Something is occurring in the mortgage industry (and for that matter all sales industries) that is becoming a concern to me. Actually, there are two things:
1. The negative perception of salespeople from prospects and customers
2. The growing lack of loyalty from current and former customers
Now, these two challenges have always existed to some extent. It is one of the reasons why being a successful loan officer can be so tough, but also why originators can compensated financially so well.
It just seems to me that lately it has gotten drastically worse. I am not sure if it is because of the explosion of new loan officers (therefore people who normally shouldn’t be originating are in the position to do so – poorly – and giving originators in general a bad image) or if its because of all the technology (even if you have committed to working with a prospect, within 5 minutes of getting online, they can have a list of 20-30 other loan officers to turn to if they wanted to).
Whatever the reason, it is changing the way this industry is running.
How can you give 100% of your time and effort to all of your clients when you keep getting burned when they turn around and close with some other mortgage company down the street?
Dealing with rejection is one thing, but having to deal with someone being inappropriately rude just because you are a “salesperson” is a totally different matter.
You are a professional, and deserve to be treated as such.
SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Here is what I suggest, and it is going to go against the grain of what many others in this industry think.
You need to develop the friend/consultant image with your customers.
What do I mean by “friend/consultant”? You need to shed some of the professional armor that you walk around in, and let your customers see the “real” you. You need to get them to see you as a friend, not as a loan officer.
I know, I know. It sounds strange, but it works. And here is why:
Right now, think about your best friend in the world (someone you aren’t living with). You probably have known him or her for years. They have seen you at your best and worst, and vice versa. You look forward to spending time with them, and hearing about their lives. You know that he or she isn’t perfect, but you trust them because you know them so well.
Ok, got that image in your mind? Now, imagine that your best friend became a car salesman. Now, you probably have preconceived thoughts of what a car salesman is like, but because this is your best friend, you look past that. You know him and trust him. You know that he won’t try to screw you over just to make a few extra dollars on a car. And so you buy a car from him. And everything goes smoothly.
After all of that, would you even consider buying a car from anyone else?
And being that he is your friend and you want nothing better than to see him succeed in his career, would you send any business his way? Would you be able to persuade some to at least call him up?
Of course you would. And your referral would be golden because you wouldn’t say, “Oh, you are looking to buy a car? Here is the number to a car salesman that I did business with last year. He’s pretty good.”
You would say, “Oh, you are looking to buy a car? Well, here’s the number to my friend, Bob. He is a car salesman at ABC Dealership. I have known him for years, and actually, I bought a car from him lat year. Everything went perfectly. Just tell him that your Jim sent you.”
Building the friend/consultant image is powerful because it creates such strong loyalty from your customers. If you can get them to see you as a friend first, consultant second, you will have that customer’s loyalty forever.
And not only that, like you can see in the above example, they will be your biggest cheerleaders. The referral will already see you in a positive light (heck, you’re a friend of Jim’s) and will make that transaction go much smoother and less likely to fall out.
With all this being said, please understand that this process doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, patience and persistence.
But the reward for creating the friend/consultant image is lifelong customers who will do their best to send you business.
So here is how my product can you help:
The biggest challenge in creating the friend/consultant image is coming up with a way to seem more real to your customers, a way for them to see your personal side.
It is no problem writing them a letter about what interest rates are and how refinancing can help them in achieving some of their financial objectives (and you will still do these things).
But writing a personal letter is harder. Letting your guard down a bit and knowing what to talk about isn’t easy.
My product, 12 Month Letter Personal Letter Marketing for Loan Officers takes most of the hard work out.
Each of these personal monthly letters took me between 45 minutes to an hour to create. That alone will save you 9-12 hours! All you are going to have to do is customize the contact information, and personalize it to your needs (if you want, or you can leave it as is).
I have also included a Mail Merge Tip Sheet to show you exactly how to use the Mail Merge feature in Microsoft Word to automatically insert you customers contact info in each letter (saving you several hours of doing it manually).
Each month has its own letter, with its own goal and theme.
Here are some things the letters will present:
- The New Year’s Resolution Letter talks about the importance of goal setting. I have also provided you with a Resolution Worksheet to send to your customers that will help them go through the process of resolution writing and accomplishing (as a side note, in the letter you recommend that they review the Resolution Worksheet each morning and night to get its full benefit – your contact info will be on it and seen by them twice a day).
- The Valentine’s Letter talks about the origins on Valentine’s Day (the story of how Valentine’s Day came about is interesting, and this was included because I wanted the customer to share the story – and who they heard it from – to their friends, family and co-workers).
- The Annual Referral Drive Letter is the most business-oriented of the twelve letters and has the potential to bring in immediate new leads. Along with the letter, I have included the Annual Referral Drive Form (an easy and convenient way for your customers to list their referrals) and the follow-up letter that you will send to the person who was referred. The Annual Referral Drive Letter and its components alone make this product such a great deal at its price.
- And 9 more months of letters
Also, I have included a Contact Response Form and a Campaign Tracking Spreadsheet.
The Contact Response Form is a helpful tool to keep track of who responded, when did they respond, which letter they are responding to, how did they contact you, and what were the topics talked about whey they contacted you (with a large response mailing, you will want one place to keep track of the specifics of each response).
The Campaign Tracking Spreadsheet allows you to compare the results of your monthly letters campaigns against each other. It allows you to see not only which campaigns gave you the best response, but what were the costs involved in getting those responses.
So in summary, this module includes the 12 Month Letter Personal Letter Marketing for Loan Officers:
- 12 powerful letters to help you build the friend/consultant image with your customers
- 12 readme files that explain my tips on how to get the best response in each letter
- The Annual Referral Drive Form and referral follow-up letter
- The Resolution Worksheet
- The Contact Response Form
- The Campaign Tracking Spreadsheet
- The Mail Merge Tip Sheet
With all the lifetime benefits of establishing the friend/consultant image with your customers, and the hours in front of a computer screen that you are saving in creating a year’s worth of marketing, I urge you to consider purchasing this product.