Right about now we could all use a bit of good news and here it is…
It’s easier to get people that are referring you a couple of deals to send you more deals, than it is to get people who are sending you no deals to send you deals.
In the past, I would spend a ton of time, money, and resources to get somebody referring to me for the first time, all while essentially ignoring those that were sending me 2 or 3 referrals a year or had done so in the past, and then stopped.
I get it, it was a “duhhh” moment for me too!
So, what can you do to get this to work for you right now and right quick?
A couple of quick steps…
1. Get a list of all referral partners that are currently referring to you (even if it’s just a couple).
2. Look to see how many referrals they have sent you the last 12 months, and then see how many purchase deals they have closed in the last 12 months.
Basically you are just looking at what % “at bats” you are getting from them… every time they close 10 new buyers, what % of the time are they giving you a shot of talking with that buyer when they are a prospect. (79% of those prospects will close with the 1st loan officer they talk to).
You can look up the agents’ buyer side production via MLS which any title company, appraiser, or your favorite real estate agent can help you with (or there are subscription services these days where we can pay to have access to look up any agent’s buyer side production reports).
If you are already closing 50% or more of their current buyer side deals, that’s evidence that what you are doing is working and there’s likely no tweaks that need to be done. Most of the time this is not the case.
Most of the time we discover that the LO is getting less than 50% “at bats”, and 94% of the time it’s simply because they aren’t asking for the business; asking for referrals.
So how do you ask for referrals from an agent that does refer to you, but you aren’t getting at bats for at least 50% of all their buyer clients?
Simply meet with, zoom with, or call them with a simple script….
“Hey Realtor Susan, I really appreciate your referrals and would like to work with you even more often.”
“What would I need to do that every time you get a buyer lead, you break out in a cold sweat thinking I have to get this lead over to <your name> because she / he will close me on time, give me great communication during the loan process, and follow up on my leads like green on a pickle so I (the agent) get even more closings from the leads that I (the agent) already has?”
“What would I need to do to get even more of your buyer referrals so I can work with you even more?”
Then shut up and listen to what they say. Almost always it’s simply an issue that they aren’t thinking about you because you aren’t talking with them frequently enough. A very, very easy fix.
You just have to have a plan, and then follow that plan. Without a plan, you are a blind person trying to play pin the tail on the donkey.
That’s why we have the Daily Success Plan. It’s a simple plan that we map out and discuss with all of the top producers in our Loan Officer Freedom Club.
I’ll be happy to give you a free sample of what that looks like here:
Free Sample Daily Success Plan
Not knowing what that looks like could be costing you… and costing you big… And right now is not the time to be operating in the dark.
Now is the time to be pro-active. We can’t do things like we did last year, it’s different now, so we have to do different things.
Talk soon.
Carl White
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