OriginatorCoach.com

Generating Referrals from Financial Advisors

The 1st of the year brings lots of new opportunities for lead generation from financial advisors.  Most advisors have been really busy getting their client's year-end stuff done for tax purposes but most should have time to chat right about now. They also will have clients they've just met with that could be in need of new mortgage.  

 

Below is a Red Flags flyer I created in Microsoft Word that helps get the advisors thinking about their database of clients and their situations.  

Red Flags Flyer:
http://data.memberclicks.com/site/oc/Red_Flags.doc

When reviewing the Red Flags flyer with the advisor, ask them who they know of that may be in need an Annual Mortgage Review or Interest Savings Analysis.  If you ask (and follow up) you will undoubtedly come up with a few new loan opportunities.  I also would show them the below letter and directory listed below as other proactive marketing strategies you could both do to help grow each other's businesses...

Intro Letter to Clients For Financial Fitness Checkup
http://data.memberclicks.com/site/oc/Intro_to_financial_advisor_letter.doc

Strategic Advisor Directory
http://ftp.mymortgagecommunity.com/downloads/advisordirectory.doc

Intro Letter from CPA/Financial Advisor to their clients for Mortgage Review
http://data.memberclicks.com/site/oc/TaxStrategy_MortgageReviewProgram.doc

To get more referrals from a financial advisor, attorney and/or real estate agent you must be proactive and ASK for the business (or for the opportunity to co-market for new business).

Remember, "if you ask you will get and if don't you won't".  Once you've earn their respect, trust and referrals you can be a little less proactive and more reactive to them calling you.  To get the ball rolling you've got to offer them strategies and these are proven strategies that have worked for many other successful originators.

P.S.  If you don't have any strategic referral partners just yet, watch the below webinar recording I did on 7-Steps to Building Profitable Referral Partnerships for step by step coaching.  You can also checkout additional relationship building letters, scripts and referral partner presentations inside MyMortgageCommunity.com (under the Coaching/Referral Partnerships section):

7 Steps To Building Profitable Referral Partnerships
http://ftp.mymortgagecommunity.com/video/05db28/05db28.html

Kurt Warner's Extraordinary Story

Kurt's story is a great story about how an ordinary guy overcame challenges and obstacles to become an extraordinary quarterback in the National Football League. There's a couple beautiful clips of #65, the offensive center of the Iowa Barnstormers (a.k.a. David Bush), in this video hiking the ball to Kurt and dominating the competition at the 2:20 and 3:11 mark in the video) but it takes a keen eye to spot!

It's fun to be part of Kurt's story and to have known him when he was still just an ordinary arena football player following his dreams. Kurt's passion for football was obvious but he was not someone who had everything going for him.  He didn't become the starting quarterback for his college football team (University of Northern Iowa) until his senior season and while playing for the Iowa Barnstormers of the arena football league he was actually benched because of his inability to produce results.

There were many more obstacles that came into his path before he got his break to start in the NFL like his wife's parents being killed in a tornado or injuries that prevented him from trying out for teams when they called.  The fact is he never gave up.  If his story says anything to you it should remind you that despite all odds...never give up on your dreams.

Ready to become an extraordinary originator in 2009?

To do so you must have the courage to succeed and the ability to change. You must not be complacent in the ways you do business or in the ways you market yourself and your products and services.

I'm hosting an Extraordinary Originator Webinar Series of 6 one-hour webinars between Jan 20-22 and Jan 27-29 with six of the nation's top mortgage coaches to help you go from Ordinary to Extraordinary in 2009!

No products, programs or other services will be sold during these 6 intensive and live 1 hr. webinars!  You will receive 6 hours of laser specific coaching and step by step Action Plans to implement the strategies you learn in each event.  Each of the expert presenters were hand picked to present in this exclusive, education based webinar series because of their expertise and success in mastering their topic. These six presentations have been refined to give you the knowledge you need to become an extraordinary originator in 2009.

Here’s a list of the webinars and free bonus gifts.

Extraordinary Lead Generation Strategies
Mike Baker, President, MikeBakerOnline.com
Do you know what business you’re in? If you’re smart, then you know that you’re in the business of lead generation. Join Mike Baker, author of the best selling book 101 Ways to Originate a Loan, as he provides the Top 11 Lead Generation Strategies of Extraordinary Originators to help you become a lead generation expert.

Time Management and Workflow Organization
David Bush, President, MyMortgageCommunity.com
Join David Bush, CEO of MyMortgageCommunity.com, as he shares with you the exact strategies and steps to help you increase your business and improve your overall quality of life.  David is the personal coach to some of the nation's top originators in the country and he has a proven "Priority Management System" you can leverage in your life and mortgage practice to increase your performance, commissions and life balance.

Originator Database Marketing Strategies
Bliss Sawyer, President, Mortgage Marketing Strategies
A strong database is essential to maintain a full pipeline of high-quality referrals and profitable loans. Bliss Sawyer, mortgage marketing expert will show you exactly what to do to build a strong database. Bliss Sawyer is a nationally known author, speaker and trainer for mortgage lenders as well as contributing editor for Mortgage Originator Magazine. She has trained and coached thousands of originators around the country with her innovative mortgage marketing and relationship-based selling techniques.

How to Sell the Benefits of FHA Loans
Dave Hershman, President, OriginationPro
FHA is the program of today. Do you have a marketing plan that focuses on the benefits of this program? Dave Hershman, author of the FHA/VA Originations Guide, will deliver an FHA Webinar that focuses on marketing techniques that are tailored to the FHA program, especially refis and first-time buyers. The program will include an FHA regulatory update, FHA Streamline refis and a refi marketing plan and how to strategies for finding, selling and financing first time buyers. Dave has written seven books, including two best sellers for the Mortgage Bankers Association of America.

Make Your Fortune from Realtor Relationships
Doug Smith, President, Doug Smith and Associates
In this fast-paced and content packed presentation, 25-year mortgage industry veteran and nationally known speaker, author and sales trainer Doug Smith will share with you specific approaches that only the most extraordinary originators use to work with top real estate agents, such as five things great loan officers do that most don't, "Side door strategies" to meeting the better agents in your market and how to add two more loans a month to your production, pipeline and paycheck!

Sales Tactics: Convert Leads to Closed Loans
Dale Vermillion, President, Mortgage Champions
Join Dale Vermillion, Founder of Vermillion Consulting, Inc as he shares the strategies, tools and tactics of extraordinary originators and exactly how they close 3 to 5 times more loans than ordinary originators do.  Dale has trained and consulted Presidents, CEO's, and mid-level managers for over 100 of the largest and most successful mortgage companies in the industry, as well as over 250,000 mortgage professionals.

Recieve These 6 Free Bonus Gifts When You Register!

David Bush’s Brand New eBook
The Extraordinary Life

Dave Hershman's Best Selling eBook
The Complete Book of Home Finance

Mike Baker's Best Selling eBook
101 Ways to Originate a Loan

The Extraordinary Originator Marketing Kit
A complete marketing kit including:

• Pre-written purchase and refinance sales letters
• Customizable Rate Alert postcards
• Proven high-response refinance email script
• Professionally designed follow up phone script
• Six customizable Reports designed to help you generate more leads

4 Week Live eCoaching Course with Bliss Sawyer
How to Increase Your Realtor Referrals
Receive access to Bliss Sawyer’s exclusive course where she gives you the step by step coaching you need to dominate your competition and win highly qualified Realtor referrals for immediate business opportunities. There will be 4 one-hour live webinar courses held every Thursday at 11am CST for 4 continuous weeks. Presentation downloads, audio recordings in streaming and .MP3 format, scripts, forms and other valuable resources will be provided for immediate download following each presentation. Classes start on Thursday, Feb. 5th at 11am CST.

1-Month Premium Pro Trial Membership to MyMortgageCommunity.com
Gain exclusive access to thousands of lead generation strategies, scripts, presentations, marketing campaigns, step-by-step action plans and our robust archive of over 200 online seminars from over 25 community experts. After your one month free trial, your membership will automatically renew so you can continue to use everything MyMortgageCommunity.com offers its members for only $69 a month.

I'm so sure you'll love these Extraordinary Webinars and everything MyMortgageCommunity.com has to offer that I'll guarantee it. If you are not 100% satisfied, you can cancel
at any time and receive a full refund!

If you're serious about becoming an Extraordinary Originator in 2009 don't wait...

Register Now for This Exciting Program for Only $69.

 

 

The Perfect F.O.R.M. – How to Conduct a Highly Successful Sales Call

The F.O.R.M. sales call method is an old sales strategy but the timing is perfect for you to implement it right away.  F.O.R.M. is just an acronym that stands for Family, Occupation, Recreation, and Money and you can use it as a guide when you conduct follow up calls with a prospect, client, friend and/or referral partner to uncover new loan opportunities and/or leads for your strategic referral partners.

From my experience (and from the testimonials of other top producers), if you use the F.O.R.M. method correctly, loan opportunities will just present themselves during your conversations.  However, you must ask questions skillfully about each of the 4 areas and listen carefully to the client’s answers to find the new loan opportunities.

Skilled mortgage originators thrive because they’ve mastered this method of conversational selling.  Those of us who prefer a consultant based selling process thrive on this method because it’s not seen as being “salesy”.  It is simply getting to know the needs of your clients through general conversation and skillful questioning and then meeting those needs with valuable solutions.

The way it works is you start a conversation by asking questions about each of the four areas (Family, Occupation, Recreation and Money) until you find a need where you can help the client.  Once you find a need, you then move to a next action and provide the client a possible solution to meet their needs. 

Below you will find a more detailed explanation of each of the four categories, sample questions you can use and the potential needs you’re looking to uncover for new loan opportunities.  I’ve also included some solutions next to each need to give you real life references to show you the power in this sales method.

1) FAMILY (or FRIENDS) *
As a family grows (or changes) their housing needs also change.  Recessions or bull markets will never stop families from changing.  The holidays have just brought your clients together with their family so they should have something to say about the topic if you ask them about it.  

Here are some general questions you could ask to open up doors of opportunity:
- How's (spouse/partner's name)?
- How are (kids' names)?  Are they enjoying school?  Do they play sports (or are they involved in music, dance, etc.)?
- What did you do for the holidays?
- What's new with the family?
- Where are you from again?  Does your family still live there?  Do you have any family nearby?

FAMILY changes to look for that may lead to a new loan opportunity are the following:
- New baby or adoption requires bigger home which requires remodel or purchase of new home
- Relocation to a new neighborhood due to school quality or other needs
- Empty nesters wanting to downsize or build a dream home
- Kids are growing (or fighting) and need separate rooms which requires remodel or purchase of new home
- Kids move back in after college which requires remodel or purchase of home for parents or kids
- Grandparents or other relatives move in with family which requires remodel or purchase of new home
- Divorce requires them to sell home (or refinance) and find housing elsewhere
- Marriage requires purchase of new home or consolidation which could lead to a listing referral for your favorite Realtor
- Neighbors/Neighborhood causes family to want to relocate.  They also may want to remodel or put in a pool to entertain neighbors.
- Death in the family causes emotional/financial stress and requires family to lower expenses, remodel or relocate or inheritance allows them to upgrade their home
- Injury or Illness requires family to lower expenses, remodel or relocate

2) OCCUPATION *
People change jobs rapidly nowadays and every time they change it creates opportunities for you to write new loans for them. Research says an average American born after 1960 will have as many as 10 or more different jobs during their working life.  Also, there is a significant amount of people who are about to be (or who have already been) downsized and millions of others who are seeking self employment opportunities which could change their financial picture substantially.  With a negative savings rate in

America

, these individuals will likely look to their home’s equity and mortgage solutions to help them make a transition smoothly.

Here are some general questions you could ask to open up doors of opportunity:
- How's work (or the business) going for you?
- What has this "so-called" recession meant to your company?  Are there any big changes coming?
- What do you do exactly?
- What's your position in the company?
- Are you enjoying your work and career?
- Have you ever thought of going out on your own and doing your own thing?
- Is your company downgrading their benefits package like all the others and increasing your medical costs?

OCCUPATION changes to look for that may lead to a new loan opportunity are the following:
- New promotion means more income (now they want a bigger house, they can refinance due to lower debt ratios, etc.)
- New responsibilities require them to work harder, longer hours and/or travel and they want to work for themselves or find new work closer to home and they need some cash to make the transition
- Income/Hours get, they get fired or downsized and requires family to lower expenses or relocate
- Want to become self employed
- They are self-employed and the business needs cash for growth/expansion or they need more personal cash flow which leads to cash out refinance/HELOC or relocation and purchase to lower their expenses
- Benefits get cut so clients monthly expenses rise and client needs to refinance or relocate
- Benefits get cut so you offer to do a lunch and learn seminar for their employer on debt consolidation, cost saving tips, refinancing strategies and offer the company a special corporate advantage program to help them beef up their thin benefits package.


3) RECREATION *
Regardless of the economy people are still going to find recreation some way, shape or form.  This is where you can really get to know someone's likes or dislikes and create a bond with the client that's deeper than a mortgage transaction.

Here are some general questions you could ask to open up doors of opportunity:
- Where did you go over the holidays (spring break, labor day, summer vacation, etc.)?
- What does your family do for fun?
- Do you have a 2^nd home anywhere?
- Do you have a boat (or any other recreational toys)?
- Does your family enjoy spending time together over the holidays?
- What are your favorite hobbies?   Does your husband/wife/partner enjoy them as well?
- Have you ever considered investing in Real Estate as a hobby or investment tool?


RECREATION changes to look for that may lead to a new loan opportunity are the following:
- Client desperately needs a vacation and needs to take some cash out to pay for the trip
- Visiting colleges with their teenager gets them thinking about buying a kiddie condo instead of paying for rent
- Client returns home from a week's vacation and wants to know how they can buy a second home, time share, investment property in the same resort location like their friends
- Client wants to have a second home closer to family, the beach, the lake, the mountains, or other desirable location
- Client likes fixing up their home for fun and considers investing in real estate a fun hobby that could lead to millions and you become their mortgage advisor
- Client spends weekends and other holidays fixing up the house and may have a big project in mind that requires a cash out refinance or HELOC
- Client spends weekends and holidays fixing up the house and wants to relax so they considering buying a new home
- Client wants a boat, RV, motorcycle, or other toy and wants more flexible terms and possibly a tax deduction with a cash out refinance
- 2nd home becomes a burden so they want to sell and you have a referral for your favorite Realtor

4) MONEY *
This category is a little sacred so you have to be strategic with the questions you ask to make sure you don't put the client on the spot about their financial well being.  I usually gather enough information in the previous three categories that allows me to transition and initiate a conversation about a client's finances to open up doors to new loan opportunities.  

Here are some general questions you could ask to open up doors of opportunity:
- (client's name), have you seen these interest rates lately? (Introduce new low rates, buy down program or ARM loan)
- (client's name), have you heard (or seen) all the news about the decrease in interest rates, new low rate government sponsored loan programs and loan modifications programs?  
- (client's name), you're about ready to upgrade to a bigger home (or simplify to a smaller home) aren't you? (Ask this based on info gathered from the family or occupation questions listed above)
- (client's name), do you know (or are you curious) what your credit scores are?  
- (client's name), what keeps you up at night when it comes to your finances?
- (client's name), are you paying private mortgage insurance?
- (client's name), do you have a home equity line of credit?
- (client's name), do you have an ARM or a Fixed Rate Mortgage?
- (client's name), do you know what your home's value is and how much equity you have?
- (client's name), would you be interested in a debt elimination program that keeps your payments the same but pays all your debt off 7-10 years earlier?
- (client's name), would you be interested in a complimentary interest savings analysis and a free copy of your credit report?  
- (client's name), are you interested at all in lowering your monthly payments and increasing your monthly cash flow?  
- (client's name), what are some of your financial goals in the next 3-5 years?
- (client's name), when do you plan on becoming debt free?   
- (client's name), do you have about 10 minutes?  If so, I'd like to do a quick interest savings analysis?  When we're done I can email you a complete report that shows you ways to decrease your monthly interest expenses and I can get you a free copy of your credit report.  I can also do a quick identity theft screening with you to make sure nobody has charged purchases to your name without you knowing about it.

MONEY changes to look for that may lead to a new loan opportunity are the following: 
- Client has an adjustable rate on any of their mortgages and wants more security in a fixed rate
- Client plans to remodel or expand an existing home and needs cash out refinance or HELOC
- Client currently is paying Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)
- Client home valuation has increased due to market changes or upgrades done to the home
- Client has a 1st and 2nd mortgage at higher than current market rates
- Client has a fixed interest rate but plan to move soon or wants a lower monthly payment
- Client has large amount of consumer debt they'd like to eliminate
- Client has equity in their home but no money in a retirement plan or savings account (for emergencies, college tuition, etc)
- Client has 4-6 years since bankruptcy or foreclosure so they can now refinance or purchase at lower interest rates
- Client wants to reduce the term of their loan to a 15 or 20 year tem to get out of debt
- Client wants to lengthen the term of their loan to a 25 or 30 year tem and lower their expenses


* Just to be clear - you don't want to turn everybody you talk to into a possible prospect as that gets tacky and people won’t like you if you treat them like a prospect.  Use this strategy carefully.  As you get better at it you'll uncover leads without compromise your relationships but it will take some practice.  Be genuinely interested in the client’s well being and offer ways to help your clients even though you don’t earn money from it and you’ll attract more business because of who you are vs. what you do.