"But, Can I Trust You?" Increasing Mortgage Sales By Building Trust
Posted by John Scott Smith on Thu, Mar 04, 2010 @ 02:08 PM
Whatever business we are in, whether our customers are verbalizing that question or not, THAT is the question that they are trying to answer. "Can I trust you?" In order to offer evidence is why we get licensed. Or, join the Better Business Bureau. Or, ask others to vouch for us.
In a weird, Zen-elusive kind of way, if you think too much about the question, you won't be able to convince anyone of your honesty or your integrity. You have to let it go, and be yourself. Allow yourself to connect. That connection is what builds trust.
In the mortgage industry, product knowledge is useful, so learn it. Availability is helpful, so answer the phone, reply to your emails, and return you messages. But, connection is what people crave and what will lead to higher success.
How do we build that connection? Be sincere. Share your experience. Learn about your customer's needs and keep their needs at the top of your mind.
Before I started in mortgage lead generation, I sold mortgages. Often, I was so focused on getting my customer the right product or pricing it correctly, that I forgot about their anxiety about whether or not they would be approved.
One of the biggest advances that I made in my selling career was when I helped them address their feelings on this. Now, I didn't use any "when you, I feel" statements or anything overly "touchy-feely". What I changed was one simple behavior. When I got a DU "refer/eligible" on a pre-approval, I made a commitment to my customer. "We'll have an answer for you within three days." (That was our timeline, back then.) "In the meantime, I am going to call you with an update, each day, even if that update is to say 'there is no update,' until we have an answer." Of course, once I laid down that bridge, I had to walk over it, each and every day. That daily effort was what built the trust. And, that was what got my customers to commit to working with me.
Someone else may have had an eighth better rate, or a quarter of a point less in closing costs, but I had already had several conversations with my customer. And, I had proven myself to good on my word.
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