Loan Officer Sales Primer Ralph LoVuolo Sr

Loan Officer Sales Primer

By Ralph LoVuolo Sr., The Mortgage Godfather

Look around you. No! I mean it! Hey, I’m the coach, so go with me here and look around you. Start at your desk, if that’s where you are, and then swivel around to look carefully at the “things” that are in your room. Just for a precious few, try what I’m asking. If you stopped at your desk, there is nothing I can do to force you, but there is a solid reason I’m asking you to take just a few seconds out of your life to just try something, something different to prove a point and give a lesson.

Ok, thank you if you did that, and if you didn’t, I’m still going to move forward with my tutorial. You can’t stop me, so there!! I sound like a child, right. Just as this information will prove to be so simple, so A, B, C like, I’m thinking that you’ll be amazed at its simplicity. Hold the thought of the individual contents of your room. I’ll use them later. You’re in the sales business. Now that irrefutable truth might surprise some of you, especially those of you who are new to our business. As the mortgage industry has matured most of you will find my point of view hard to take in. But truthfully, you sell something. You’re not a loan processor, underwriter, or closing agent. The challenge for most of you is to actually know what you’re selling. Not to eliminate those of you who have been in the mortgage business for a long time, if you stick with me here, you’ll see and read something that most of you will find mind-expanding. But more than tickling your synapses, if you want to learn anything here my tutorial will help you become much better at Why, What, and How you do and think about your everyday behaviors than you are presently. Let’s first channel Simon Sinek: His book Start with Why is a best seller and can easily be purchased on Amazon if you’re inclined to learn more about your SELF. I’m going to try here to give my personal insights based on about 60 years of doing, watching, and helping what most of you do or try to do every day.

Why do you do what you do: is there a deep philosophical reason, one that you can actually elucidate as to why you get up in the morning? It would seem to most of my peers that if you can’t explain why you do what you do, you’re in a heap of trouble. So, here, I’m even going to try to tackle that question (Why?). Now please don’t be flippant with me. I’m asking serious questions, so we together can come to a few points that will have an existential effect on your future.

Most Loan Officers don’t really consider why they do what they do. Starting here as question/lesson 1 will help you move to question/lesson 2.

Are you a loan officer because you think this is a business where you can make a lot of money and making money is your primary reason for existence? I’m not going to judge you if it is. Making money is a worthy endeavor. If that “Why” gets you to the point that you want to be, then who am I to say that money is just the source of all that’s bad with the world. Many people do what they do, as a Loan Officer in order to earn a living and a handsome living at that. Is your “Why” because it looked like an interesting business? A business that seemed to be filled with numbers

and arithmetic and you’d been told that you’re good with numbers. Ok, fine with me! Were you a Realtor and as a Realtor, you saw Loan Officers come and go through a revolving door and you thought that you could do better than they did? Is it because you want to help people? Ah! There is the one that seems to catch everyone off guard. Sure they say, I’m a member of the greater good and I want the world filled with people who have been served by someone who really cares about helping the earth be a better place and helping people acquire and finance a “home” is a worthy ideal. Additionally, it is not as hectic as being a salesperson in the real estate business. It is possible that you do what you do because you thought that your skills were founded in your ability to interact with people, and you want to make use of that particular skill. Maybe I haven’t touched on your Why, and maybe it’s a conglomeration of many worthy thoughts. That’s fine with me. It doesn’t require that we hit this first lesson on the bull’s eye, but it is necessary that you see what you do as fulfilling some need your psyche has that makes you a better person.

Now that I’ve gotten you to start to think a bit in the abstract, I’m now going to move in the direction of What you do on a daily basis that helps you accomplish your Why.

You “sell” something. My challenge and it’s been my lifelong quest to get you to understand this is that almost all of you Sell the wrong thing. Why the capitalizations? To emphasize that you’re in the Sales business. The problem I find almost everywhere is that you’re selling the same things that I was taught to sell when I started as a “Loan Solicitor” in August 1971. Yes, that is what we were titled. It was a reference to what our “what” and it remains prevalent to this day. You solicit mortgage applications via many methods and tragically those methods are wrong on their face.

Argue with me if you will, but what most of you have been told to do is go out and meet as many Real Estate salespeople as possible and let them know how great your company is, how terrific your rates are, your wide variety of programs, your exceptional service and that your company stands head and shoulders above every other company. I’m not going to weary you with a rant here, but on its face, this is a terrible way to sell what you do. What you find or have found is that the Realtors with whom you interact are bored with this message. They’ve heard it hundreds if not thousands of times, from every Loan Solicitor that has been permitted to cross their threshold. I’m putting to bed this method of sales. It is wrong-footed, ill-thoughtout, inconceivably ignorant, and finally Silly. Why? Because here I am able to strike the chord with your brain that you know that is what you were told, especially early on. You’ve also been instructed to sell your SELF, your personality, and your ability to get loans through your corporate pipeline. This is another fallacy.

WHAT you should be selling are IDEAS. Ideas that will help your referral sources accomplish their goals. And their goal, just to make it crystal clear, is to establish a rapport with people: People who want to sell their home or buy a new house and turn it into a Home. I’ve been touting this philosophy for generations, and the only way to stop me is to shoot me. But be careful, I now live in Florida. Ideas that help your referral sources are built on a variety of marketing approaches. I’ve written a number of articles and issued a number of videos where I address this, but space does not permit me to elucidate further. If you want those Ideas, just ask, and I’ll send you the list I’ve compiled with 80 of them.

As to HOW you do what you do, I believe this is also terribly simple. You need to do three things and three things only: 1-Give people ideas that help them be more effective at their work; 2- Explain that as their “Partner” you’ll continue to share your ideas as they refer clients to you, and; 3- be persistent in your approach with the people who can refer clients to you who need your service.

Every item you saw in your room was marketed to you. It was sold to you by tickling your brain to believe that it would improve your life. You saw it as only an idea of a benefit. You needed it so you bought it. But all you bought was the idea of it, not the actual item. To be a successful Loan Officer, you need to present ideas to your referral sources. They need them more than ever. if you want to know how to do that, let me know.

Meanwhile, go to my website OneIdeaaday.com and sign up for a short, daily email message with ideas that will help you be more professional.

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Pew Research Center, Baby Boomers Retire, December 29, 2010. Mutual of Omaha Mortgage, Inc. dba Mutual of Omaha Reverse Mortgage, NMLS ID 1025894. 3131 Camino Del Rio N 1100, San Diego, CA 92108. Licensed by the Department of Financial Protection & Innovation under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act, License 4131356. These materials are not from HUD or FHA and the document was not approved by HUD, FHA or any Government Agency. Subject to credit approval. For licensing information, go to: www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org #689404445