The LendingTree Face of Success

My name is Mona Mohareb. I work for Home123, a subsidiary of New Century Financial Corporation and I have been successfully closing LendingTree loans for over 5 years.

The secret to my success starts with first impressions. When I call the client to introduce myself I let them know who I am and how I received their mortgage inquiry. I ask the right questions and listen carefully to exactly what they want and what they are looking for. I take the time to explain the different loan programs and products that I have to offer and that will best suit their financial needs. I always follow up with an e-mail to recap our discussion and "ask for their business".

Once the client agrees to work with me, I explain the next steps. During the whole loan process I am in constant communication with my borrowers to give them updates. This way they know I am diligently working on their loan in a timely fashion. In the end, when I have delivered their loan quickly, efficiently and professionally, I know that I have earned a client for life and they are happy to refer their friends and family to me as well.

Mona Mohareb
Home123

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Staying in Touch with the Customer Experience

Smart Borrower Center: Building Trust with Consumers

The new Smart Borrower Center was launched in September, replacing the old Knowledge Center. The Smart Borrower Center is part of an ongoing consumer education program designed to reinforce trust in the LendingTree Exchange by providing great information and tools about loans and borrowing.

The updated site features:

• New, clean design with a mroe personable approach;
• Better categorization to make information easier to find;
• Multiple ways for customers to find the information that they're looking for, such as by loan product, need or even by life stage;
• RSS (Really Simple Syndication), which allows consumers to receive content by subscription without giving an email address. You can use it too by simply subscribing to any of our feeds and posting it on your website.

And we're not done! More enhancements are coming, like a “rate this article” feature, and new calculators and tools. As a loan officer who takes LendingTree leads– you have the added benefit of using all of this valuable information in your own sales process to help educate and build real trust with your customers.

Please offer any suggestions you may have for the Smart Borrower Center by emailing the editor at bridget.smith@lendingtree.com.

Update on Offer Delivery

As of Thursday, October 12th, consumers will no longer have access to the secure member area to check on the status of their offers, to accept or reject an offer, or to initiate a new request. In lieu of logging in to view offers, all customers will receive offers via email. Returning customers will be directed to the "Returning Customer Page" that gives directions on how to accomplish common actions like completing an incomplete QF or changing a request. We have been preparing consumers for this for several months. In mid August, we removed any mention of "logging in to view offers" from all marketing email. In mid-September we started sending offers to all customers via email. Any customer who requested a loan prior to September 14th can still receive offers over the phone or via email by calling Customer Care. We have received positive responses from consumers who receive offers via email, so we feel very comfortable moving to an email-only model.

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Sales Tip of the Month - Pre-Call Planning

When you get ready to make a call to a potential borrower, what do you do to prepare? Are you one of those sales people that take time to learn about the customer you are about to call first or are you one who just picks up the phone and goes with the flow?

For the best results, you should always take a few moments to prepare and learn as much as you can about the customer you are about to call. Start planning by thinking of the end in mind. If you know how you want the call to end, then you can determine how to steer it that way from the beginning.

Before beginning any call, be sure to consider the answers to these questions:

• Why should this customer want to do business with you and/or your company?
• What is the purpose of this call?
• What action do I want to take place as a result of this call?

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LendingTree University on Demand

Have You Checked Out Our On-line Training Program?

LendingTree is excited to announce that we have just added "The Loan Officer Commitments" program to LTU On Demand training. This course is designed to address our number one lender complaint from LendingTree customers – loan officer professionalism. It introduces the concept of an expected level of service and behavior from loan officers that participate on the LendingTree exchange.

Available 24/7 – this dynamic on-line interactive program is fast and convenient. Be sure that your loan officers take advantage of this great information. For more details contact your account executive or visit www.lendingtreetraining.com/ondemand.asp.