“The Lincoln Strategy”

Many of us have heard of the old tried and true sales rule, “ABC – Always Be Closing”. For many years, and even to this day that strategy will work for many of those in our industry. As long as you are working the internet or leads lists, the old “ABC” strategy will provide results. However, if you are working referrals from professional referral partners, the old “ABC” strategy may cause issues with the client and the referral partner. You see, professional referrals are different from those other sources of opportunity. Professional referrals are a matter of trust and expertise! Trying to “close” a professional referral can feel an awful lot like pressure to the customer.

One of the things I have taught my clients about professional referrals is that they are very different than a lead; they are as different as night and day. You are referred by a professional to be a professional. To look at the specific situation and make a determination of what are the best options for that client so they can make an informed choice. I call it “The Lincoln Strategy” or “ABE”

Always

Be

Educating

Professionals deal in information, education, and options. Being a resource to those things for other professionals is the very reason other professionals want and need a mortgage professional in their lives; someone familiar with how to understand a specific situation and provide the best possible solutions to that client’s specific challenges.

The ability to educate and be a resource can help create opportunities and value to the customer and the referral partner. Important information like how rising interest rates are being pushed by a record setting stock market, the reduction on MBS purchases by the Federal Reserve, and a weaker dollar are a trend to be aware of, especially as the amount of MBS purchase reductions are due to go all the way to twenty billion dollars by October of this year!

Using video to share information like this, as well as other important strategies can be a very effective way to pass along information and provide value for your referral partners. Sharing video via email and text message, as well as through YouTube® and other social media outlets also allow for exposure and exponential reach of your expertise! These videos can also be combined with more than one strategy to present a series of opportunities and options for you and your referral partners to attract and service clients!

So use “The Lincoln Strategy” and Always Be Educating your clients, referral partners, and community by providing strategies, options, information, and execution. This exceptional value will attract the best of the best in your community and help you build a truly exceptional mortgage practice.

Questions or comments: Mike@IMTcoaching.com

Or visit us online at http://imtcoaching.com

“Mid-January Activities”

By all accounts from the field, it appears we are off to a really strong start to 2018! New inquiries, pre-approvals, and contracts are coming in at a really strong rate all across the board. Very happy to see that all the effort and activities made in October, November, and December are really paying off for those that remained committed.

It’s the middle of January and we have a few strategies and follow-up procedures to take care of.

• Mid-month numbers check
• Last chance to speak to accountants
• Tax refund strategy
• New tax law benefits
• February event planning

The middle of every month is the time to track all the numbers. Month to date and year to date numbers are essential in tracking and comparing to your business plan projections. Staying on top of your numbers keeps you on top of your business!

You have two weeks or so to connect with your accountants about WHY people need to buy homes or sell and move to their “Forever Home®”. How many first time buyers can use their tax refund, first and last month rent, security deposit, and the new tax code to help them go from renter to owner? If your video isn’t done on this strategy, what are you waiting for?

The “Tax Refund Strategy” is the real deal! A large lump sum of money is a great start to owning a home. However, understanding that a tax refund isn’t extra money, just an interest free loan you gave the government! Reducing withholding can make the monthly cash flow really improve! You why don’t we have our accountants do a video with us explaining that? When coupled with the new tax code, cash flow for most people will improve significantly!

The new tax law will improve monthly cash flows on about 90% of the country! Improved cash flow can make people more comfortable looking into owning. Yes, in some parts of the country the limit on tax deductions and interest deductions are very real and can certainly represent a challenge, but how many people have more than $10,000 is taxes to deduct? How many have mortgages over $750,000? How many that do, won’t see improvement in other areas that might offset some or all of these changes. And of those that are still paying a higher tax bill after everything is considered, it is a vastly smaller group than those that benefit from it.

February event planning time is NOW! If you are planning for an event in February, you need to get moving. If you have thoughts on doing a Valentine’s Day event or some kind of gift, you really need to move NOW!

We plan for a reason. We track for a reason. We make adjustments based on data we are tracking! This is called working on your business! If you need help, please let us know.

Questions or comments: Mike@IMTcoaching.com

Check out Mike’s Special On-Site, One Day Training for your entire team!  visit http://www.imtcoaching.com/how-many-loans-do-you-want-to-close-in-2018.html

“Communicate & Connect”

There has been a huge amount of talk in the industry lately about communicating with our clients. Much of the focus has been directed at email and automated services. While I believe there is a place for automation in our industry, my belief is that automation can become abdication! Automation shouldn’t replace personal contact; it should be in addition to your personal contact.

In many cases, we are relying far too much on email as our preferred method of communication with our clients without ever asking them what their preferred method of communication is! The reliance on the email relationship has grown to become a real problem for mortgage originators without them even knowing it! I personally have clients that work for companies that have a very powerful automated communication system. This system is programed to email the client and referral partners throughout the process with all kinds of information. In some cases, clients and referral partners have complained about the number of messages they are being sent, as well as the types of information in those messages.

My point is the transactional lifecycle of our clients is rather small. Most LOS systems now have a portal for the client to go in and actually see their file status, but most clients never use this feature. The reason is often that they don’t want or need to know their day-to-day status. In fact, a real mortgage professional would have set forward a specific timeline of milestones so the customer knew exactly when certain things were completed and that everything was on track, just by the regular client connection phone calls.

What are regular client connection phone calls? Those are the brief one to three minute personal phone calls or text messages, not emails, which we make every week to the client to keep us connected to them and them to our process. Think about it, the time from first contact to pre-approval is less than ten days for most of my clients. Sometimes that process is less than 24 hours! Once that client is fully pre-approved, it is likely less than 12 weeks for them to find a home and enter into contract. Regardless of how long the process takes, making a weekly status phone call or text to your customer is a great way to keep connected and support the relationship! Too many deals are lost after pre-approval because originators fail to keep connected! Email isn’t connecting. Besides, 12 text messages or phone calls during that part of the process by you or your team amounts to less than an hour of work. Less than an hour to secure your transaction and build a long lasting relationship with that client! How many deals do you do in a year, Fifty, One Hundred, Three Hundred? Using your personal communication to stay connected and building a relationship while providing exceptional service to the client is a very small investment in your future business!

Email, video, and other forms of electronic communication are NOT a substitute for a personal connection. Even texting is working away from personal communication the client really desires. And yes, there are some clients that are really disconnected from the process and have no desire at all to be communicated with. Those people however, are never calling you because they already completed an application online and have chosen an automated experience, not a personal experience. While you need to provide both avenues for your clients, you had better not EVER think an algorithm would ever replace a person for most people in the process of buying, selling, or refinancing their home. At least not most people!

Questions or comments: Mike@IMTcoaching.com

Visit us online at http://imtcoaching.com

“Welcome to the New Year, same as the old year?”

It’s a whole New Year will the results be any different? Not if you haven’t made some changes. If you are happy with your current results, no need to change anything. But if you want the results to be different, you need to do some things differently!

Some of the things we need to look at are:

• Schedule
• Actions
• People
• Results

Does my current work schedule allow for time to handle the three base components of my work, Prospecting, Processing, and managing Communications?

Do my current Actions and activities generate the contacts and opportunities I need to complete my targeted agenda?

Are the People I am working with the people I need and are they the ones I need to diversify the number and type of opportunities I want to reach the targets I have set for myself and for THEM?

Are the Results I am getting congruent with the opportunities needed and the types of referral partners and clients I want to be working with?

Four very simple and basic questions that likely have complicated answers. However, without addressing each one of these, it isn’t likely that the coming year will be much different from the past year!

If things need to be different, then your schedule, your actions, your people may need some adjusting if you expect a different result!

Questions or comments: Mike@IMTcoaching.com

Visit us online at http://imtcoaching.com and make this year your most productive year in business ever!