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Strategy for Surviving a Declining Market
By Joel S. Pate
In today's market, being reminded of this phenomenal strategy is always timely.
The only way for mortgage originators to originate more loans is to meet more people that want to originate a loan. Since only 4% to 5% of the people you might meet today in a restaurant want to originate a loan today I don't recommend going to a restaurant to pick up leads.
Instead, you've got to go where the leads are.
No one wants to get a mortgage. But, they have been dreaming about doing "IT." They are considering very strongly that they might want to do the thing (The IT) that causes them to need the mortgage.
What's the "IT?" IT is purchasing a home, building a home, remodeling a home, purchasing a second home down on the lake or beach, or refinancing a home to pay for educational expenses, etc. You name it; people want to do a lot of things that cause them to need a loan. But, no one goes shopping for a loan because they want a loan.
The loan is the secondary function. So, if you sell loans, you are required by the very nature of this discussion to involve yourself in peoples' lives near the center of the decision to do what it is they are thinking about that will cause the loan to be a necessary evil.
How do you do that?
That question separates the "evil doers" that end up with a lot of money and the "evil doers" that end of with a little money.
Since one of the reasons I got into this business was to make money, I decided to join the band of evildoers doing the most evil. If you are going to do something, and enjoy it, you should decide to do a lot more than others and get very rich and completely fulfilled in the process.
So let's begin the process of getting into the thick of this business.
Since the real estate agent will refer his customer to a mortgage originator and 70% of the time, the client will do exactly what the agent tells them to do, it would be a wise thing, in the pursuit of the goal of increasing the amount of business you do, to get to know that agent.
Thus, if you can get to know a few agents fairly well, then they may refer you some of their business. But, how does an evildoer break into the realm of good, where all of the fun really takes place? How does an evildoer get the attention of the real estate agent?
It really is fairly simple: When you are working on a loan do a great, great, incredibly great job. Do it in such a way that the customer is so extraordinarily pleased that they come close to actually enjoying the actual evil deed.
This is the first step in the plan. Yes, there is an actual plan. The plan is to get the attention of the real estate agent, the one that tells 70% of her customers where they have to go to get a loan so that they can get what they really want-the house.
If I were to write a manual on the evil job you must do in order to gain the respect of the agent, the buyer, the listing agent, the title company and all of the other potential referral sources in a loan in process, this is what I'd say:
1. Thank the agent for the transaction when you receive it and call them back within one hour every time they call. PERIOD.
2. Send the seller a congratulations Letter IMMEDIATELY following receipt of the seller's information. DON'T wait for the seller to respond. Follow-up soon after with a phone call to the seller.
3. Take the best 1003 that has ever been taken.
4. In a very nice and professional manner, assure the borrowers that if they really want that house, they will get you the documents that you need, NOW.
5. Pick the right dang loan. If you have a three square peg, two round hole loan, make sure the borrower has three square holes and two round pegs to fill the underwriting requirements--or pick another loan!
6. Complete the file by providing a communication log to the processor so that they will know what the heck you were thinking.
7. Make sure that your borrowers' know--NOT TO PURCHASE ANY THING BIG, NOT TO MOVE MONEY AROUND, DO NOT PAY THINGS OFF, DO NOT QUIT YOUR JOB, etc.--until their loan is closed
8. Communicate with the listing agent and the selling agent that you have the transaction under control and based on your preliminary review, the borrower should qualify and meet the ___________closing date. Send this notification by fax to each party.
9. Follow that bit of marketing up with a cover letter along with the Good Faith Estimate by mail to both agents. Now you have a fax and a large document that is protruding from their deal file assisting you in your quest to "buy their brain cells," "mark your territory," and eventually "own the mental real estate" of their mind.
10. Work with the processor every Friday around lunch to update yourself on every loan in process. The results of this effort will be noted on a simple graph form called the "Weekly Loan Update." The update is faxed to the listing agent and selling agent every Friday. After that, take your earned break.
11. Once you have received underwriting approval, send an "Another Approval" fax to the listing agent and the selling agent. Call and congratulate them. Don't ask for anything. Go to the closing. At the closing, while waiting on the copies to be made, stand up and state: "I want you all to know that I appreciate the opportunity to provide my services to you, (the borrower's name) on this home loan purchase. I can only grow my business if I receive constructive criticism of my performance. I'm going to leave the room for a few minutes. I have a survey for each of you and an envelope for you to place the survey in once you are finished. Please be honest. Now when I return, I will not open these until I get back to my office. Thank you.
12. On any bad review, call the person immediately to apologize profusely. NOTHING you will say will make it any better. Just apologize and thank them for the criticism and hang up. Then write them a card and give them a gift certificate. SHUT THEM UP.
13. For the good reviews, and hopefully most of the reviews are good, send a copy to the listing agent and the selling agents broker or sales manager. The cover letter should read: "Another Happy Customer........." Then offer to assist the broker with any of his new agents.
I call this the 13/15/5 plan. It has 13 steps, takes about 15 minutes per loan and costs around 5 bucks.
When you run this play enough, the listing agent and the selling agent too, will start to take notice of you. Why, they'll say, "ol' Jim is really doing a good job on my deals. Do you think we should let him into the club? Should we let him have some of our really good business?"
See that's it. It is a club. The best way to enter it is to be invited and the only way to stay in the club once you are invited is to do a great job on each transaction and NEVER EVER NEVER FORGET TO RUN PLAY 13/15/5 on each and every loan.
If you are interested in seeing more strategies like this, visit www.vadiumgroup.com/cpexpert.php.
Dedicated to coaching YOU to CP Loan Success!
Joel S. Pate
Joel S. Pate, a dedicated entrepreneur, has spent more than two decades in the building, mortgage, and real estate industries and has been involved in over $100 Million in construction loans and over $1.3 Billion of residential lending.
As the CP LOAN EXPERT columnist, Mr. Pate provides straightforward, unbiased advice about every aspect of construction permanent lending. If you ever wanted to unravel the mystery surrounding new construction lending, then you should tune in.
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