How to Be a Successful Loan Officer In Just Four Days a Week
A while back, I was hanging out with some fellow loan officers. As we chatted, we realized we shared some great strategies in common. We took the best of the best of everyone’s scripts, and what did we come up with? The perfect structure for a week in the life of a loan superstar.
It’s just four days of work, then a three-day weekend. Every single week of the year.
You don’t have to work 72 hours a week. In fact, the more you work, the less efficient you become because you’re burnt out and your brain is fried.
Do you want to know our secret? How to close more loans in half the time? Come take a peek at my week.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday: Recharge
Let’s start with the easy days first. We’re going to take Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday off. Go recharge your batteries, get some rest. Why three days instead of two? I’ll tell you why. If you take two days off, you spend Saturday thinking about your work from Friday. Then you spend Sunday worried about what’s coming Monday. There’s no downtime. With a three-day weekend, you’ve got:
- Friday: down ramp
- Saturday: true 24-hour chill day
- Sunday: on ramp
Match me up against anybody working seven days a week, and I’ll blow them out of the water. They don’t have wind in their sails. They’re exhausted. And I’m rested and ready to roll.
By the way, that’s not a free three days off. We earned it because of what we’re doing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The good part about the loan business is that we can work whenever we want. The bad part about the loan business is that we can work whenever we want. Loan officer hours are like golden handcuffs. You’re making a lot of money but you’re chained to your desk. That’s not the path to freedom.
Monday: Prospecting Real Estate Agents
After three days of rest, you’ll wake up every Monday morning raring to go. But don’t get so busy building the farm that you forget to milk the cows. The first order of business is going out there and asking for business. When you get to where I’m at, you can delegate a lot of this to others. But don’t wait for that day. You want to implement this now. So often people hodgepodge stuff together, but we’re going to make a PLAN.
Monday is our day for prospecting real estate agents. There are two sets of agents—ones we’ve gotten referrals from and ones we haven’t. We call them post-coffee and pre-coffee. They require two different scripts. Speaking of coffee, we’re doing a lot of virtual coffee appointments during Covid and knocking them out of the park. Our conversions are the same, and we’re saving all that drive time.
These can be top agents in your area or agents you’ve worked with in the past. There’s just one caveat. Make sure they’re qualified, that they’ve closed at least 8 buyer sides in the last 12 months. I don’t have access to MLS, but I’ll ask my favorite appraiser, real estate agent, and title company for a favor. “Could you get me a target list of qualified agents?” I print up my list of agents, cross-reference it with their list, and boom.
The fastest way to increase your business is simply to ask for it. People tell me, “I don’t want to beg for business. I don’t want to be chasing realtors.” That’s not begging; it’s asking for business. Get out of that mindset if you want to be a successful loan officer. Good sales people think selling is a good thing. Bad sales people think selling is a bad thing. Ask for the business. Period.
Tuesday: Updating Our People
Tuesday is the Just Ask Day. On Tuesdays we call all those deals we’re currently doing business with—these five people:
- listing agent
- buying agent
- borrower
- co-borrower
- title company.
We give them an update, and we ask for their business. We’re not bothering them; they want to hear from us. Other loan officers aren’t reaching out with updates like we are. We’re being proactive, and it’s effective.
The Just Ask Day is the one day of the week where we get most of our leads. These are the easiest calls ever. Once you get to about 12 deals a month, you’re not even cold calling anymore. We’re getting more loans from the loans we’re already doing. Our Just Ask script weaves asking for business seamlessly into our conversation. And now we’re already halfway through our work week.
Wednesday: Contacting Our Past Database
Wednesday is Past Database day. I used to just call people whose loans I’d closed in the past. But then I realized I could call pretty much anyone I’d ever called, even if they didn’t end up using me for their loan. I guarantee you, their past loan officer isn’t following up, and I am. People are going to go with the person who reaches out to them, because it’s easiest.
You might have heard of the ABC strategy. Call the A’s the first week, then the B’s the next. With 26 letters in the alphabet and 52 weeks in the year, you’re calling everyone twice a year. I’ve found that I get a lot more new business if I bump that up to four calls a year. I recommend people call the A’s and B’s this week, the C’s and D’s next week, etc. Calling each person once a quarter has been my sweet spot for getting more loans.
Thursdays: Calling Our Pre-Approved Lookings
On Thursdays we call people we’ve pre-approved, people who aren’t yet under contract, but are looking for their dream home. We do this for two reasons. We want to make sure we’re converting and that our referral partners trust us with the leads they’re giving us. It’s another way to funnel more traffic into our pipeline—asking our leads for more leads. We also text the real estate agents we called on Monday to find out who they’re working with over the weekend.
I recommend you do each of these activities first thing from 9:00 to 11:00am. Then your afternoons are free for any problems that come up, fires that need put out. Farmers milk their cows first thing in the morning, right? Remember, don’t be so busy building the farm that you forget to milk those cows. These two hours each morning, four days a week, are literally going to change your life as a loan officer. If you do these activities faithfully, and you don’t see a drastic increase in your business, I’ll eat my Stetson hat. (And I don’t like the taste of leather.)
To summarize:
- Monday: Prospect Real Estate Agents
- Tuesday: Update Your People
- Wednesday: Contact Past Database
- Thursday: Call Pre-Approved Lookings
- Friday, Saturday, Sunday: TAKE IT EASY
Scripting Makes All the Difference
Using the right scripts is the home run, the secret sauce. Everybody wants to provide more value to their referral partners, right? This is how you do it. No more leads that turn out to be Mickey Mouse or Santa Claus. What a waste of time. And you’re telling agents you’re a bad source of leads.
So many people are scared to death to pick up the phone. Of course you’re uncomfortable without the right script. The right script changes everything. And we give ours away for FREE. No strings attached. Just a simple phone call. You’ll give us a little information about where you are, what you’re doing, how you’re bringing in loans. Then we’ll focus on the loan officer scripts that will work best for you, do a little role-playing over the phone, and then GIVE you the scripts.
You have the option of taking that information and doing it on your own. That’s totally cool. Or you might say, hey, I could use some help implementing this plan. Then we’ll work on a partnership and give you even more value. And everybody wins. Click here to schedule a FREE one-hour call today.
