By: Alejandra Torres
The trick to succeeding in the mortgage industry is simple: master the art of communication.
Whether you’re an experienced loan officer or new to the mortgage business, it’s important to always polish your communication skills. That way you can successfully network with potential referral partners and market your services to new and existing clients.
Need to brush up on your communication techniques? Here are 5 tips you can adopt today to improve your brand and help grow your mortgage business.
- Always Reply Fast
If you want to keep your clients happy, make it a habit to always respond quickly to their emails and phone calls. And we get it – you may not always be readily available. In that case, consider scheduling certain times throughout your day to solely focus on communication responses.
Another option is writing a quick email acknowledging receipt and promising an answer within a certain time frame. That way, your client isn’t left feeling ghosted and knows you are going to follow up with them soon.
Remember: The longer you wait to acknowledge your client’s messages, the easier it is for the competition to steal your leads.
- Ask for Feedback
Reviews are critical for mortgage brokers who want to improve their business. One way to get feedback is sending your clients an online survey immediately after you close their loan.
Delivering and managing online surveys is easy with the right tool. Brokers have plenty of easy-to-use options these days (SurveyMonkey, GetFeedBack, etc.) to acquire real time opinions and responses from their customers.
After you find the tool that fits your business, the next step is thinking of the right questions to ask your clients. While creating your survey, consider the following:
- The Objective: Why are you sending this survey to your customers? You may want to learn more about the customer experience you’ve created. Or perhaps you want to gather testimonials to use for future collateral to help your brand gain recognition. Whatever the reason, it’s crucial you know what your objective is before sending out the survey.
- The Timing: While some brokers may benefit from a closing survey, others may want to get feedback throughout the transaction process. If this is the case, scheduling mini surveys at different touchpoints before, during, and after closing can help you get a better look at your business model.
- The Questions: Now that you know your objective and when you’re going to send out your survey, you need to decide how many questions you want to ask your customers. Too many questions can drive people away, while asking too few questions may not help you get the information you want. Our suggestion? Start with a short, 5-question survey and examine your initial response rate.
Keep in mind: you can also skip the formal survey and instead opt for more traditional methods to get feedback. Simply call your clients and ask them about their experience working with you. This can help strengthen broker-borrower relationships and help you get more in-depth responses.
- Referrals Are Your Friends
Don’t have a huge marketing budget? Skip the traditional advertising campaign and opt for a simple referral. As you begin to grow your relationships in the industry, you’ll have more opportunities to lock in new clients.
The trick is knowing when to ask for a referral. Instead of asking for business at random, try waiting until you’ve provided a service before asking your partners for new business opportunities. Securing a referral from a trusted source will not only build your credibility in the industry, it will also have a greater impact on your business.
Developing relationships with different lender partners can also help you distinguish which option works best for your borrowers. Some clients are the right fit for traditional banks, but other non-bankable borrowers may require alternative solutions.
- Choose the Right Social Media Platform
Social media isn’t just for memes – professionals from every industry are utilizing social media channels to grow their digital footprint.
However, it’s important to distinguish which platform works best for your business. Instagram works great if you’re a fashion influencer and juggle brand partnerships, but not so much if you’re a mortgage broker.
Instead of opening multiple accounts, try focusing on one channel to market your brand and grow your business. Our advice? Stick with LinkedIn. Many commercial mortgage originators report that this is their social network of choice to connect with partners and reach new customers.
- Take Initiative
While some of your clients may try to reach you during all hours of the day, others may wait for you to make the first move.
As soon as you have a lead, reach out and begin the conversation. This approach will help your clients feel confident you’re the best person to get their deals to the finish line. More importantly, it will help you stand apart from the rest of the competition.
When you focus on being proactive with your communication, you give yourself more opportunities to anticipate client needs. You’ll be able to identify and reduce possible friction points during the transaction process and give your clients a better mortgage experience.
Next Steps
Mastering communication is key when navigating the mortgage industry. Follow these simple steps and you’ll be on your way to becoming a top mortgage pro and trusted partner for your clients.
Ready to start closing loans? Head over to our Get Started page to tell us a little about yourself.