How Loan Officers Can Overcome Call Reluctance
Loan officers will pay big money not to have to pick up the phone, but they’re just not getting results. If you want to be a top producer in the mortgage industry, you have to spend time on the phone, plain and simple.
Why do loan officers have call reluctance? Because they’re afraid of being a pest or bothering real estate agents when they call and ask for business. We all grew up with the mindset that salesmen are out to get us, to take advantage of us, that they only care about money.
But that’s not what we’re about in the mortgage business. We genuinely want to help people.
Loan Officers are the Best Thing to Happen to Realtors
What if a real estate agent had just won the lottery? Would you be willing to pick up the phone and tell them the good news?
You are basically a winning lottery ticket for your realtors. You’re here to leverage each other’s talents and connections. You’re going to help them get more leads and convert more of their deals and ultimately make them more money. Just like a lotto ticket.
You’re also going to help them have a more peaceful experience during the loan process. You’re going to help by updating them and let them know what’s going on. You aren’t just helping them a little; you’re helping them significantly. And in a very cool way. When you have the confidence to see that, picking up that phone is so much easier.
A few years ago, thousands of realtors were surveyed and asked what they disliked about lenders. They said lender:
- don’t close on time.
- don’t communicate every week.
- don’t follow up with their leads enough.
If we can do those three things for them (which we do), they’ve hit the jackpot. Especially in times like these.
Value Propositions for Your Realtor Referral Partners
Over the past few years of working with realtors, we’ve compiled a list of 29 value propositions that can help you earn your realtors’ trust, respect, gratitude, and appreciation—all without spending a dime.
Once we’ve developed a relationship with an agent, do we invest in that relationship? Of course, but we don’t lead off dating somebody by writing a check. It’s just a bad way to start doing business.
Whenever I’m talking to an agent, I work two or three of the value propositions into the conversation. You want to know these propositions like the back of your hand, so you can spit them out like your phone number or last name. I’m going to share just 3 of them in this post, and if you’d like a cheat sheet of all 29, we’ll hook you up at the end.
Value Proposition #1: We’re Experts in Guidelines and Program Fits
You don’t personally have to be an expert at everything. I run one of the largest teams in the mortgage industry, and I’m not an expert. I’m good at it, but not an expert. I’m convinced that not knowing the guidelines and program fits is what helps me close more loans, because I didn’t get caught up in that conversation.
When I hit my first month of 10 loans, I decided to spend all my time getting new business to come in, then I’d refer them to Dave, a guy I was working for at the time, who knew all the guidelines. And I’ve never stopped doing that.
We have this phenomenal resource called Loan Officer Deal Desk. It’s a Facebook group with thousands of loan officers, along with processors and underwriters. It’s completely free. You describe your scenario, and there will be someone in there who can help you with guidelines and program fits. It’s amazing. You’ll ask a question and get 20-30 people giving you helpful answers immediately. So you don’t have to be the expert yourself, but you have to have access to an expert—a lot of experts.
Value Proposition #2: We Are the Last Stop Shop
We have the who and the what for all situations. We never tell a prospect no. We might say, yes, I can help you, and here’s what you need to do first. Maybe it’s “go get a job.” Or “work on getting your credit score up.” Even if they’re asking for a situation that I personally don’t do loans for, we’ll find somebody that does, and we’ll refer them to a buddy.
Basically, you want to be the Amazon.com of mortgages. You tell people: “You want something, come to me. If I can’t help you, I know who can.” You tell them they don’t have to call 15 different loan officers. I’ve got you covered. And even if it’s not with my company, it might be with a buddy of mine in the Freedom Club. That solves a huge problem for real estate agents. They don’t have to go shop around for loan officers. You’ll do it for them.
It creates more trust in your expertise, and you become their advisor, their first point of contact. Whenever that agent has any questions, I want that conversation. And ultimately that will create more referrals. They trust me, and they know I have a circle of people they can also trust.
Value Proposition #7: We Help Agents Make More Money
Another reason my realtor referral partners want to refer their business needs to me is that I’ll help them make more money. There won’t be any loss leads. I tell them that I follow up with their leads on their behalf. We know most real estate agents aren’t following up with their leads. They send over a lead and work on it for a day or two, then it goes cold and off everybody’s radar.
We follow up for them and help build their pipeline. And everybody that we pre-approve, we call them every Thursday with our pre-approved and looking script and ask them how the house hunting is going. Every single lead you send over to me is going to be nurtured. I’m going to help you make more money by converting more of the leads that you’re already getting.
We’re even getting referrals from those referrals. And we have a customer for life mentality. Every time a realtor refers someone to me, once we close on that person, we’re going to be calling them four times a year, snail mailing them once a month, emailing them once a week, and running Facebook ads to just our past database.
And, when one of your referrals sends me a referral, which they do, I’m going to make sure you’re the agent they choose to work with. My first conversation with them will be, do you have a realtor yet? If not, I’ll tell them about you. I’ll even call you for them. I bring the realtor up to speed on the client and get them set up for success.
Now Go Help Those Realtors Win the Lottery
So, you’re not being salesy. You’re offering incredible value to your realtor referral partners. When it’s time to pick up the phone and call those agents, it’s so much easier because you know you’re helping them by having experts in guidelines and programs, being the last stop, and making them more money.
And that’s just 3 of the 29 value propositions. Can you see how it’d be so much easier to pick up the phone and make these calls when you have 29 different ways to enhance your referral partner’s life?
Click here to schedule a strategy call TODAY and we’ll give you a FREE copy of these 29 value propositions. We’ll look at what you’re doing and pick out the best three or four to start with in your business. What have you got to lose?