dozen or two relationships that will take you to whatever level of success you want. Not ten thousand, or one thousand or even one hundred. Ask Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Richard Branson or Oprah Winfrey, and they will tell you that no more than two dozen relationships contributed to their achievements. Ask your agents; “what are the most important relationships that have led to your current success and why?” See yourself as being one of those two dozen key relationships and watch your business transform. You do not want to converse like a 19 year old kid on prom night - you want to build a relationship. To succeed you can not just communicate; you have to connect through actively nurturing deep and meaningful relationships. How does a Mortgage Professional do that in today’s market? Ask yourself these questions: What percent of your loans are local; within 20 miles of your office? What or who is the main source of prospects and closed loans for you? What percentage of your business is purchase vs. refinance? If most of your loans and your source of loans is referrals, including purchase deals from Real Estate Agents - and you want to grow your purchase loans from Agents – need to step-up your local game. Stepping-up your local game means getting off your computer and into your local market. If your business is mostly local, you have to start building your offline social equity by becoming a known brand and leading authority among your local Real Estate Agents and within your local community. If you have local Agents already following you on Facebook or Twitter, reach out and set up a meeting with a few each week. Your ideal process should be to engage and connect offline first – then engage and connect online. You’ll see higher levels of engagement and response by connecting the two. Here’s a sample script for calling agents to set-up a coffee or lunch meeting: “Hi (Agent Name). This is (Your Name/Company) I’m calling because I am looking to connect with a few top agents in the area like yourself {appeal to their ego} to find out what is your biggest current business challenge? I am helping agents gain more control over their transactions, close more deals and thrive in today’s market. Perhaps we can develop solutions that may help you too. I would like to schedule a meeting, perhaps a morning coffee, to discuss
a synergistic business relationship.” You get the idea? The goal is to just get the meeting and show up with your mind, your ears and yes – your heart; open to learning more about this person and how you can help. You, of course, want to be prepared with some questions to guide you along. The real key is not how many questions your ask but that you are authentic in your discovery and not just reading a script. To help you get started, we have posted a list of sample questions on my blog you can download and use. Relationships are built by putting the other person’s needs, want and challenges ahead of yours. You build trust and connection by taking a personal interest in what is most important to the other person right now and in the future. Go ahead and try calling a few agents and arranging these connection sessions. Worst case, you will have another agent in your roster. Best case, you will have a real connection which could be the beginning of a mutually beneficial and profitable relationship. When you have a real connection, people will actively engage with you online by ‘liking’ your posts, leaving comments and sharing your content with others. You will now have both engines of communication with connection working for you – and you will be amazed by the results.
Geoff Zimpfer is the Chief Content Officer for Loan Officer MarketingTV and author of Speed Marketing™ for Loan Officers. Get your FREE Connection Questions Template with 50 questions to ask your agents here: www. LoanOfficerMarketingTV.com