mortgage tips

Nov 01
1

Six Pointers for Powerful Presentations

By | Mortgage Business Tips | No Comments

speakingpicBe Confident in your Content-Hot topics like Facebook for Business and Time Management are GREAT…IF, the content you plan on delivering is personalized to your skill, knowledge & experience level. There’s nothing more disengaging for listeners than when they sense someone dancing around the details or a lack of real-world experience.

Inspire ACTION-Write down what you want your audience to do differently or think differently as a result of your presentation. Every presentation whether it be a brief 15 minute Realtor office sales meeting or a ½ day C.E. presentation should be tied to specific goals.

Never, “wing it!”-Write down your presentation so that you are polished and prepared. Your audience knows when you’re speaking off the cuff. Main points and story lead-ins can be jotted down on 3×5 cards to help you stay on track. Never read your presentation or inundate your audience with an overabundance of PowerPoint slides.

First 60 Seconds of Story Time-The best of the best speakers engage us in the first 60 seconds with a story, a case study example, “a funny thing happened on the way to this event” opener, a little known fact, personal foible or victory statement, etc. This approach instantly relaxes the audience by kicking things off in a casual, personal voice, rather than a formal, instructional voice.

Eliminate “Uhms” and “Ahs”-The root of all such transitional, “thought hiccups” is uncertainly. The only way to combat this is to PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Get a friend of family member to allow you to give your presentation to them so you get used to having eyes on you while you are standing and speaking. If no one is available, then speak into a mirror, into your own eyes.

Examples Leave Impressions-Be sure to share as many examples and personal stories as possible with your audience. People connect with lessons learned, times of vulnerability, overcoming fears, and examples of victories achieved. Your audience will recall the feelings associated with your presentation even more-so than your words.

Oct 19
1

Three Success Ingredients Found in Top Producers’ Business Plans

By | Mortgage Business Tips, Uncategorized | No Comments

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How do Top Producers plan for managing lead and referral sources, customer experience plans, and automated marketing methods to stay in touch?

Top producing Loan Officers have learned that developing a Business Plan is NOT a, “someday maybe” but rather a critical component to ensuring their success year after year.

Sign up for Coach Victoria’s class to learn the three, “success ingredients” found in top producers’ business plans, PLUS the tools found in ACT software that can support and automatically activate these strategies.

If you are a mortgage professional, or manage a team of mortgage professionals, this webinar will provide you with the tools to immediately kick-start a winning business plan!

SIGN UP HERE for your free limited time access to the webinar.

 

Jan 02
0

No Follow-up-No Glory!

By | Mortgage Business Tips | No Comments

CoffeeCupIdeaOne of the biggest foibles that will cripple any sales person’s business growth is lack of follow-up.

In coaching Mortgage Professionals over the last decade, I’ve been told countless times by my clients how they feel that their #1 weakness in their business is poor follow-up as it relates to potential referral partners, attendees of presentations/classes they’ve given, leads from various, costly systems, and even with their own team members regarding task assignments and project management.

Why a sales person doesn’t follow-up at all or does so poorly, stems from one or more of the following (3) root causes:

  1. Lack of self confidence
  2. Lack of organization/time management
  3. Lack of systems

In most situations, tackling the latter two causes will cure the first, so my recommendation is if you find that you struggle with strong and consistent follow-up, turn your attentions, first, to identifying in which circumstances you fail to follow-up the most and then ask yourself the following questions:

  • Do I have a proper series of follow-up call and email scripts for this given opportunity?
  • Exactly how many, “touches” do I feel is required to gain the value from this opportunity?
  • How much time am I willing to invest overall in the opportunity?
  • What system can I utilize to automate my follow-up efforts?
  • What system can I utilize that will prompt me to take each follow-up step?
  • Am I able to decipher between a good and viable opportunity for me vs. an opportunity that is best passed along or left on the table for someone else?

In answering the six questions above, you will then possess a detailed needs list in which to develop your perfect follow-up strategy to any given opportunity.

The last question from the list above generally stops people in their tracks. Many sales people have the mindset that every opportunity should be tackled with with the same amount of gusto. However, throwing yourself into every co-marketing offer, potential referral partnership, seminar series, membership and board committee is going to immediately hamper your ability to follow-up and follow through effectively in order to gain a real return on investment from any one of these opportunities. I am here to tell you that not all opportunities are to be treated equally, which is a whole other article topic in and of itself, so stay tuned for that one!

Need help in creating and implementing your Perfect Follow-up Strategies? Feel free to FOLLOW UP with me. I’m never too busy to help you achieve your business growth goals!

 

 

Oct 07
0

Why does it feel as if my borrowers are behaving like bad children?

By | Mortgage Business Tips | No Comments

When your borrowers seem to be challenging your every word, not doing as they are told and kick and scream throughout the process, it’s not because of some genetic disorder, like you may think. Rather, the likelihood is that their challenging demeanor is rooted in and stemming from a fear. Fear can be paralyzing and it can also cause us to behave combative and dare I say, “bratty” at times.

Here are two techniques to help you to help your customers move past their fears so you can get them to their end goal and ultimately secure a client for life. Plus, possibly save yourself some migraines along the way.

Name the Fear

As soon as you feel someone is having a tough time moving forward, instead of asking your customer what might be holding them back and inadvertently putting them in a defensive position, suggest a few reasons why some of your past customers have experienced cold feet or reservations at one point or another during the process.

Explain how you were able to help them through that fear so they could meet their ultimate goals. Basically, you are sharing a case study, a cure and most importantly, empathy!

People respond to real-life examples, ones that mirror their own set of similar circumstances.

Show Me Don’t Tell Me

Be ready to present your case as to why and how your customer should move forward with your requests in a professional and visual manner. I’ve seen some wonderful examples of this with my own mortgage coaching clients who combine loan comparison presentation tools from various sources like, MortgageCoach.com with various media applications like Jing Project, Camtasia, Go To Meeting, and You Tube.

Using quick instructional-type or friendly reminder-type videos regarding the most common sticking points for customers while going through the loan process is another terrific way to get ahead of the fear and snuff it out before it even has a chance to rear its ugly head.

Statistics show that 65% of the population consists of visual learners. This is more proof why you simply can’t afford to assume that your customers, “got it” when you told them the 1st time, the 2nd time or even the 3rd time.

We are a nation of voyeurs who feel most comfortable and less fearful, when we can see our options, rather than just being told or sold-on our options.