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Filling Your Lobby with Borrowers
By Joel S. Pate
Last week's article really hit a nerve with the readers. Based on that, let’s spend the next few weeks discussing ways to "fill your lobby with borrowers."
Even in today's market, there are borrowers. Why? For the same reason there have always been borrowers. People need money, they want to buy a house, they need to lower their payments, and they need to restructure their debt. You name it, people need to borrow money.
I always concentrate on the purchase business. Why? Because of the team concept that is inherent in the purchase business. When you are working on a team, when your referral partners suggest to the majority of their buyers that they use you to originate their loan, their favorite originator, you have multiplied yourself. Instead of just your one voice telling folks to let you loan them money, you now have two people telling the market who you are and that they should be using you.
I love multiplication, now. Back in the third grade, mean ole Ms. Glover tried her best to teach me multiplication. I just could not remember that 2 x 2 equals 4 and that 2 x 1 equals 2. Why on earth I couldn't get it was beyond me- and I hated it. Now, that I am older and wiser, I believe the reason was that it didn’t "mean" anything to me, back then.
Just think about this scenario for a second:
You typically originate two deals per month from your past clients. Plus, you have one referral partner that sends you two deals per month. Therefore you can typically count on closing four transactions per month.
Now, what happens when you add another referral partner? Just one referral partner that will send you two more deals per month. That means your business is now up 50%. Two of your own deals, plus the original referral partner’s two deals equals four. Add the second referral partner, and you have six deals per month. Just adding one referral partner increased your volume 50%. In this business you can’t help but love multiplication!
You see, the effort to add a referral partner, once, that has two buyers per month, is much more valuable than trying to come up with two additional buyers each month yourself.
When I started American Family Funds Down Payment Gift Program, I had one particular rep tell me, "I'm not going to drive two hours to meet with one originator." I said, "Well it's obvious you do not understand multiplication. If you go to the trouble to get one originator to send you two deals per month, and then go to the trouble to find another originator and she sends you four deals per month, and then another and another and another, it will not be long before the numbers really add up."
Finding a real estate agent or a builder that refers clients to you is much the same. At AFF, we still have that first originator sending us those two or three deals and that was seven years ago.
Many of you have not spent the time building your business. You could say that you have been "renting" and now the landlord is kicking you out of his building. What happened? You did not spend your time adding assets (referral sources) to your business that have deals each and every month. Sure, in times like this, when the overall market has changed, many of the referral sources have dried up. Many agents do not have business, right now. But, they will. The market will turn and the assets that you built will produce again.
Filling your lobby with borrowers from referral sources is not simple, and it has its ups and downs too. But, you are better off, having four or five or more agents sending you business, what business they have, than trying to fill your lobby yourself.
Remember, exerting energy once, and we all know that it takes a lot of energy to produce a good referral source, produces month after month and year after year. In comparison, how many times can you refinance a lead that you purchase?
I would rather have the referral source any day.
Next week, we’ll talk about adding real and lasting value to your referral sources so that they can’t afford to ever leave you.
PS: Many of you have taken advantage of my offer to provide you with six months free service to Greg Frost’s The Daily Communicator. TDC is a marketing program that Greg developed, and that he uses, to market to the agents in his city that send him over 1,300 transactions per year.
Marketing to agents, and having something professional to say, is the key to getting their business. If you would like to know more, click on the link below.
For a limited time only, not only will I provide you with TDC FREE OF COST FOR SIX MONTHS, I will provide you with Greg's Road Map to Success with Realtors. In this information packed program, you will see Greg's keys to success in controlling the purchase transaction. Do you know that the agent's customers go to the mortgage company that they recommend over 70% of the time. Now that's control. Increase your business two or three deals per month just by partnering with two or three agents. I’ll show you how.
If you would like to take advantage of our customized Weekly Update form, and our daily marketing program to real estate agents, go here and test drive it for free: 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, 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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