Why Loan Officers Don’t Need More Leads
So many loan officers are freaked out about leads. “I need leads. I need leads. I need leads.” Unless you just started yesterday, it’s very likely you don’t need new leads. They’re almost definitely sitting there right under your nose; you just aren’t looking.
I know it’s sexier to go out and get new business than to work the business you already have. But don’t go buy more cows until you’re milking the cows you have now. Think of all the people right in front of you:
- past clients
- people you’ve helped get pre-approved
- even friends and family.
What might happen if you just talk to them, strike up a conversation, make a simple ask?
Are You Tracking Your Leads?
Let’s say you asked me how to get more leads as a loan officer. The first thing I’d ask you is what you’re doing with your current leads. Are you tracking them? Do you know your close ratio?
I’ve had people tell me, “Things are busy right now. I don’t have time to track leads.” If you’re super busy, you need this more than anybody. You don’t have time, because you’re wasting it on other things. If you’re not keeping track, you have no idea how well or how poorly you’re doing. You’ve got to have a scoreboard to keep score. (We have a lead-tracking form we can share with you—just schedule a call.)
How many of your leads are turning into a conversation? If my closing ratio is only 10%, I don’t need more leads; I need more conversations. If I’m getting a bunch of leads, but not many conversations, what’s the problem? Either:
- They’re not quality leads.
- I don’t have good follow-up.
Let’s Talk About Follow-Up
Speaking of “I’m too busy,” everybody else is busy, too. There’s a lot going on in the world at the moment. Just because someone doesn’t respond immediately doesn’t mean they’re not interested. You need to keep at it.
If you’re having conversations with no credit pulls, it’s a scripting issue. People with credit challenges actually let me pull it, because they’re doing a Hail Mary. If we have credit pulls, but we’re not closing on those people, what’s my issue? I didn’t follow up.
When we get really busy, things will often start to slip through the cracks. If we don’t consistently follow up with our pre-approvals, excite them about the buying process, remind them that they’re pre-approved, they’ll go somewhere else. If we don’t have a routine day, time, and dedicated person on our team to do this activity, they’ll go somewhere else.
We already did the heavy lifting. Now we just follow up.
Call Your Pre-Approved, Lookings, and Realtors
Every Thursday morning, from 9 to 11, we call our pre-approved and lookings using our loan officer scripts for realtors. We call it our future-casting script. Then we call the real estate agents that refer to us. It’s simple:
“Hey, Realtor Mike. This is Carl over here at Carl’s Mortgage Company Dot Com, and you referred me to Bob Jones, Sue Smith, and Debbie Lancey, and I just called them. I spoke to two of them and left a voicemail. Basically, I just asked them how house hunting is going. Are they going out with you this weekend? I was looking to see if any of them might be going astray. I crunched numbers with two of them. They’re looking forward to going out with you this weekend. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear back from the other one.”
That referring agent is likely not following up with their leads either. Now, when I do that for them, I’ll get more closings of those leads. It’s a service to them, but really it’s a service to me. It’s a value add for them. Now the realtors know that Carl follows these people up for them every Thursday. Those agents see me as a free source of follow up.
Loan Officer A (me) provides this really great service for them, and Loan Officer B doesn’t, so who are they going to send their leads to? They’re going to send them to Carl.
Call Your Past Database
Another effective way to get leads is your past database. If we actually call those people we closed in the past, gosh, they might use us again right now. Imagine that.
We call our past database every Wednesday, and we do it four ways:
- We call them four times a year.
- We snail mail them once a month.
- We email them once a week.
- We use Facebook ads that target our past database.
They just got a call from you last week. They got a letter from you five days ago. They got an email from you Thursday. Then they see an ad on Facebook. How could they not use you? You’re everywhere.
This is not a hard business. This is a really easy business. It’s just structuring our day so that we can get the activities done and not getting bogged down in the weeds. Unless you literally just started your loan officer career yesterday, you do have some past database. Whether it’s 10 or 10,000, it’s time to start reaching out.
Call Your Friends and Family
I mean this in the nicest way possible, but your friends and family are low-hanging fruit. They’re just sitting there in your social sphere, waiting for you to ask them about a loan. You know what? They’re not even low-hanging fruit. They’re apples falling out of the tree. They’re apples rolling along the ground at your feet.
If you let that apple roll past you, if you don’t grab it, they will use someone else. They will walk into that big bank. They’ll call the credit union down the street.
We’re reluctant to call our family and friends, because we feel salesy or pushy. We feel like we’re begging. But listen to me closely, friends. What we do in this business is truly help people. Why on earth would you NOT want to help the people you love the most?
“But what if they don’t need my help right now?” you might say. You’re not going to know that until you ask.
Get Over That Fear TODAY
This is scary stuff. I get that. I’ve been there. And I can honestly tell you that the fear is all in your mind. It can be overcome. It can be conquered. And the great big thing you fear is actually really small and easy once you start doing it.
So where do you start? I thought you’d never ask. Our loan officer scripts are absolute gold. We have a script for everything, and they work. They just plain work. They’re our secret sauce, the key to our success, yet we’re more than willing to share. AT NO CHARGE. Set up a strategy call today, tell us where you’re stuck, and we’ll help you map out a plan and share one of those scripts with you. You can run with it and never look back.
If you want to stick around and pay us for additional help, we’re here for you. This is what we do. We love it, and we’re good at it. But there are absolutely no strings attached. Don’t wait another minute. Give us a call TODAY.
Click the following link to read “Does Your Voicemail Help You Close Loans” https://mortgagemarketinganimals.com/does-your-voicemail-help-you-close-loans/#more-87151
