DateMay 20, 2022
Today’s mortgage lenders are in the middle of “The Compression Wars”, and they’re getting rate shopped now more than ever. So I’ve created this article and playbook inspired by our Script-a-Palooza event and several recent interviews with some of America’s most successful local referral-based mortgage professionals. The goal of this playbook and these scripts is to provide you with an advantage to turn leads into clients for life. If you adopt four principles, implement 13 core strategies and learn six proven scripts, you’ll improve lead conversion, win with rate shoppers and optimize your past client database.
Before I get into the strategies and scripts used by top loan officers, it’s essential that you understand and execute well around four principles.
#1: Technology isn’t going to replace loan officers, but loan officers who master technology will replace loan officers who don’t. This means it’s never been more critical that you master your CRM, your POS app and deliver a Mortgage Coach Total Cost Analysis to every borrower.
#2: To make yourself Amazon Mortgage-proof, you need to double down on your humanity. Boost your empathy, your interpersonal communications and your service and advice experience. This means you need to be that which Amazon and other low-cost lenders cannot be. You need to master the combination of high-touch and high-tech service and advice experience.
#3: The lender and loan officer with the most "digital friends" wins the biggest today, in 2020 and beyond. This means you need to make self-generated leads from your database is a top priority. It also means you need to know the channel of communication your clients prefer so you can communicate with them in the channels they use in life— text, email and Facebook messenger and you absolutely must make sure they download your Mortgage Coach mobile app to improve your advice and service levels.
#4: When borrowers focus on interest rates, change the conversation to total cost over time. Once you're talking total cost over time, you can show the value of your advice and expand their mind to what you offer compared to your competition. Watch this interview with Paul Reilly the author of Value-Added Selling.
Now, here are 13 core strategies to optimize lead conversion. Next, I’ll share real-world scripts used by America’s best top producers.
#1 Educate Realtors. They understand that how a referral comes to them is critical to conversion so take the time to educate your Realtors and referral partners on what makes you unique and valuable to their clients.
#2 Train Realtors. Train your Realtor partners on exactly how to refer you to their clients. Listen to my interview with Danny Horanyi for details and scripts to master this conversation.
#3 Speed To Lead and Personal Connection. It’s never been more important for you to start your sales process and relationship-building experience with speed and personal connection. With today’s great CRMs, it’s never been easier for you to implement systems to ensure you’re lightning fast to connect with prospects using multi-channel messaging and then once you get a prospect on the phone, slow down, ask great questions and personally connect. Watch my recent interview with Tim Braheem on personal connection and print this recent quote by Josh Mettle on post it in your workspace.
“Speed is king in 2018, so the Mortgage Coach Total Cost Analysis is even more important to buyer clarity and loan officer success this year. The loan officer who can help a buyer go from confusion to clarity to close fastest wins.”
#4 Make a Client For Life Promise During Your Initial Consultation. Make sure you always explain to your new prospects that not only do you help them make a great mortgage decision to buy their home, but you’re going to manage their mortgage over time to ensure they always have the most effective mortgage so they can build wealth with real estate. Listen to my interview with Tim Braheem for details and scripting on how to do this. Ask your CRM provider to turn on the Automated Mortgage Review feature. See Mortgage Coach integrations partners.
#5 Talk About Hopes and Dreams Versus Rates and Fees. To achieve optimized conversion and success, you need to know your client's hopes and dreams and you need to demonstrate you listened by providing a video with your Total Cost Analysis, average loan officers quote rate, loan cost and monthly payments. In contrast, a Mortgage Coach who delivers a Total Cost Analysis helps borrowers understand cost over time and helps borrowers evaluate mortgage strategies to help pay off the mortgage faster and build wealth with real estate. When you create a Total Cost Analysis video and you repeat personal goals and how they integrate into your loan programs, you emotionally connect, you build trust and you earn respect. Hear how Danny Horanyi navigated the hopes and dreams conversations.
#6 Every Lead Gets a Mortgage Coach Total Cost Analysis. It’s never been more important and a more significant competitive advantage for you to deliver a digital Total Cost Analysis to your borrowers because it helps them go from confusion to clarity faster. The Total Cost Analysis also makes it easy for you to provide loan options so borrowers are shopping within your advice platform. In today’s rising interest rate and low inventory market, borrower clarity creates urgency and helps Realtors get offers accepted. If you don’t want to compete on price, then you need an advice-based experience that has obvious visual value and delivers loan options. Listen to my interview with Dan Keller for how to use the TCA when competing with other lenders.
#7 Local Mortgage Advisors Should Have Face to Face (F2F) Borrower Consultation Meetings As Often As Possible. While it’s not always possible to have borrowers meet at your office, there is no question meeting with borrowers F2F helps optimize conversion and clients for life. If you don’t meet F2F, then it’s even more important to add a personal video to your Total Cost Analysis. We find that mortgage advisors who use our Mortgage Coach LIVE feature with an interactive online borrower consultation have better lead conversion. It’s also a must to have borrowers download your mobile apps when they are F2F with you or during a scheduled Mortgage Coach LIVE online meeting. This turns them into digital friends who will be able to easily get updates to your Total Cost Analysis on their mobile app. Watch this interview with top producer Jay Crowell for best practices and scripting for your F2F in-office meeting. Also, watch my recent interview with Todd Duncan where he shares his strategies and thoughts on the importance of F2F meetings with borrowers.
#8 Position Yourself As a Market Expert Who Can Help With A Rate Lock Strategy. Given that interest rates change daily, it’s important that you educate borrowers about volatility so they understand that .25 in interest rates is nothing more than a daily and weekly change in interest rates. Read the RateWatch scripts, and listen to my interview with Tony Blodgett for scripting and how to use our RateWatch mobile app.
#9 Consistently Call Your Pre-Approval Funnel at Least Every Other Week. Because you delivered a Total Cost Analysis with your Pre-Approval, this makes you follow up more effectively and easily with a combination of email, text and phone calls. John Downs recommends you just ask if they’d like you to update their Total Cost Analysis during your update calls. Watch this John Downs interview to hear how he’s improved his conversion and saves time by using the Total Cost Analysis and consistently follow-ups with his Pre-Approved Buyer funnel.
#10 Deliver 5-Star Experiences and Collect 5-Star Reviews. This is pretty obvious—if you want to optimize conversion, you need to consistently deliver a 5-star experience and the more 5-star reviews you have, the better. We find that our clients who use Social Survey or MortgageSAT close more loans and convert more leads to clients for life. It’s pretty straightforward that the LO with the most online 5-star reviews has an advantage. Learn from Giuseppe Battaglioni how he has 535 online reviews with a 4.90 average. And learn from Garth Graham with Stratmore how to improve Customer Satisfaction.
#11 Professionally Make Your Competition Look Less Professional and Valuable Than You. Here’s a script from Danny Horanyi:
Borrower calls you and says: "I really hate to be making this call after everything you've done to help us, Danny, but we felt we really needed to look online for the lowest rate now that we are in contract, and found one that is .25% lower than what you quoted us yesterday."
Danny says: "I completely understand. You were just doing what you felt was right for your family. How can I possibly fault you for that? The mortgage industry is a pretty crazy place with a lot of room for confusion and misunderstanding. That is why we spent so much time in the early stages making sure you had a full grasp of what your options were with a Total Cost Analysis. To make sure you really see an apples-to-apples rate advantage with that other offer, not just them hiding higher fees to offset, could you send me over the Total Cost Analysis you received from them?"
Watch an interview with Jeremy Foricer a week after he started using Danny's last chance script.
#12 Deliver a Mortgage Review Within 30 Days of Closing. I’m seeing more top producers deliver a Total Cost Analysis Mortgage Review within the first 30 days after closing the loan. This delivers on your ‘client for life’ promise during the initial consultation and creates immediate goodwill and opportunity to optimize referrals.
#13 Consistently Deliver Annual Mortgage Reviews. This should be the #1 priority for local referral-based mortgage professionals because it helps you maximize the recapture of past clients from your database and provides you with countless referrals to your Realtors and referrals partners. Read a recent article that focused on this strategy.
Now here are some real-world scripts and sales leadership from America’s best mortgage professionals.
#1 Here’s how Danny Horanyi ($275M Producer) counters a customer who has checked rates elsewhere:
Customer: “Hey, I just want to understand why your rate quote is this, and why the XYZ Company quoted me a quarter percent lower.”
Here’s what Danny’s thinking: That’s probably not somebody who’s a local professional. That's probably not somebody who has a relationship and reputation within the marketplace who can help get his offer accepted.
But here’s what Danny’s saying: “Well, Joe, we've been working together for about 60 days now. I want to remember the very, very first day we connected. How did we connect?”
“It was Sally Smith, the real estate agent.”
“What did Sally tell you when she referred you over?”
“Well, Sally said you guys are the best at getting me an accepted offer and that we were going to have a great experience before then.”
“Then you and I spoke, and we talked about what it was going to mean to be competitive in this marketplace. We talked through different strategies, and we said the rate was super important, and it is, but other things are important too. Did we deliver on all that?”
“Yes, actually you did. We're in escrow. We didn't have to go $50,000 over the list price. You guys made the proactive call to the listing agent, and you did all this stuff that you said you would.”
So you're reminding them of the value you’ve already provided.
Then, do a Total Cost Analysis showing an eighth higher and a quarter higher and make a comparison.
“Now that looks like it's only going to be about $58 a month. I know that's real money, but let's break that down even further. It's like $1.50 a day. What happens if you get to your contingency removal, and you release, and then you get to closing, and you find out the lender can't follow through and you've got $15,000 earner's money on the table, and that's at risk now. Let's think about how many $58 it would take to make up that risk of going with somebody you don't know how they're going to execute because they haven't proven themselves through this whole process.”
So again, you’re emphasizing the value, the commitment and the expertise you bring to the table.
Strategic Tip: The battleground where we need to fight is in the client's living room. When was the last time you drove to a client's house to pick up their loan docs or to take their application and go through a live consultation with them? If we keep throwing out online applications they have to complete, and we get away from the phone apps or face-to-face applications, if we don't do live consultations using the Total Cost Analysis LIVE or face-to-face, we're just making ourselves more and more like our direct competitors. Think about how you can change that in your business. You need to be different from the online lenders and the call center lenders. ___________________________________________________________________#2 Here’s How Shane Kidwell ($40M Producer) Overcomes Rate Shopping by Addressing the Rate Issue Head On:
The critical thing, Shane says, is to have the rate conversation right away. “The people who delay it because they're scared, they make it far worse than if they’d had it earlier in the game.”
It starts with an email:
Potential customer: “Hey Shane, you know John Q agent referred me to you. I want to get a mortgage.”
Shane: “Fantastic Dave, we would love to get on the phone to take 15 to 30 minutes to get to know you better to find out if we're a good fit for each other.”
So we're framing the conversation from ‘you're coming to us’ to ‘ we're not desperate, and we want to find out if we’ll collaborate well together.’ So then we get on the phone, and we go through a pre-qual conversation, where we start to find out what he’s looking for in a lender.
Here’s how he conducts the pre-qual conversation:
Shane: “What value proposition are you looking for in a loan officer?”
Dave: “My value proposition is the cheapest rate, lowest fee, want you to work Sundays.”
Shane: “Well, tell me more about that Dave. When you’re thinking about buying a home, what's your number one fear? Is your number one fear being off by an eighth of a percent or is your number one fear something else? You know Dave, many of our clients say their number one fear is losing out on that dream home. Is that something that is a fear for you?”
Then we start to dig in and have that conversation to understand what they are scared about, what their challenges are, what their stresses are because my thing is if you can address somebody's problems and fears, whether it's in business or personally, they'll never leave you.
“If I say, “Hey, what's your biggest fear in business Dave?” and you say, “My biggest fear is, I need support, I need more time,” and I can address that fear, you'll continue to use me.
And so we want to get that within the first five minutes of getting to know somebody. We want to know what their fears are, what their challenges are, and then we want to find out if they align with what we’re willing to offer and what we’re good at. If they don't align, it's never going to be a good fit.”
And if we feel the conversation is going in the wrong direction we might say:
“Hey you know what, you brought up rate Dave, unfortunately, what you're asking for is an online broker. A large public bank, that's not our niche. We compete with all of our private local competition. Here's where we're coming from. (Then after explaining…) How does that make you feel? How does that sound to you?”
Then we let the consumer talk.
Next, Shane introduces the Total Cost Analysis. Here’s how he brings it into the conversation.
Shane: “Hey Dave, are you technology friendly? Are you on your phone, are you online a lot? Is technology something you want to use in the mortgage process?”
Dave: “Absolutely! I'm on my cell phone all the time. I like that.”
Shane: “Great, well we're big on education. You know, I get paid the same Dave, regardless of the type of loan that you choose, so we want to find the best fit for you. And the way for us to do that is to educate you and show you all your options so you can make an educated decision on what makes the most sense for you. Would you like a presentation where we can show you side by side, multiple options explaining every aspect of that loan?”
Dave: “Yes, of course, that would be amazing.”
Shane: “Fantastic. As soon as we get off the phone, my team and I are going to sit down. We're going to go through all the options we discussed. I have a pretty good idea of where you're going to fit, but I'm going to show you different options, let you make that decision.”
Strategic Tip: You'll notice that in the pre-qual conversation, first Shane makes a value proposition, then he asks a question and waits for the answer. ___________________________________________________________________#3 Here’s how Josh Mettle ($290M Producer) addresses the question, “What’s your rate?”
“Well Dave, have you been watching what's been going on in the interest rate market? I assume you've seen what's happened since the end of 2017?”
“Well yes, I have a little bit.”
“Okay, well let me explain where we are in the cycle, because you may not be writing an offer today, so my rate today may be irrelevant. Let me explain to you a little bit about where we're going in the future in terms of interest rates, find out a little bit more about your situation, and then let's talk about creating a loan program that's going to have the least amount of costs during the time horizon that you plan to be in the home.”
At that point, guards start to come down a little bit, and I've entered into the conversation something more than just rate and fees. I then usually go into just a very brief explanation. I'll say,
“Look, from 2007 to 2017, we have the Federal Reserve buying $4.7 trillion of mortgage-backed securities and treasury bills, artificially bringing interest rates down. That process has ended at the end of 2017 and now, we're in a period where interest rates are going to revert to the mean or revert to the average, which is about 7.75%.”
I have a little graph that I use, and I'll send them, while I'm on the email.
“Hey Dave, are you at your email? Okay cool, what's your email? Let me send you this graph.”
It's a graph of interest rates going back to 1960. I'll say, “Look, the average is about 7.75. We're in the process of going back to what I think is a more normalized interest rate range, so the reality is, the sooner you find a home, the sooner we have you pre-qualified, the sooner we get you under contract and lock in an interest rate, that's going to be the best interest rate for you, not necessarily the person who quotes you the best interest rate today, because you may be several months away from going under contract.”
From there, I start going right back. Once we've had that dialogue and they start thinking a little differently, I'll immediately go into the rest of my questions. Then built into my CRM, I've got my entire set of questions. Then we're going to go into:
“What's your price range, how much down? What property type? Hey, tell me a little bit about your family? How old are your kids? What are their names, by the way?”
Then we start going through the process. And at the end of that questions, I'm going to say,
“Hey look Dave, based on what I heard you say, what I really want to do is I want to create Total Cost Analysis for you, because that's a tool that's going to allow me to prove to you that one loan program over another is the lowest amount of cost over the time horizon used for the time you are going to be in the house.”
“The next step in that process, of course, is to take a few minutes and complete our client questionnaire. I'll text you our mobile app right now. You can do that in 10 minutes, and by the end of that process of you filling out our client questionnaire, within 24 hours we'll have a Total Cost Analysis to you. I'll film a cool little video for you, the 60-second overview of the program; then we'll jump back on the phone, make sure that we have the right loan program for you and your family and the time horizon you're going to be in the home. How does that sound?”
“The loan officer who can help a buyer go from CONFUSION to CLARITY to CLOSE fastest wins. Speed is king in 2018, so the Mortgage Coach TOTAL COST ANALYSIS is even more important to buyer clarity and loan officer success this year.” Josh Mettle
Strategic Tip: If you're new in the business, if you're closing less than 5-6 loans a month, what Josh just told you is a better script. Read this over and over. This is some of the best scripting in the industry when it comes to building rapport and being unique. He doesn't sound like every other loan officer. He's delivering something unique and valuable. ___________________________________________________________________Here’s how Josh compares himself with another lender to deflect the rate issue:
I often ask people, “Tell me a little bit about your family. That may sound like an odd question, but depending on how many people you have in your family, the age and what's going on in your professional career, I can help you prognosticate or estimate how long you're going to be in the house. It helps, it's valuable information.”
I start digging in for that information a lot of times in the very initial phone call, and I'm taking that information down in my CRM.
In the end, I'll ask something like, “Hey Dave, tell me, when you make a decision on a mortgage lender, what's most important to you?”
I'll always wrap up by saying, “Let me tell you what’s most important to me. What's most important to me is that when your two children,” and usually I have their names down, “When your two children are packing up their belongings and your family's having that really cool moment of getting everything boxed up and excited to move into the next house, the most important thing to me is that your loan has been cleared to close for a week and that you have zero concerns that there's going to be any problems with getting keys on time or early.”
“My commitment to you is that we will close your loan in a blindingly fast amount of time. We will have the loan closed well before you want it closed, and I don't expect you to take my word for it. What I would love you to do is follow the link I'm going to email you to check out our Google reviews, and take 60 seconds and review the Google reviews. There's no way to fabricate these. You have to sign in to Google with your login and password. These are hundreds of clients that have written to us and told us about their experience, and I want you to feel comfortable and rest easy that that's the kind of experience we're going to build for you and your family.”
Most people ask what's your rate and what's your fee because it's their default. They don't know what other questions to ask. That may actually be fifth or sixth in their priority level, but it's really uncomfortable for most people to talk about feelings, so you have to answer that question with a question and then get back to your normal sales protocol, and then get back to how you're going to serve them and take care of them and create an option that's going to have the lowest cost over the time horizon they're in the home.
Strategic Tip: Notice how Josh isn't selling a program, rate, fee, a monthly payment. He's finding out their goals, he's connecting with them emotionally, and then he's using a Total Cost Analysis to execute on that. ___________________________________________________________________#4 Here’s Lori Richardson ($80M Producer) script for winning clients for life:
To preface, “We're not selling tin foil,” Lori says. “We're not selling shoes. We are helping people with one of the biggest financial decisions they will ever make in their entire life, so this is way bigger than rates in helping our clients go forward.”
I tell clients: “We always begin with the end in mind, and we really want to help you integrate this loan into the rest of your financial plan, which might sound a little overwhelming at the very beginning, especially if you're a first-time homebuyer, but we're going to be with you every step of the way as we work through this process.”
At this time, we're spending a lot of time up front understanding who they are. I want to know their kids' names, their pets' names. I want to know what this is looking like. We're creating the Total Cost Analysis, and I use a lot of Josh's scripting as well, and as we're finishing our call, we’re saying, “What’s important to us is, if we do our job correctly, our job really begins after closing.”
We want the closing process to be extraordinarily seamless and stress-free, but my job I see as really starting after we close and from there, it's our job to help them manage one of the largest debts we know they're going to have. I'll usually say, “Unless you buy a huge boat or a business, this is probably going to be one of your biggest financial investments, and we take that seriously.”
“Most people who do what I do for a living just provide the debt and then you may or may not hear from them again, but I want you to know that we are committed to making sure you are always in the right loan at the right time. Lots of things change over the years, and we want to make sure we're with you as you move through those changes. We'll also continue to monitor the market as things evolve to see if there's an opportunity to save you money, or to share a new strategy that will help you build your wealth over time.”
We do sometimes talk about if rates drop, we're going to call you and do a no-cost refinance. But what we're trying to get across here is that this is not a one-and-done. We’re saying, “This is the beginning, not the end, and we're going to be with you through this process. If your friends or family have questions as we move through the process, we are here to be a resource to them as well. Now, as you create your personal wealth creation team, you've got a great mortgage banker on it, you probably have a great real estate agent on it, and as we continue to grow, we may want to add a financial planner or a CPA, or somebody to help you with long-term care. Please know we've got great resources that I trust will take great care of you when the time is right.”
Strategic Tip: So Lori is getting around the rate issue by explaining that taking out a mortgage is a lot bigger than a one-and-done deal. It’s a long-term commitment and she’s going to be there every step of the way. _____________________________________________________________________#5 Here’s how Michele Town ($100 Producer) transitions a hesitant buyer from ‘here’s what it’s costing you to wait’ (a Cost of Waiting Analysis) to ‘here’s how you can start creating wealth with real estate’ (a Total Cost Analysis):
I wanted to find something that I could do to distract them from that question of, “I need to wait, or I need to do this.” I wanted to give them real numbers that made sense, so we created this Cost of Waiting calculator that I actually will send to clients, and I'll say, “Listen, this is just a sample. What I'd like to do is take this and convert it into a Total Cost Analysis so you can actually see it and feel it.”
I feel like when people see it, and they can play around with the numbers that they’re thrilled with it, so with this Cost of Waiting script, I have a graph from Freddie Mac that I use, and I say: “In October of 2017, the average interest rate on a 30-year fixed was 3.75%. Today, as of the end of the quarter in March, the average interest rate for a 30-year fix was 4.5%. What does that mean to you?”
I always ask the question. “What does that mean to you?” I like to engage them. They usually say, “I don't know.” Then I’ll say, “Do me a favor. Open up that Cost of Waiting Analysis I just sent you and let's look at what that means to you.” I'll plug in as we go. I’ll say okay, “You want to buy a house for $650,000, and you're going to put 20% down. The rate in October when you started shopping was 3.75%. Your payment at that time was $2,791. Now, fast forward to where we are today, and that rate is now 4.5%. That payment now is $3273, so that's a $500 difference in payment.”
“Okay, so did you realize that that payment of $2,791 just went up $300 a month so over the next two years that $300 is going to cost you $7,200 just in the mortgage payments? Even more so, let's take a look at that same house you wanted to buy. You told me in our intake call that you didn't want your mortgage payment to be over $2,700 per month. What does that mean to you in dollars? Now, by waiting seven or eight months, and with interest rates going up, that payment to keep your payment at $2,700, it's now $44,000 more in down payment. Can you save $44,000 in seven months?”
I know I can't, but it puts things in perspective for them. Most people don't know that, dollar for dollar, trying to save more for the down payment doesn't work out in mortgages. We all know when we're looking at a file and we see the debt rate's at 52%, we know putting more down payment isn't going to be the answer. It's going to be paying off a debt because that debt payment is going to give us more volume to buy.
I find when I'm speaking to clients, they don't know the questions to ask. When you put it in that perspective, it makes them engage in the process, and they sit there and go, “Oh my gosh, I didn't realize that.” Then I take it to the next step and say, “I'm going to send you a Total Cost Analysis, and I'm going to put in October. I'm going to put in today, and I'm going to put in how much more down payment you would have to put down to keep your payment at what you wanted originally in October.” That is eye-opening to them when they see that their cash-to-close went from $40,000 to $104,000.
Strategic Tip: Remember, you’re the expert. As Michele said, they don’t know the right questions to ask. So you’ve got to take the lead and explain to them what they don’t know they don’t know. _____________________________________________________________________#6 Here’s how Stew Sweet ($54M Producer) overcomes rate shopping by positioning himself as an educator, advocate and team member for the client:
I start out by saying to the client, “I am an educator and Mortgage Coach,” so from the first conversation we have until the day they get their keys, I am there to provide education and to advocate on their behalf. What I mean by that is education-wise, I'm going to walk them through every component of getting a mortgage. I work with a lot of millennials. I'm a millennial, so they come to me not knowing what a mortgage is. I literally start from square one, and I'll educate them up to a point where they can make their own decisions about their loan, so A, I'm an educator. B, I'm an advocate, so here’s how I go through the process of pulling a listing agent.
“You're getting your offer ready; we've done all this hard work together, Mr. Borrower, Mrs. Borrower and getting your file ready, and then once your offer goes in I'm going to call the listing agent and tell them why they should accept your offer, that we'll always perform. I will always perform. I'll always do what I say I'll do. You will get your client's money that they need, and our buyers will perform. I'm positioning myself right away as a member of the team for them. So, Dave, you were saying my market is competitive, and it is ridiculously competitive. Frequently, it's 20 offers going in on a property. I'm competing against local IMBs, against retail banks, against online banks, so I am positioning myself as a member of their team.
I'm not some service provider who's going to get them a loan. I'm someone who's going to help them get the house. Me and the Realtor are on a team together with the borrower, making sure they get the home they want to get. From day one, I'm a team member. I'm not a service provider; I'm a team member. “When you work with me, I'll do what I say I'll do 100% of the time. I'll educate you throughout the process, and I will deliver, always.” That's where I'm coming from when I have that first conversation. _____________________________________________________________________Here’s how Stew overcomes rate objections when he gets pushback:
“My rate is a quarter point higher. What does that mean in dollar terms? You know, another mortgage company is offering a quarter point better than me, but they're taking 30 days to close. It's impossible to get an offer accepted with a 30-day close of escrow in our market. It's too competitive, it just doesn't happen.”
“If you're lucky enough to be that person that gets the 30-day offer accepted, it's going to happen six months from now. If the current rate of price appreciation continues, six months from now that same home will be worth 5% more. Even if you get that lower rate, if you're paying 5% more for the house, you're getting that lower rate on higher borrowed money, therefore the amount of interest you pay is going to be roughly equivalent to what you'll get today, with me, and you'll get your house faster.”
I frame it in the context of my market, and I frame it in the context of giving them real data. I'm not trying to sell them on mumbo-jumbo; I'm a great person, whatever. It's data. I give them data. I do it with the Total Cost Analysis. I use Total Cost Analysis all throughout my day. I provide all this data to show them this is what I'm talking about, and this is why it's relevant to you. I have these conversations early on, so my goal is to identify who the shoppers are as early as I possibly can to target them specifically on the things that Justin was talking about with stretching out the time frame. I’m also looking at how quickly their offer will get accepted and how that will impact the interest they pay. I do that very early, and the goal with that is if someone is a shopper and they're not going to see my value, I don't want to spend weeks and months working with them and trying to convince them that they really should see my value. If they don't see it, I want to know early on so I can let them go, say, “Hey, Wells Fargo is here at your place. You got it.”
I talk rates early on. I send rates early on. I give my value proposition. I make it clear to them that I am their best chance of getting a house, and then if they're on board and they get the value, great. By the time they're on contract, they know. They're on board. They get it. A lot of it comes from front-loading my work, making sure I'm clear with them on what my value is, making sure they get it and if they don't get it, no hard feelings. There are plenty of people out there; I'll find them.
Strategic Tip: Stew positions himself as an educator and Mortgage Coach, not a salesperson. He’s someone who’s going to go to bat for the customer, so from meeting one, he’s telling them he’s on their side, and he’s there for them and that he will do whatever he can to get them into the house they want. He builds trust and value before asking for the sale. _____________________________________________________________________Your Assignment As You Leave This Playbook:
Now that you’ve reviewed this playbook, I have a homework assignment that will help you generate more conversions.
1. Review your current sales processes and script and rate yourself on the PRINCIPLES and CORE STRATEGIES. Download this playbook and highlight specific language you feel could be used to improve your scripts.
2. Then write down your talking points, key phrases and create your own value proposition scripts.
3. Polish your script by reading it out loud to your team and your partners. Incorporate the feedback. Practice it several times, but do this entire process quickly, within a day or two.
4. Be a master with the Mortgage Coach Total Cost Analysis and deliver it to every single referral you work with.
5. Watch SCRIPT-a-PALOOA and attend our weekly LIVE training.
6. The next call or referral you get, pull out your value proposition script and use it to describe the value you offer, to counter customer challenges, and to educate the buyer.
7. How did they work? Track and measure your success. Then, continue to polish your scripts to improve your conversions.
8. Share your success stories and best strategies in the Mortgage Coach Productivity Mastermind Group.
RESOURCES:
CLICK to go to our YouTube Channel
CLICK for a DEMO of Mortgage Coach
CLICK to Watch SCRIPT-a-PALOOZA
CLICK to download transcript of SCRIPT-aPALOOZA
Remember this quote: “Speed is king in 2018 so the Mortgage Coach TOTAL COST ANALYSIS is even more important to buyer clarity and loan officer success this year. The loan officer who can help a buyer go from CONFUSION to CLARITY to CLOSE fastest wins.” Josh Mettle