Improve Your Close Ratio

Dear,

Converting a mortgage lead into a closed sale requires a series of selling successes. In our role as the provider of double verified exclusive mortgage sales leads, we have a pretty good view of how our most successful clients improve their close ratio and we thought it fit to share it with you.

In general, Services-On-Tap clients have the most success when they move their customers along a defined sales path.

Step 1: Define the financial objectives

What your prospect wants to know is "How much are you going to save me?" but it's in your best interest to delay answering that question until you have a better sense of how this refinance might fit into their financial picture.

Positioning yourself as part investment advisor has a couple of important benefits for a mortgage broker or loan officer. It gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise and a chance to determine how to best help your customer. And this is probably what many of your competitors are NOT doing.

At the same you want to get your prospect involved in the process as early as possible. Consider e-mailing your customer a spreadsheet that will allow them to get comfortable with some of the trade-offs. While there are many Internet-based calculators that do the same thing, you can customize the spreadsheet to the needs of your customer. Here's a link to a spreadsheet that you can easily customize to your own needs and send to your customers.

In this stage your goal is to build a relationship, demonstrate your expertise and get your customer involved.

Step 2: Ask provocative questions

"Is it more important that you reduce your monthly mortgage payment or accelerate the amount of time it takes to pay off your house?"

"How much money are you currently saving each month and would you be better off making an extra mortgage payment?"

"Are you carrying any credit card debt and have you considered getting cash back to pay that off?"

The more questions you ask, the better you'll understand your customer and what type of package they are most likely to agree to. At the same time you are giving your customer the sense that they are in control and that the refinance process is complicated enough that it makes sense to work with a professional like you.

In this stage your goal is to identify possible objections, find ways to overcome those objections and give your customer a level of control.

Step 3: Present options

One of the biggest reasons customers might not agree to a new mortgage is that they are worried in their own ability to make decisions. It's important to put your customer in control and build their confidence that they can make an intelligent decision.

• Give them options
• Educate your customer

The bigger the purchase the more likely a customer will want choices. Would you buy a home, for example, after looking at just one property? Mortgage consumers will want a choice, but too many choices might be a problem. The more choices, the more complicated the decision and the more likely the customer won't trust their ability to make the right decision.

At the same time you'll want to educate them about the key considerations of each option. It's always good to position each choice in terms of both the "upside" and the "downside" of the option.

In this stage you want to make a recommendation to your customer but still leave them with alternatives. You also want to pay attention to your customer's confidence that they know enough to make an intelligent decision.

Step 4: Taking the next step

Up to this point you've exchanged information, provided some ballpark numbers and given your customer a recommendation about how a refinance might fit into their overall financial picture. The next step is to ratchet up the customer's commitment. You might not be ready to "close the sale" just yet, but look for opportunities to keep the process moving.

This might be a great time run a quick credit check or do some research on property values. Get your customer to fill out some forms, do some homework and essentially get some skin in the game.

In this stage your goal is to get your customer to play an active role in the process to increase the commitment on both sides.

Step 5: Closing the Sale

This is the step that most good brokers and loan officers know how to do in their sleep. Once you've established your customer's confidence, highlight the benefits of your recommendation again, explain the process as clearly as possible, create a sense of urgency and encourage them to take action.

Summary

Services-On-Tap helps the mortgage industry reduce its costs and increase its revenue by generating exclusive telemarketing mortgage leads, providing income and employment verification as well as full processing services. We're based in Santa Clara, CA, and I would be happy to answer any questions you might have at 866-643-8768.

Sincerely,
Larry Cooper
Sales Manager
Services-On-Tap
866-643-8768

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