I’m going to give you one of the best “scripts” to convert a group of prospects into closed clients.

By the way, one of the things that will likely bring you more success than any other one thing is…  “Conversations by design..”   Some people call them “scripts”. 

Having a set way to answer those “Frequently asked questions”, you know, like “What’s your rate?”, knowing exactly what to say, based upon what answer consistently gives you the highest conversion rate… well, it’s just the smart (and profitable) way to do things.

Here’s one that has done me very well over the years…

When you find a client that is in a “pickle” for some reason, say going through a divorce and now is either buying their own home or refinancing out of the ex-spouse, or perhaps their credit report has some things on it that could be affecting their options, here’s the basic “conversation by design” template…

1. It’s not your fault
2. It’s going to be alright
3. Here, let me help you

Let’s walk through that.

#1. “It’s not your fault…”

Look, it’s embarrassing enough to stand financially naked in front of somebody.  As loan officers, we see the good, bad, and ugly.  Remove all judgement, shame, and guilt.  Those are poison to people and totally uncool for them to carry that bag of rocks around.

We’ve all done things and been through things that are tough.  Just be cool with them.  “Hey, it’s not your fault that you are in this situation, I see this kind of thing all the time.”

#2.  “It’s going to be alright.” 

That simple statement will calm the most savage beast down.  And by the way, it IS going to be ok.  Typically we aren’t talking life or death here.  It’s very likely no one is going to sleep outside tonight. 

“Hey, it’s not your fault that you are in this situation, I see this kind of thing all the time.  First of all, I want you to know it’s going to be ok…”

#3.  “Here, let me help you…” 

Now just help them map out a plan and guide them on what to do.  Perhaps they need help restoring their credit.  Find a pro that does that. 

Maybe they don’t need the down payment that they thought they needed.  Perhaps you have “no down payment” or “low-down payment programs” that they qualify for.  Maybe some gift funds solve the problem.  Maybe it’s something as simple as letting them know that while they don’t qualify for that price of homes, they do qualify for these other homes. 

I find on this one it’s just a matter of telling them the truth.

“Hey, it’s not your fault that you are in this situation, I see this kind of thing all the time.  First of all, I want you to know it’s going to be ok.  Here, let’s grab pencil and paper and map out a plan, sound good?”

You’ve taken away the guilt or shame, you’ve comforted them by letting them know you are the expert, and you are going to help them.  That’s a killer “Conversation by design”.

Put this to use, and let me know how that works out for you.

By the way, if you find your loan volume down this year, or it’s not as high as you would like, or you find yourself working more than 32 hours a week…

First of all, it’s not your fault.  Heck, you are likely doing things the way you were taught in the past, by people that didn’t know there was a better way. 

Second thing I want you to know is that it’s going to be ok.  Look, any of us that’s been in the business for any length of time will tell you that the market changes often.  It’s going to be ok as long as we make sure we are adaptable and make the changes that are necessary. 

And finally, I can help you.  I would love to help you map out a plan for, not just surviving, but THRIVING with the changes that we’ve seen recently, and the changes that we haven’t seen yet…

Imagine what it will feel like when you are drastically increasing your business, closing more loans, yet clocking out at 5pm and leaving your laptop at work.  That’s not a fairy tale.  Many of us are doing just that.

Let’s Map Out Your Plan Together Here

Seems that every 5 minutes there’s a zoom meeting or video going on about rates going up, inventory is down, and other things that you, me, and Pharaoh’s army can’t do anything about.

So it’s not that those conversations aren’t important, it’s just that they are not a function of my activity that actually increases my market share.

It may help for my own personal investing in the stock market, but for my mortgage business, those things are what they are, and they are that way for all lenders.  So it’s still a level playing field, even if the playing field is at altitude and the oxygen is a little thin.

I often times think that when I do focus on those things, it’s really me looking to not do those activities that actually make me money, you know, doing the actual activity that makes the phone ring so that we can take yet another application. 

“So Carl, what do we focus on?”   3 things

1. Sell what’s on the shelf.

Look, the vast amount of time, we are all selling the same programs and the same rates.  Nobody has “Magic Money”.  If my rates go up, so do yours and everybody else’s.  

So, some of the time that you may spend on charts and graphs that is guessing what the rate is going to be next December, I’m going to spend that time getting more customers and selling what’s on the shelf, both now and in December. 

By the way, whoever focuses on getting more customers… gets more customers..  

2. Keep your eye on your profitability.
Here’s the thing, some months, seasons, and years we sell more loans than others.  When we close a bunch of loans, we need more help and resources.  When we close a few less loans that “season”, then we need less help and resources. 

As a general rule of thumb, I have 5 to 7 loans per full time employee.  Those numbers keep us very profitable, yet leaves breathing room in our teams’ schedule so that at the end of each call when they are talking to the listing agents and the borrowers, our team can ask for yet even more referrals on every call…

… and guess what, when they ask for yet even more referrals on every call, we close more loans.  If they are too busy to use our “New Way To Say Goodbye” script to get more referrals, well, that’s costing me way more business than the rates going up or down.

If I have less than 5 loans per full time employee, somebody needs to be laid off, otherwise we are all in jeopardy of losing our business 90 days from now.  You can’t operate a business without a profit for very long.

3. Lastly, Save 25%.
This part has saved my butt more than the other 2 put together.  For the last decade or so, the lovely Mrs. White and I have saved 25% of net income.  So whatever is on the paycheck after taxes, we have saved at least 25% of that each month. 

Was it easy at first… NOPE.

Now that I’m sitting here with an 8 figure net worth, am I grateful that I did it… YEP!

Even if it’s tough, do it.  Rates go up, rates go down, I still live in a nice house, drive nice cars, my kids live in nice houses, we go on dream vacations, we support 4 other families (2 completely), we built a center for abused women in Columbia, South America…

…we set up scholarships for kids that otherwise couldn’t go to college, we give large amounts of money to many local charities, we paid cash for a car for a single mother that needed one, helped another single mother buy a house by giving her $70k, and my company is on very very very solid ground.

I don’t share these things to brag, but to inspire you to focus on where the real money is.  While most are looking up to see if the sky is falling, I’m sticking to the pro-active activity that actually sells more loans, and helps me be profitable so I can help more people.

Those 3 things I can control, and those 3 things have made rates going up or down a simple inconvenience, and certainly nothing to sweat about.

Sell what’s on the shelf!!

Want help on what specific activities to focus on to sell more loans so you can help more people?  Meet me here.

Your homie, 

Carl White

Ok, no shenanigans or anything here (that’s not the way I roll), I didn’t put “I left you a review” as the subject line to trick you.  I did it to share a simple and great idea that was shared at our Freedom Club meeting on Tuesday (that’s us in this pic).

I love the SIMPLE IDEAS THAT WORK and that somebody else can do for you, thus taking zero of your time, yet you get even more referrals… you know those leads that actually close. <gasp>

OK, here’s how it works.

Every time you have a closing, give the buyers’ agent, the listing agent, and the title company an on-line review.  You know, on FB, Google, Linkedin, basically any and every site that they have a profile (remember, an assistant can do all this for you… automatically).

Then, call them and let them know you enjoyed working with them and their team and that you left them a review.  In that call, just use a simple “call to action” to either have a coffee meeting or simply ask them for a referral…

Yeah, it’s just that simple.

Now, some less experienced LOs may think the ol’ fable of “I need to bring something of value before I can get a referral”…
Ok, no shenanigans or anything here (that’s not the way I roll), I didn’t put “I left you a review” as the subject line to trick you.  I did it to share a simple and great idea that was shared at our Freedom Club meeting on Tuesday (that’s us in this pic).

… but see, that’s the beauty of this, YOU ALREADY DID GIVE SOMETHING OF VALUE..

You left them a review and you said, in a very cool way, that you liked them.

And we all know, people do business with people they like..

And people like people who like them.

Now one thing to keep in mind here, we only do this with agents that we actually liked working with.  If somebody wasn’t pleasant, well, don’t do this, because this strategy likely will have you working with them more… perhaps MUCH MORE.

If you catch their voicemail, simply leave a message stating what you did, that you would like to meet with them or, if they are further than you care to drive, that you would like to meet with them virtually or simply tell them you would like to work with them some more.

Then send them an email with the subject line “I left you a review” and just repeat the same message in the email.

I love these simple ideas that actually work, and the dude that shared this idea with us said it’s really a cool way to get referrals (and an assistant can do it automatically every time).

If you need any help with the scripting, or what to say during these “coffee meetings” (whether you do them face to face or virtual or simply on the phone) and actually get referrals from these meetings, just schedule a strategy call and I’ll totally hook you up <no charge>.

The key is to take action with this right now.  Whoever does “it” first and fastest will always win.  It’s not who does things best, it’s who implements the fastest.

Talk soon.

Carl White

I can hear my mom telling me dozens of times growing up, “you are going to poke somebody’s eye out with that..”

We were all taught to always be careful and never put yourself at risk for taking a tumble, stubbing our toes, or skinning our knees.

I can tell you with 100% confidence that while that may have been good advice when playing with the ol’ dime store slingshot, in our business that same fear and hesitancy is likely what’s actually holding us back.

See, it goes back to the “fear of rejection” or the “fear of failure”…

… those 2 things raise their ugly head way too often.

First of all, people think about us way less than we think they do.  They are too worried about what you think of them.

For instance, the other day I saw a loan officer comment in a group page that he was afraid that if he called Realtors on Mondays, that they would be mad because the agents are busy putting together offers and following up from the leads they got during the busy weekends.

My gosh, that’s exactly the time you DO want to be talking to those agents!!

That’s when these buyer agents need your help to get the listing agent to accept their clients offers, then you can be the lender.  There truly is no better time to call them.

Now, feeling for this LO and the amount of fear he must live in, I checked his production on one of those new software programs where it shows all the LOs production.

Sure enough, he averaged about 1 deal a month all of last year.  It may be that the fear of rejection or saying the wrong thing has totally paralyzed him and his ability to help families out in his area.

Now don’t get me wrong, we all started there, myself included, I just made the decision to risk skinning my knees so not to stay at the low levels of closing loans. I wanted to help even more families (along with my own).

If you have also made that decision in the past, or are just now making that decision today, I give you a standing ovation.

It’s just that I’m looking to help loan officers grow from where they currently are, and it’s not until they actually take action, risk looking “stupid”, or risk skinning our knees, that’s when the growth happens.

So why was this LO (and many like him / her) so afraid or hesitant to speak to the very people, Realtors that have contracts and referrals that they need help with by getting their prospects pre-approved?

.. keeping in mind that this fear and hesitancy is resulting in him / her losing out on the truly Cinderella and Prince Charming dream life for them and their family…  which I believe them AND everybody else (you) are worthy of.

So what holds them back, what steals their epic life?  I think most of the time the LO simply doesn’t know exactly what to say.  It’s likely they haven’t had somebody help them doing some “phone role playing”.

And it’s not their fault, heck, if somebody hadn’t of shown me, I wouldn’t know either.

But here’s the thing, while it may not be our fault before, now that we know there is a solution, it is our responsibility to learn and take action.

The best part of doing phone role playing and learning “scripts”, which I prefer to call “designed conversations” (thanks Steve), is that once you know what to say, you can now just simply have those same conversations over and over and get predictable results from them, which are outstanding, over and over again… 

..you know, more closings and more income for you and your family to do even more things for yourselves and others.

… that’s the secret of top producing agents!

In addition to that, once you know what to say to get those predictable (great) results, the fear of those money making calls melt away.  Fear is replaced by confidence.  Confidence and action results in… well, it results in YOU GETTING EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT…

… all while helping so many families… including your own ☺

If you need help with scripting or “structured conversations with predictable great results, let me know and I’ll set you up with a 1 on 1 zoom meeting where we can do exactly that.  <no charge>


It will be a complete example of the exact calls and scripts that we have with our Freedom Club members, which is a large group of hundreds of the top LOs across the nation. 

I think you will like it and benefit from it greatly.  Whether you are closing 2 or 3 loans a month or closing 20, 40, or 80 loans a month, this will be a good use of your time.

Freedom Club Demo Scripting 1 on 1 zoom meeting  <no charge>

Talk soon.