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NAMB Sales & Marketing Tips for Today's Mortgage Professional Keeping in Contact

Dec 05, 2013

In a previous article in National Mortgage Professional Magazine, we discussed five disciplines to incorporate into each work day to keep your pipeline full. In addition to meeting strategic partners daily, the importance of daily communication with at least 10 clients or strategic partners is a must. The only catch in writing these e-mails or making these calls is that none of them should be designed to directly solicit new business; however, the outcome will definitely send you new business. These personal calls and e-mails are designed to acknowledge important dates or simply thank people for their business. Here is a detailed look at how you can maintain continuous communication with clients and strategic partners and help you get new introductions to potential clients. 1. Birthday e-mails Everyone gets lots of calls, voicemails, text messages and birthday wishes on social networking sites on their actual birthday. In order to stand out from the pack, try e-mailing or texting contacts on Monday or Tuesday of the week of their birthday. For example, each Monday I look up clients having a birthday that week. I also check social networking accounts for important partners’ birthdays (real estate agents, title reps, escrow officers, etc). Even if clients or strategic partners don’t have their birthday until later in the week, send the message on Monday or Tuesday so you have it done and it will be received before all the other birthday messages and noticed by your client. Having an e-mail template will save time so that you don’t have to write a new message to each person but always make sure that it is personalized so it doesn’t appear generic. That is, the template should only be used as a crutch. To achieve this, draft a basic birthday e-mail wish and a custom birthday signature and save it. When it’s time to send each e-mail, you merely need to plug in the name of the client or strategic partner and the entire process takes just a few moments. These e-mails can be as simple as: “Happy Birthday, Joe. You’ve been a good friend and I hope you have a terrific birthday week. I know your birthday isn’t until Thursday, but things have been busy with clients investing in real estate and those taking advantage of refinancing opportunities and I didn’t want to forget your special day. If you have any questions or need any help with anything, don’t hesitate to ask. I wish you a terrific birthday week and look forward to speaking with you soon.” It really is that simple. The entire process takes just seconds and shows your clients and partners that you took the time to recognize them as a friend. For additional bonus points, I have even found that calling husbands to lightheartedly remind them of their wives’ upcoming birthdays to often be a welcomed reminder, wherein we both have a good laugh. 2. Anniversary of new home e-mails When clients close a loan on their home, I automatically set a reminder in my calendar to mark the occasion annually. Like the birthday e-mails, having a new home anniversary e-mail template drafted will save time, but again, it’s important to leave room for customization. These e-mails generally read like this: “Congratulations on being in your home for two years, Joe. I hope that you’re continuing to enjoy the rewards of being a homeowner. You’ve been a good friend over the years, and if there is any way I can help in investing in a new property or buying a second home, please let me know.” Again, this e-mail will have a customized signature specific to the anniversary. 3. Random thank you e-mails and calls The importance of thanking people cannot be underestimated. From friends to clients, strategic partners to colleagues, it is important to thank at least five people each day and that doesn’t include your coffee barista on the way to work (On second thought maybe they own a home and need your help). Make it a point to randomly select five people from your database each day to call or e-mail to say thank you. Whether your call is to thank someone for a great meeting earlier in the week, to thank a client for a referral, or to thank a referral partner for introducing you to a new client, showing gratitude will only serve to help you to continue to build relationships. In these calls and e-mails,. be sure to let the person you’re communicating with know that you stand at the ready to help with anything they need. Let them know that you’d welcome the opportunity to be introduced to any of their family, friends or neighbors who need your help and leave it at that. These aren’t calls to pitch the current interest rate. The objective is to offer gratitude and help. If you’ll be e-mailing, again I suggest using a template as a “crutch,” but the importance of personalizing the message is important. We are bombarded with e-mails every day and you don’t want to run the risk of being viewed as someone who only puts forth minimal effort in saying thank you. Draft a template, but make sure to put personal touches on each email to show your sincerity. By creating a daily discipline of e-mailing and/or calling at least 10 people each day, you ensure that your clients, friends, strategic partners and colleagues know that they are important to you. The entire process takes less than 45 minutes if you are calling and e-mailing. You’ve shown that you do care, that you have taken the time to recognize important events and that you appreciate all that your clients, strategic partners and friends do for you. Fred Arnold, CMC is past president of the California Association of Mortgage Professionals , current Treasurer of NAMB—The Association of Mortgage Professionals, and a mortgage professional at American Family Funding, a division of American Pacific Mortgage. Fred hosts the radio show SCV Chamber and Business Spotlight on AM 1220 KHTS, as well as the televised program “Out of The Rough” on SCVTV.com, channel 20. He may be reached by phone at (661) 505-4300 or e-mail [email protected]
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