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All in the Delivery: What You Say Vs How You Say It
No one likes delivering bad news. As much we may agree with the adage “Don't kill the messenger,” the first thing we often want to do when we receive a message we don't like is take out our frustration on the person delivering it to us. In the mortgage industry, we run into this problem as much as anyone. More specifically, the loan originator often has to break news to potential borrowers that they may not like so much. How can LOs deliver potentially upsetting news without souring the relationship with the customer?
As a loan originator, it can be difficult to keep a positive attitude when vivid memories of disgruntled customers may continue to resurface. But we must remember that not everyone will take the same news in the same way. Just because people may reacted poorly in the past, that doesn't mean other people will react the same way in the future. The fact is that loan originators have a tremendous amount of influence on the reaction they get from their customers—even if they have to deliver what some consider to be “bad news.” How?
It's all in the delivery. Have you ever heard the expression, “It's not what you say; it's how you say it?” Well, there's a great amount of truth to that statement. Your attitude, your body language, your vocal inflection, and your general presence can make or break an encounter with a customer. So, the question you need to ask yourself isn't: what kind of news do I for my customer? Rather, it's 'How am I going to deliver the news to the customer?'
David Lykken, a 43-year veteran of the mortgage industry, is president of Transformational Mortgage Solutions (TMS), a management consulting firm that provides transformative business strategies to owners and “C-Level” executives via consulting, executive coaching and various communications strategies. He is a frequent guest on FOX Business News and hosts his own weekly podcast called “Lykken On Lending” heard Monday’s at 1:00 p.m. ET at LykkenOnLending.com. David’s phone number is (512) 759-0999 and his e-mail is [email protected].
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