ease you will do well by them and do well for yourself.