So I was sitting in my office the other day and Sue, a loan officer that is a private consulting client of mine, sent me over a message as a quick SOS signal. Here was her message:
“I have a realtor with me right now – here’s the question: Her brokers (she is in FL) tell her that there is a “law” that she has to recommend more than one lender. I know there is no such law, but what do I say to her Carl? I need to know ASAP as I’m sitting with her now. Thanks!”
How many times have we all heard the ‘ol “I have to hand out 3 cards” response from agents?!
Now, some of the time, this is a real situation that is in agents’ minds that they really think they do need to hand out 3 cards based on some erroneous information that somebody has given them. Other times it’s nothing more than a “deflection” response from agents, you know, meaning that you really haven’t given them a reason to give out just your card…
… or better yet, YOU WANT AGENTS TO BREAK OUT IN A COLD SWEAT EVERY TIME THEY GET A BUYER LEAD UNTIL THEY HAND THAT LEAD OFF TO YOU!
You don’t actually want them to give your card to a prospect, who may or may not call you, by the way.
Instead…..
…you want the agent to tell the prospect you will be calling them, then that agent call you and give the referral to you. This ensures a solid connection, instead of the ol’ “well, I gave them your card, I’m not sure why they didn’t call you…” response from agents.
So here’s the script that I sent over to Sue, my private consulting client:
“Awesome, it’s an honor to be one of the 3. At least we know that 1 out of every 3 of your referrals will close on time and you will have great communication on the loan process, and that 1/3rd of the time that your leads will be followed up like green on a pickle, so at least on those, you will get even more referrals from them once they are in your past database. On the other 2, well, all bets are off.”
Now, let’s talk about that script for a minute and I’ll explain why it works so well, and give you some follow up information that will help you get a lot more referrals in other ways too.
A few years ago I sent a survey out to around 15,000 real estate agents asking them what their #1 complaint was with loan officers that they refer to.
Here’s what came back in the order of importance to them.
#1: They don’t close on time
#2: They don’t communicate with me on the loan process, I don’t know what’s going on with the file.
#3: The loan officer doesn’t follow up on my leads
So I knew right then what to focus on in my marketing to agents….
I call this my “Realtor Referral Getting” Checklist
1. Close on time!
2. Communicate with them every Tuesday morning on what’s going on with the files we are working on together (either me or my team calls them with updates)!
[by the way, there’s another script my team uses to get tons more deals when we do those weekly updates. Be sure to ask me about the “Just Ask” script when you do your complimentary strategy call with us by going here: www.LoanOfficerStrategyCall.com
3. Follow up on their leads relentlessly!
So you want to weave those 3 things in all of your marketing and scripts because those are the things they said are most problematic with their current lender they are giving all their referrals too.
When you cover those 3 things, you’ll get a deluge of business from agents…
…IT’S WHAT THEY WANT!!
But listen to this, it’s one thing to say you’re going to do those 3 things, it’s another to actually do them.
WE HAVE TO STRUCTURE OUR ACTIVITIES AND OUR STRATEGIES SO THAT WE ARE COVERING THOSE 3 THINGS!
But we can talk about how to structure “who’s doing what” in your current day to day activity to show you how to use your current resources to make those 3 things happen like clockwork during your strategy call. It’s way easier than you think…
…it’s just prior to now, nobody has shown you how…
… but once you know just a few things, you’ll see how epic your mortgage business can be, getting even more referrals and all with less stress ☺
Talk soon!
PS. On your strategy call, we will be going over some other “loan getting” scripts too. This call will be a great source for even more free scripts ☺
Go here now to see if there are any openings left for your complimentary strategy call:
www.LoanOfficerStrategyCall.com
