The LendingTree Face of Success

Take the offensive and educate your borrowers

Your borrowers are currently being bombarded with rates and fee quotes. You can choose to ignore it or you can do what I do and realize that the best defense is a very strong offense. It's very important to realize that your clients may not even bring up the rate issue, but understand that it is on their minds.

Why is it usually the first question? They open the paper and see low rates and 'no closing cost' loan advertisements. They listen to radio and TV and hear rates. They drive down the freeway and see giant billboards advertising teaser rates that are usually too good to be true. I recommend giving them the information head-on with the facts, whether or not they ask.

• Explain that what they see in the paper is old news since rates change daily.
• Explain that some lenders will tell you no points and then charge you an origination fee, which of course is the same dollar value of a point.
• Explain that rates may not even be the issue, and that it's more important that they have the right product that meets their financial goals.

Here's the bottom-line: You must educate your borrowers. You are the expert in this niche. My borrowers are pleasantly surprised that I am actually providing them with information they should use to protect themselves. Now, I am a trusted advisor in their minds, and much closer to earning the deal. So take the offensive and separate yourself from all of the competition. Take the offensive and educate your borrowers!

Shawn S. Sajadi
E*TRADE Financial

Sales Tip of the Month - Phone Skills

When you communicate face-to-face, your body language accounts for the majority of the communication. Body language accounts for 55% of your communication while tone of voice accounts for 38% and your actual words only account for 7%.

In phone communication, much more emphasis is given to the tone of your voice. Phone communication is broken down into only two components where your tone of voice accounts for 86% of the communication and words account for 14%.

Keep this in mind while you are making those calls to the borrowers. Make sure you are sending a tone that resonates professionalism, knowledge and trust. From time to time you should record your voice so you can evaluate your own tone just as a potential customer.

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Best Practices for working with agents

Last month we discussed the importance of building relationships with real estate agents. Let's now discuss the 3 Best Practices that will earn you referral business from the agents you work with.

1. Introduce yourself AND your company to the agent - Let them know your company is a member of the LendingTree Network. If you are Gold Leaf or LendingTree Certified, tell them about that and what it means to them. And, most importantly, tell them you are looking forward to partnering with them to get this customer into a home.
2. While the customer in the home search process with the agent - Call the agent at least once each week and give status on the credit approval if not already fully complete. Ask how the home search is going and if the agent needs any support from you. Ask the buyer how the home search is going, too. Feed information on comments you hear from the buyer back to the agent to assist them in narrowing the search.
3. When the customer is under contract - This is where you earn future referral business. Crank up your communication to at least two times per week. Let the agent know what is going on. Call and email them before they call you. Confirm that everything is on track for an on-time closing. If there are any issues, call the agent and let them know the issue and what is being done to resolve it.

Building a group of agent partners who know they can count on you is the key to building your referral business. By using these 3 Best Practices, you will have earned the right to ask for referrals.

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He Said, She Said Loan Officer Testimonial

With a thorough LendingTree QF, I can go into a conversation knowing from top to bottom the expectations and qualifying factors for EVERY client. This allows me the opportunity to not only close more loans, but also create happy customers. Moving forward, I have increased my monthly revenue and referral business due to the great relationships originated by LendingTree.

These relationships start with the organized use of the online application. When I obtain the immediate notice of a new lead, I have all the information I need to start a conversation at my fingertips. This information background is the base at which my success begins. Once the loan has funded, my clients are then given the opportunity to not only reach me for questions, but automatically maintain my information for referral business. For this, I thank LendingTree and its technology advancements that have put them atop of the lead generation world!

Bill Zigler
Sr. Mortgage Banker
Americash