The first contact is EVERYTHING!
I have said it before, but it is worth repeating, how you handle that first interaction with a prospect can vastly improve your conversion rates. Why is this important? Because improving your conversion rates amounts to free money! You work so hard to generate an opportunity, why not spend just a little time refining your process and improve your conversion rates? Scary part is, too many originators, managers, and companies don’t track this important information, much less put steps in place to improve it! So, if you aren’t tracking, or know what to track, here is what I suggest you look at. Initial contact, preapproval, contract, and of course, closings. You may have different terms, but you get the idea.
Of all of these, the initial contact can be the biggest and best place to improve your process to increase your overall conversion rates. This contact sets the stage and paints the picture for the client on how you work, what is needed, and the path to be taken that will complete the process for that client that meets or exceeds initial expectations! They say that you never get a second chance to make a first impression; in the mortgage business, if the first impression is bad, you will NEVER get that second chance! Some key factors in that first contact are:
- How did they come to call you?
- Give them five minutes to share with you what they are looking to do.
- Ask them if they are looking for specific or generic information?
- If specific, share with them the documentation needed to do that and schedule a time for them to get that to you.
- Share the benefits of following your plan, and the potential consequences if they don’t.
- Schedule the next point of follow-up and preferred method of communication!
- Call the referral source and thank them for the referral and share when your next follow-up is scheduled.
How you handle that first contact matters. If you would like help with this, please just email me: [email protected] and let’s talk about it!
