All rights reserved - November 2006
7 Contacts to Make Each Week From perfect strangers to family, everyone you meet can be a valuable contact in the mortgage business
At the start of each day, many mortgage bankers seem to have trouble focusing on the big picture. What should be on your mind if you want to become successful, though, is who you will contact and which relationships you will focus on each day. You should contact someone new — or perhaps someone you already know — each day. Connecting with these people will help you develop your network. Consider the following list of seven contacts you should make each week: 1. Anybody who has tried to contact you: Mortgage brokers never seem to want to answer the phone to cold-callers, but they might have something good to offer. Remember, you were once the one doing the cold calling and you had something worthwhile to offer. 2. Everybody you are scheduled to contact: Procrastinating is the worst thing you can do. Just call people back and move on. 3. One colleague in your office with whom you normally do not interact: Relationshipbuilding with your colleagues is the key to office camaraderie. Pick one person at a time and try to get to know more about that person. Try to have a personal connection with everybody with whom you work. Acknowledge what they do and how important they are to the team. With the cooperation and strength of a good team, you will reap the benefits of increasing customer satisfaction and of ensuring repeat business. 4. One professional outside of the mortgage industry with whom you normally do not interface: By forging professional relationships outside the mortgage industry, you can grow professionally. The diffi cult part isn’t necessarily meeting the people to contact; the diffi cult part is staying in contact with them. It is important to stand out and offer people something valuable. Offer yourself as a resource for the mortgage industry. Be prepared to spend a lot of time, effort and even money to build solid professional business relationships. These relationships will define your bottom line. They pay off in dividends. 5. One professional within the mortgage industry with whom you normally do not interact and who does not work at your company: Relationships with other mortgage industry professionals are important for building your network. After all, one loan touches many professionals from a variety of companies and from different sectors of the industry. Most important, build elationships with investors. If you ask most top brokers if they have good relationships with their investors, they will say yes. And don’t forget about creating relationships with your competition. You never know where these relationships will lead. 6. One referral partner who you haven’t spoken to all week: The key to any mortgage broker’s success is referrals. You just have to get out there and stay disciplined with your approach. When you visit these contacts, bring them something good, such as hot market information, reciprocal referrals or even pizza. 7. One family member or old friend who you haven’t spoken to ecently: You do not necessarily need to do your family and friends’ personal mortgages; in fact, I uggest that you refer their mortgages to somebody else with a good reputation. But you should be able to count on your family and friends to refer business to you. Contacting them is never a waste of your time. When you talk to them or see them at events, ask them if they know anybody who is buying or selling a home. ■ ■ ■
When you connect with each of these people, you must communicate something of interest or at least have a reason to touch base. Your comfort level with these people will determine how easy it is for you to ask for referrals.
Sammy Averbuch is the co-founder of Providential Bancorp Ltd. In seven years, Providential Bancorp has become a major provider of mortgage services to retail financial institutions, providing marketing, processing and lending solutions and informing loan officers of the benefits of alternative-mortgage outsourcing. Previously, Averbuch originated mortgages and was trained at Prism Mortgage, then ranked the No. 1 retail mortgage company in Illinois. Reach him at (800) 864-SAVE or sammy@providential.com, or visit www.providential.com
