8 Steps to breaking down the referral barriers

8 STEPS

TO BREAK DOWN THE

REFERRAL BARRIERS

Let them Know WHY YOU’RE CALLING

PROVIDE VALUE with FFA

UTILIZING

TRIANGLE OF TRUST

TRIGGER RESPONSE

USE HONOR

before, during and after

8 STEPS

TO BREAK DOWN THE

REFERRAL BARRIERS 1. INTRODUCTION KEY: Be enthusiastic and have passion in everything you do!

The Core Purpose of ANY call is to help someone. The focus must be on them, and NOT you.

If you provide value and help them, the law of reciprocity is created, and it states that when you help someone, they are willing to help you.

2. HONOR 3. PERMISSION 4. PURPOSE 5. VALUE 6. TRIGGER 7. CLOSE 8. FOLLOW-UP

1. INTRODUCTION • Who you are  • Reminder of how they know you  I worked with you  I met you  I saw you  I heard of you  I read your  We worked together  We share a mutual client

2. HONOR: Use honor before, during and after ANY or ALL of these steps The person you are working with is choosing you over someone else. They need to be thanked and honored for this. Our business is a show, remember this SHOW UP BIG, and make a BIG deal, because a referral IS A BIG DEAL! Be passionate, sincere, and enthusiastic with your gratitude.

• We loved working with you  • I wish all of our clients were like you.  • You are so fun to work with.  • You are so easy to work with.  • I have so much fun working with you.  • Thanks for making my day so pleasant, you cheer things up.  • You are my favorite client because of how nice you are.

Any client wants to feel good, important, valued, appreciated. It’s like in any relationship. The better you make someone feel, the more they want to do something for you.

3. PERMISSION UTILIZING TRIANGLE OF TRUST Is this a convenient time? Do you have a few moments for me? Can you invest 5 minutes with me? I could really use your help with something? Referral Source spoke highly of you (honor) and suggested I call. I heard great things about you from Referral Source, they said we should meet, is this a good time?

4. PURPOSE Let them know why you’re calling. It helps them bring their guard down in the conversation, and sets your call up for better success.

Purpose of my call is to:  • Reconnect with you, reengage the relationship  • Conduct our annual mortgage review  • See if it makes sense for us to get together  • See if an introduction would be appropriate  • Make sure you’re taken care of  • Give you your awesome update  • Share some great news  • Find out what makes you so awesome  • To see if you could help me  • To see if you could teach me how to be a better Realtor/Lender  • To find out what’s important about a relationship with a Realtor/Lender  • Thank you for choosing us. (day after call)  • Complete your fabulous Tuesday referral call and make sure we are (with passion and enthusiasm) delivering world class service. What else can we do?

Are we delivering world class service?  • Did you:  Week 1: Find anyone to refer for $100 off?  Week 2: Get our tag a room sticker?  Week 3: Get our change of address postcard  Week 4: Find out why we’re not giving World Class Service because we haven’t gotten any referrals. What do we need to do?  Week 4: Notify of self-inking tamper  • After closing; Did you get our gift  • Review your 10 day closing conference.  • Make sure you know papers are already at your office.  • Let you know about the Wealth Workshop coming up.  • Let you know about our client appreciation party.  • Confirm you got our...  • Congratulate you on your approval or contract being accepted.  • Complete our Realtor/Builder client update.  • Let you know about what’s happening in the market.

5. PROVIDE VALUE WITH FFA FIND A NEED, FILL IT, ASK FOR THE ORDER The fill it is vital, you’ve got to help them to create reciprocity.

What kind of questions can you ask? Engaging questions that are open ended (not a yes or no answer) are the ways you find out things about your client:

ALSO KNOW F.O.R.D. Family, Occupation, Recreation, Dreams: Get them talking about themselves.

F. Tell me about your family, what are they like, where do they live, what do they do?

O. What do you really do at work? What does that title mean? What are you

responsible for?

R. What do you do for fun? Where have you gone lately for leisure? What are your

favorite restaurants?

D. What would you like to do if you weren’t working? If you have your choice, what

will retirement look like? Where will it happen? Why there?

ANNUAL REVIEWS (A/R’S) AND PAST CLIENT (PC) CALLS  •  •  •  •  •  •  •

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Did the servicing transfer go ok?

By the way, do you realize how much money you saved?

Did you get your stamper? How do you like it? Do you use it?

Do you have any credit card debts or other debt you’re trying to manage?

Are you achieving your financial goals?

Have you found all the professionals you need in your life?

MD? CPA 1-10, Financial Planner 1-10. If you love them, we would love to meet them, could you introduce us? Hello Mr. Financial planner, we share a mutual client. If they need a referral, have a list of trusted references to give them.

Have you done any home improvements?

Any planned for future? Like what?

Have you been getting our mailers? Do you like them? EOS: Has anyone come to mind? Heart: Which one sticks out?

What’s the biggest challenge you have right now, at work.

By the way, WHAT do you do, anyway (engage in conversation) What would make things better for you?

You don’t have to have the answers, you may know them, but you may simply need to refer someone that can help them to create the trigger moment. You see, the law of reciprocity is created when you help someone, directly or indirectly.

CURRENT CLIENT REFERRALS (CCR’S), you’re always looking for a trigger. Weekly calls you can get them through your:  • After appointment thank you call.  • Thank you gift, did you get the cookies call.  • Are we providing World Class Service call  • First Tuesdays $100 off closing for a referral call  • Remember Fred the Head?  • New Address post cards  • Stamper notification  • Tag a Room stickers, did you get them?

NEW BUSINESS CALLS - TO CPA’S, FP’S, REALTORS  • Do you have a mortgage/real estate relationship already? Y/N  • If yes, Are you thrilled with the service and the relationship? Y/N  • If yes, why what do they do? LEARN SOMETHING  • What is your biggest struggle with lenders/realtors?  • What is your biggest struggle in your business?  • Getting more leads ? Talk about marketing from Flow chart and Lead Tracker  • Getting better organized: Talk about Flow chart and check lists and job contracts  • Making more money: Talk about paylog, p+l  • What do you do that makes you so successful?  • Why do clients love you so much?  • Could you sit down with me and teach me what you do to be such a good business person?  • Are you trying to grow your business? How?  • What’s not 100% great?  • What area of your business would you like to see improve?

NEXT STEP: HELP THEM • Would it be helpful if I were to introduce you to someone who is an expert in this area?  • Would you like to see how we manage these situations?  • How would you like it if I were to provide you with…?  • Would it be ok if I were to get you some information and be a resource?  • Can I schedule 15 minutes with you and (Consultant/Realtor) to see if they have any ideas for you? I know they’d love to help in any way possible.

6. TRIGGER RESPONSE THIS IS WHAT YOU’RE LISTENING (wow, great, yee-haw, excellent, nice, thank you) Trigger responses are also known as buying signals or referral moments.

FOR!

It signals that the law of reciprocity has been created, and that they have noticed the value you’ve brought to them. In return, they’re receptive to doing something for you. 90% of the time you can close. Sometimes, you want to just plant a seed, “Thanks for thinking of people to refer to us, have a great day.”

7. CLOSE  USE A TRANSITION TO CLOSE:  • Thanks for noticing  • I appreciate you sharing that  • That makes me feel good about myself and my service  ADD HONOR, then ask:  • Will you do me a favor?  • Can you help me with something?  Can I ask you something?

WAIT FOR A RESPONSE that might be… “sure, yea, you bet, anything, you name it”  ASK A CLOSED ENDED QUESTION: • Did we deliver World Class Service on your loan/purchase/listing?

• No: Find out why, see if you can fix it. Let Consultant know.

•

Yes: The reason I ask, is that our mission is to service clients so incredibly well they’re compelled to refer their friends, family and sphere, with that in mind, you say we delivered world class service, have we earned your referrals? No, find out why. YES…

 ASK AN OPEN ENDED QUESTION: • Who do you know who is looking for a home • Who do you know that didn’t refinance?

• Who is the next person you know looking to move?

Someone Who: o Is renting o Has not refinanced yet o Just had a baby o Just had kids leave for college, empty nesters o Has credit card debt and needs to refinance o Has talked about pulling equity out of their home o Is looking for a vacation home o Has been talking about moving o Has been thinking of an investment property for kids in college or relatives o Is getting married or just got married o Is getting divorced or just got divorced o Just got a promotion o Just got a pay raise o Just got a new job o Is getting relocated out of the city o Is being relocated into a city From o

o o o o o o

Where We Might Get Referred: From someone at your office, in your department, in human resources that needs help with relocating your company employees Family, friends, those you care and love, AND LIKE Belongs to your country club People in your social organization or clubs , bowling, skiing, biking Parents of your kids friends or teammates In your chamber or rotary Is on your Christmas card list

With these lists, who is the next person that comes to mind?

HANDLING OBJECTIONS: You might hear “I can’t think of anyone.”  CAN’T THINK OF ANYONE: Mr/Mrs _____________, (ADD HONOR AGAIN) we would really love to work with someone you know and like, so please know I don’t want you to refer people you don’t like (Ha-Ha – using humor can be very effective). Will you make a commitment to introduce us to someone you care about, though, in the next 30 days. It would mean so much to us. Thank you so much. I’ll be sending you something in appreciation of your future referrals, please give me a call to let me know you got it and to tell me what you think.

Your work address is __________________ right?

You might hear “I tell people about you all the time.” It’s a pretty standard response.  GET INTRODUCED: Mr./Mrs. _____________, I really appreciate you saying that, (HONOR) because we love working with clients just like you, and we know that most of the time nice people hang out with nice people. Can I ask a favor? (WAIT FOR PERMISSION) When we look at our clients that refer well, what we’re finding

is that they’re not only telling people about us, they’re introducing people to us.

The difference is dramatic, can I explain? (WAIT FOR YES) If you tell someone about us, maybe 10% of the time they’ll call. If you tell them about us though (trust, took great care of you, world class service) and then ask “would it be ok if I had them call you?” 90% of the time they’ll say ok. We’ve found that our clients who really want us to help their friends introduce us, this is what they do. I mean that really is the definition of a referral, introducing someone you care about to someone you trust. Does that make sense? (Wait for response) With that in mind, my favor is for you to introduce us to the next person you know who is looking to buy a home or to refinance, who s the first person you can think of?

8. FOLLOW UP!  • Schedule it • Get it on a check list and track your referrals • Call people back that said they would refer you. If you send a gift, harvest the investment by calling them back and holding them to their commitment. You’ve helped them, they like you, you’ve earned it.

CALL RELUCTANCE Many people have a phobia of sales including call reluctance. We are not asking you to be a telemarketer selling credit card protection. Staff are okay with providing client service but not okay with sales. Great with transaction coordination but petrified of asking for help: Why? The stigma starts with us as a young child. “Stop asking so many questions,” “Be quiet”, “It’s none of your business”. Silly but these words shape perceptions. Your first response might be “I don’t do sales.”

In reality, the professional sales person is skilled and polished, confident, articulate, helpful and only as good as the support team she has around her. The support team is effective and comfortable in the referral dialogue when trained and skilled in the operations of how to fulfill the vision of World Class Service. At this point referrals happen on purpose and not by accident.

Another reality is that everyone is in sales everyday. We sell our children on what they should do and spouses on where we should go. Staff are often reluctant to use scripts “I don’t want to be a cheesy telemarketer”. I agree. We use scripts everyday already, an example is the way we consistently answer the phone “good morning, this is Tony”.

Scripting is vital to getting things done efficiently. Scripting is not reading, it’s having a bullet point flowchart for a dialogue and having an intelligent response for any direction the conversation can go.