Mortgage Broker Training, Benefit Fulfillment Sales Techniques

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Remember the first time you called on a Realtor? It probably went something like this;

“Mr Realtor, my company offers Option ARMS, No-Doc’s and Alt-A programs. Wouldn’t you like to work with us?”
“No thanks”

Of course they are going to say no, you’re selling features, a common mistake made by Loan Originators when calling on Realtors. Features describe a product or service, but don’t, in themselves explain how they can help the client. A good example outside the mortgage industry would be a salesman telling my mother (who’s shopping for a fast car), she should buy this particular car because it comes with a turbo. My mom has no idea what a turbo is. What a good salesman would say, is that she should get it because the turbo makes it faster. Turbo is a feature, faster is a benefit. Good salespeople, in any field, sell benefits. So, if we change our original example, it would go like this;

“Mr. Realtor, my company offers programs that helps self-employed borrowers better qualify for larger loan amounts with lower down payments. Wouldn’t you like to work with us?”
“Ummm… no, thanks anyway”

What happened? Well, it’s not enough to sell benefits in general, you have to find out what benefits fulfill their particular needs. If the Realtor you’re calling on gets all his business from the local automobile factory, programs that help self-employed borrowers will be of little interest. In my last training story, I stressed the importance of setting an appointment with a Realtor instead of trying to sell on a cold call. By setting an appointment, you can sit down with your Realtor for a set period of time, and ask them questions about their business. The appointment should go something like this;

Thank them for meeting with you and remind them of the agreed time you have both set aside. (10 minutes, 15 etc…)

Inform them of your goal in this appointment, that you want to know about them, their customers and their marketing approach to acquire these customers. You also want to learn about the mortgage companies they are already working with, and why they are working with them. Let them know that your want, based on this information, to show them where your company can better provide solutions to their needs that are currently being under or unfulfilled.

Now you want to let them know that to do this, you will be asking them some questions, and taking some notes.

Start out by asking very open questions, narrowing them once you see some sales opportunities.

What attracted them to real estate, how long have they been in the business, what is the reason for their success?

What are you doing now to generate new customers? What is the average sales price for the homes their customers are buying? Have them describe the communities they work in, and the type of hurdles they’ve encountered in getting loans for the clients they work with.

Ask them about the other mortgage companies they work with. Ask them what they like most about these companies. Ask them what percentage of business goes to each company. Find out if there was anything they could improve about each lender, what would it be.

As the interview progresses, you’ll see how questions can further be narrowed to learn about specific deals they have going, or some that they lost. The goal is to find a solution to saving a deal or showing them how you could have better served their needs. Remember, show them the benefits to working with you, be specific on how you can help.

You can summarize and close the interview by reviewing their answers, presenting solutions where you feel you could help, and asking for their business.

“Mr Realtor, you’ve told me that your biggest hurdle, is that the clients you work with are often limited in assets and are usually first time home buyers. My company offers a program that requires no down payment for this type of borrower. Do you have a current client that I might be able to help?”
“…nope!”

Arrrrrrrr! You didn’t think it would be that easy did you? I’ll have more on closing the sale and overcoming objections in my next installment of this training.

See the Mortgage Training Center for additional articles like this one.

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