WHY?
The average homeowner stays in their home for 5 years – this means by your 6th year in business, 1/5 of your overall database will buy again yearly. YOU want to capture that business back. These are not refinances – this is PURCHASE business from your past clients looking to move and buy again. A large percentage of your business should come from past clients, and the bigger the database – the bigger the opportunity.
25%
Minimum
50%
Good
75%
Crushing It
100%
Unlikely, but WOW
How much money are you leaving on the table?
1/5 of your database x your average loan size x your comp =
Example:
A loan officer closes 50 deals a year. Over 5 years they now have a database of 250 past clients. 1/5 of that data base is 50 potential new deals.
Potential New Deals
Capture
Average Loan Size
LO Comp
MONEY IN YOUR POCKET
50
25% (12.5 Deals)
$300,000
150 bps
$56,250
50
50% (25 Deals)
$300,000
150 bps
$112,500
50
75% (37.5 Deals)
$300,000
150 bps
$168,750
TACTICS FOR WORKING YOUR DATABASE AT A HIGH LEVEL
2 VISITS (EVENTS) I 4 CALLS I 12 MAIL DROPS I 12 EMAILS
VISIT (Events)
2 is recommended, but 1 is better than none
KEY: You HAVE to pick up the phone and call people to invite them – if you don’t invite them personally and make them feel like you want them to be there, they will not come.
- Try to separate them 6 months apart (this will help with your ABC calls)
- Family Oriented
- Keep it controllable cost wise. These do not have to be extravagant expensive events – but you do always need a plan
- There should be a Call To Action at the event to generate referrals
- Best to use some type of give away. EX “For every referral you write down you get an extra 2 raffle tickets for the drawing”
- DO NOT co-sponsor. These are personal events for you to connect with your clients and make an impact – not a forum for your title guy to make sales
- NO Realtors. This is for your clients, employees, and their families only.
Event Ideas:
- Pumpkin Patch
- Picnic in the Park
- Movie Night – Renting out a Theatre
- Ugly Sweater Party
- BBQ/Cookout
CALLS
Calls should be made on THURSDAYS. Time block an hour (2 hours for a larger database) and crank through your database calls.
Birthday Call
Your 2 Additional Calls Are Random – A,B,C Call (26 letters in the alphabet and 52 weeks in a year means if you call one letter a week, you will call everyone twice)
- This is NOT an opportunity to ask for a referral. Just reach out and make it about them
- Always call them the day of, day before, or the Friday before if it falls on a weekend. On time or early – never late. Pick ONE of these options and do them all that way. Always have a basic script to start with:
- “Hey I just wanted to give you a shout early because I know your phone is going to be blowing up tomorrow and I wanted to make sure that I caught you”
- The goal is to make an impact and have meaningful conversation with them – not just “hi, happy birthday bye”
- Keep your mind focused on the end result goal, not the actual task
- This is not a call where you’re asking for a referral – so your end result goal is to make an impact on them and make them feel special so when a referral does come to mind, they give it to you.
- These calls should be reviewed a month (if not a month at least a week) in advance, so you know what is coming up.
- You can also remind your agents that they have a client with a birthday coming up
- Check in to see how everything is going – this is on the anniversary of their closing date
- This is a really good call to generate referrals for your business partners
- Realtors are not good at follow up. This is a good way to give business back to them
- If they do not like the agent that they originally worked with, ask them if you can refer someone better
- Then call the agent and let them know that you tried to give them back and they didn’t want to – and ask the agent if there’s anyone THEY can recommend so that they can still get piece of the commission.
- Realtors are not good at follow up. This is a good way to give business back to them
- This call is to provide value and service to your customer. You’re finding out what they need, and providing them with a solution
- This call is not necessary to make day of. These should be at least the week of. Calls are easier to make when they are on a schedule, so they can be put with your Thursday database calls.
ANNIVERSARY CALL SCRIPTING EXAMPLE
Your 2 Additional Calls Are Random – A,B,C Call (26 letters in the alphabet and 52 weeks in a year means if you call one letter a week, you will call everyone twice)
- Just checking in – inviting them to an event is a good reason to start this call off
- Purpose: Staying in front of them. You want to get to know them. The better you get to know they/better relationship you have with them – the more likely they are to send you referrals. Deepen your relationship with these people. “Is there anything I can do for you”
- FORD small talk:
- F: Family
- O: Occupation
- R: Recreation
- D: Dream
- First payment call
- 1-2 weeks before their first payment to let them know it’s coming up
- Homestead Exemptions
- These are tax write offs. You need to provide them their CD and remind them that their homestead exemption can be filed January 1st of the next year
- These calls are a great way to refer back to your CPA. If they already have a trusted CPA, have them rank theirs and ask for an introduction so you can potentially gain another referral partner.
- These are tax write offs. You need to provide them their CD and remind them that their homestead exemption can be filed January 1st of the next year
MONTHLY MAIL
Best way to do this is post cards
- You don’t want them to have to open it. Just a front and back mailer, no envelope
- This will keep you top of mind
- Though technology is very innovative, an email does not give as big of an impact as a piece of mail. Studies show that on average people will keep things that they see top of mind for 21 days – then they forget. Even if they see your face and then throw it in the trash and don’t read it, you’ll be top of mind for the next 3 weeks if they do have an opportunity to refer you.
Plan out a year in advance, and then just put the plan in motion
- Bi-yearly, Quarterly for less touches
- You should know what’s going out, when it’s going out, when it will be in hands
What goes out?
- Evidence of Success
- This is not a testimonial, this is better than a testimonial. EX: Finding Taylor Swift a new home. You want these to be catchy and get your customers engaged.
- Sports Calendars
- Community events
- Holiday activity calendar
- Loan Related/Call to Action (NOT every time)
- Rates dropped and now it’s time to refinance
- New Loan Limits hit
- Big Guideline changes
- Letter of the Heart
- Should go out Quarterly
- Helps you connect with people on a personal level, not just a business level
- This is not a “look how great my life is” letter. It’s a way to find common ground with people for that stronger connection. i.e. you share a story about hunting – everyone in your database that hunts now knows you have that in common.
- Sharing pain/grief is hands down the best way to connect with people
- This piece gives the highest return because you are connecting with people on a deeper level.
- EXAMPLES OF LETTERS OF THE HEART
If you haven’t mailed to your database in a while
Send your first batch first class mail. It will be a little more expensive, but it will let you know if the person you’re trying to reach is still at this address – and help you from wasting money in the future. You should be doing this once a year even if you are mailing regularly. This will help tighten and clean up your database
Monthly Newsletter
Video (the Most impactful)(monthly at the highest level, quarterly at a minimum)
What goes out?
- Something that’s going on in your life right now (Personal makes it impactful – people will look forward to this and want to open) Make the title of the video/Subject catchy so that it catches their eye
- Market Updates
- Event invites