Making the Most of Your Time

Time is money. No one knows that better than you.

Managing your time to provide good service to your existing pipeline, while cultivating new business, is no doubt a big challenge. Here are some tips from our training team to help you develop a routine that works best for you.

Identify YOUR peak time of day.

When do YOU feel your best? Are you a morning person? An afternoon person? Or maybe your energy peaks in the early evening? Optimize your highest energy levels by using that time to do your most important task - outbound calling.

Block your time.

Each day is filled with what seems like a million different demands on your time. By committing to block your time every day for your highest priority activities, you can accomplish more. Here are three things to be sure you block time daily for:

1. Outbound calls - As a loan officer, outbound calling is critical to bringing in new business. Feeding your pipeline is the single most important task to achieving long term goals. Do it when you feel your best and are ready to tackle winning new customers.
2. Returning calls - Never leave your new and existing customers hanging. No one likes to feel ignored - particularly when working through a stressful transaction. Decide to set aside time just for returning phone calls so your customer is confident that you have things under control.
3. Paperwork - Everybody hates it, but loans don't close without it. Paper shuffling is often the easiest task to ignore or put off. It's also the quickest to bury and overwhelm you. This may be the task you choose to do during your lower energy time of day - but decide to do it.

Create a realistic routine.

Consider your daily priority tasks along side your peak performance times. Take out your daily calendar and draw in the blocks. Visualizing it on paper helps you to decide and commit to it. To stay on track, leave a slot or two open during the day to manage those little emergencies that sneak up on us.

Time is a valuable commodity. Deciding to take these simple steps can ensure that you have enough to care for your customers - and make more money!

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Consumer Perspective - The Lender Scorecard

The LendingTree Lender Scorecard is a valuable resource you can use to gain consumer confidence in your service.

You have been vacationing on a beautiful tropical island. Arriving at the airport, you are presented with two choices for the flight home. You can go first class on a small commercial jet with an inexperienced crew - or hop in a 1955 crop duster with a friendly local who has flown the same route for 20 years. Both choices are offered at the exact same cost. Which would you trust to get you there?

Many customers feel they face just as risky a decision when deciding who to trust with their home loan. They can see the vision of their new home or lower payments, but are intimidated by the options.

The LendingTree Scorecard is one tool that potential borrowers can use to determine where to turn.

Taking pride in your company's scorecard results can directly impact your ability to win the trust of a new customer. Borrowers are shown the Lender Scorecard at that critical moment, when they view their offer choices, side by side, from you - and your competitors. Often fees and rates are similar, the scorecard provides a gauge on the type of service to expect.

The scores displayed originate from an email survey of every LendingTree consumer that closed a loan. Your borrowers are asked to rank your service in a variety of customer satisfaction categories; Overall Experience, Rate, Fees & Closing Costs, Responsiveness, and Customer Service.

The scorecard can be a great selling tool for you if you and your team are committed to:

• Pro-actively provide outstanding customer service and support.
• Sincerely acknowledge and address any negative feelings from your borrower.
• Ask your borrowers to complete the LendingTree survey.
• Routinely make the current scorecard rating a topic of discussion in you office.

Having a record of consistently great service will go a long way to making you the customer's choice when all else is equal.

To view the entire scorecard, visit Lendingtree.com and click on Lender Scorecard. For more information, join us for Understanding the Lender Scorecard, a free webinar hosted by our scorecard experts. Log on to www.lendingtreetraining.com for the schedule and details.

Participate in this webinar and be entered into the quarterly drawing to win a $50 gift certificate to the LendingTree company store. To register for the giveaway, complete a short, online survey following the conclusion of "Understanding the Lender Scorecard". Sign up today! Visit www.lendingtreetraining.com

The Task Counter is located below the Quick Search window and is available from any screen in LenderWeb Apex. It provides a snapshot of what tasks are outstanding and what needs to be accomplished over the course of your day.

When a task becomes due or is scheduled for later the same day, the Task Counter will notify you by changing to red for a few seconds. It also updates the number of Overdue (last 7 days) and/or Upcoming Today tasks listed.

Irvine California Delivers!

Thanks to everyone that joined us for LendingTree University Live in Irvine California! This event was a great success with 99 loan officers and mangers in attendance - here's what they had to say:

• Over 90% thought it was worth a day out of the office!
• Over 90% would recommend LTU Live to a co-worker!
• Over 80% said LTU Live will help them be more successful!

As always, our LendingTree Best Practices session was a favorite. Attendees enjoyed the opportunity to network and learn from other loan officers, picking up new techniques and tips to help them close more loans. In addition, they told us the training they received would improve their communication skills, time management, and ability to understand the consumer. All in all, loan officers felt like LendingTree University Live gave them the tools to differentiate themselves from the competition.

Live in the Northeast? Ready to join the success? If so, it's your turn to take part in LendingTree University Live.

This day-long professional development program is designed to give you the tips and techniques that will help you be more successful with the LendingTree consumer. Whether you are new to the industry or a veteran loan officer, you'll benefit from this interactive, upbeat training!

At LendingTree University Live you will:

Sharpen your selling skills with Vernon Roberts, Founder & President of eVoke Learning, as he presents "Making the Call - Creating Success When Banks Compete."

Learn the tricks of the trade during our LendingTree Best Practices Café, where you will discuss best practices with other successful Network loan officers.

Step into the shoes of the consumer and understand how the LendingTree process works.

The cost is $245 per person. This fee includes breakfast, lunch, post-training cocktail reception and parking.

Want savings? Buy 3, Get 1 FREE! Gold Leaf Seal recipient? Your cost is only $200!

For more information or to register, visit www.lendingtreetraining.com

As reprinted from Just Sell.com

Utilize follow up activities that can potentially drive referrals:

• Send a personal note thanking them for their business and asking for referrals.
• Call or arrange a meeting where you can thank them for their business and ask for referrals.
• Send several pre-addressed postcards with stamps for your customer to send to friends and colleagues.