Technology is useless ... unless applied!Brian L. Pearttechnology, increasing sales, leads
Technology will not make sales for you. Technology will not save
your business from disaster. Technology is a tool to be used to
save time, to improve customer retention and most importantly to
grow sales!
Let's take database software for example. Whether you use
Outlook, ACT!, GoldMine or any number of others, none of them will
do anything for your sales unless they are used. They will become
powerful sales tools for growing your business every month, making
your relationships better, improving your follow up and making you
money. Listen to that - making your relationships better and
improving your follow up. Wouldn't you agree that follow up and
relationships are two key components of a successful loan
officer?
I use ACT! software as my contact manager and I plan everything
right in ACT!. Now, I am not saying ACT! is better then anything
else, it is just what I use and am comfortable with. But ACT! makes
me a better salesperson. When talking to clients, I put notes in
ACT!. I hear a dog bark in the background as I am pre-qualifying a
client and ask his dog's name. I make a note of Rover's name in
ACT!. I start my next follow-up call with, "Hi John, how is Rover
doing?" I now have an edge over every other loan officer vying for
that person, and because I follow up when few others do, the
chances are dramatically tilted toward me to get that deal and all
of the referrals down the road from that loan.
Many loan officers and brokers still write notes on pieces of
paper. Maybe they even keep a "hots" folder where the hot
pre-qualification leads are kept and looked at daily to figure out
whether they need to call a lead back that day or not. But this
leaves a ton of leads that fall through the gap. Most loan officers
have a ton of people that they should be following up with but they
don't get around to it because of poor time management. Your
database is an awesome tool to stay on top of all of the people
that you need to follow up with and to increase your business.
Ideally, while you're on a call, you should be in your database
making notes. You will either book them for an appointment or
schedule the next follow-up call - it should be done right then.
You should wake up each day, look in your database and already see
10 to 12 follow-up calls scheduled days before. If you have been in
this business for at least three months, you should have a ton of
calls to make every day!
Now, maybe you are like me and can't type in your database while
you are talking on the phone. For those people like me who are
technically challenged, you should block 15 minutes at the end of
your day or call block and schedule all of those follow-up calls
while they are still fresh in your mind. (A call block is a block
of time you set aside each day to make all your calls so that you
are condensing all of your calls into a one- or two-hour timeframe
instead of slowly getting around to them as the day goes on. This
technique increases your focus, your intensity and your sales.) If
you don't do it then, it will never get done! Tomorrow, when you
are in the middle of that closing crisis, the only lead that you
will have time to call is the super hot one; but alas, for every
one of those, there are three others you are letting slip away. The
time to schedule those follow-up calls is right after the call or
right after the call block; otherwise, it is gone and so is the
money that could have gone with it. But at least by day's end, you
should take all of those papers that you are working on and get
them into your database. Get them scheduled in so that you don't
forget and then clear them off your desk.
The battle is rarely won on the first call anymore. Most people
feel it is their obligation to call at least a few people or else
they are not being smart about their mortgage (consumer advocates
having done a great job of selling people on shopping around). But
most of the other people they call will never follow up. If you do,
you win the day, even if you are not a great salesperson. Most of
my conversions happen on the second call, not the first. Technology
is a great tool, but we must use it. If you plan your week right in
your database and schedule all of your follow-up calls right after
the call or the call block, you will stay on top of everything and
your database and your income will continue to grow. Schedule it
all in; otherwise, you will be looking at a large folder with
potential leads that you never got around to calling - that folder
is money lost! The size of your database equals the size of your
paycheck. Don't lose any more money, use your database and win the
day!
Brian L. Peart is president and the founder of Nexus Financial Group Inc.
and the publisher of the Top Producer training course. He may be
reached at (866) 355-1244 or e-mail
[email protected].
