Converting customers (instead of getting shopped)

Jake Vermillion	Welcome to Up-Market Sales Success, a series designed to help U.S. Bank loan officers, just like you, make the most of high-volume markets. My name is Jake, I'm a member of the Mortgage Champions team, and we we are incredibly excited to bring this powerful offering to U.S. Bank thanks to Beth Ryan, Todd McFadden, and the entire executive team. Let's dive into the topic at hand, Converting customers (instead of getting shopped), with Dale Vermillion. Hi Dale!
Dale Vermillion	Hi Jake!
Jake Vermillion	In this installment, we want to explore some of the keys to converting leads, especially when competition is fierce. Look, as someone who has trained over a million loan officers, I suspect you have some solid lead conversion strategies. What are the key things to keep in mind when trying to gain that first borrower commitment to take the next step?
Dale Vermillion	Well, thanks for asking. And the very first thing is you better differentiate yourself from everybody else. Look, you know what the borrower is going to probably ask you when they open up—it's going to be rate, in some form or fashion. It might be fees. It might be cost. It might be points. It might be the APR, the interest rate. It's going to be a price question. So, don't give them a price answer! Because that's what everybody else does. You've got to differentiate yourself, and the key here is to educate them on why they would choose you instead of just answering their questions, which also is a common trait that I see where they'll ask questions, we answer questions, they ask more questions, pretty soon that leads to a question we don't want. And the problem is we're not in control of the call—that borrower's in control. We've got to be in control that call from the get go. And let me say this to you, if you open with a rate quote, you know what? You just lost control because you created a shopper. If you open by just answering their questions, they're going to keep hammering you and they're still in control. The key here is to make sure you address your rates and your competition very proactively by letting them know that you've got awesome rates, that you don't know what it is yet because you don't have an application on them, and then remind them of what you're going to do different. The key to all conversion is value. It's creating a value proposition. That's what you want to focus in on.
Jake Vermillion	We've all experienced the frustration of working with a borrower, just to have them shop your offer with your competition, especially in high-volume markets where rate is the borrower's primary motivation for considering a loan in the first place. How can loan officers prevent having their offers constantly shopped by borrowers looking for just another lower rate?
Dale Vermillion	Let's take it from the initiation of the call first. Look, the reason that loan officers get shopped so much is because we basically talk about price. And when we talk about it, you know what? We're going to create a shopping mentality. Remember, "Price is what you pay, value is what you get. It's never what you pay that matters. It's always what you get that matters." You can get a low rate loan and a bad loan. You can get a higher rate loan and a great loan. It's all how you build the rate. The bottom line is that we need to understand that talking rates is talking price. And that's why it's so important that you understand the three key truths of all initial price questions: And that is number one, that when they're asking you that rate question they're asking a question you can't answer—you don't have an app, you don't know anything about them, it's impossible, so don't try. You'd be lying if you did that. Second, no matter what your quote is going to be too high, they're going to object. You're going to create that objection up-front. And lastly, you're going to get beat. There's always a lower lender. There's always a lower offer. There's always somebody who can beat you on price. The key to not getting shopped on the front-end is not to get down the price path. The key to not getting shopped on the back-end is making sure that you build such an incredible relationship during the application, you provide so much value beyond your competition, you create a unique offer that nobody else has offered them by giving them options that are different than your competition, and by getting their commitment up-front. You do those things, you won't get shopped on the back-end too much either. And if you do, the beauty is because of that relationship, they'll still keep you in the game and they'll come back to you and say, "Hey, I've gotten this other quote, but I want to work with you." and you're going to be able to win that deal ultimately. Yeah, I think the whole key to all of this that we forget is that at the end of the day, this business is about relationship. It's not about mortgage rates, and mortgage price, and turn times—we put too much emphasis on the wrong things. Look, people buy from people they like and trust. And the bigger the transaction, then the more that becomes important. Well, there's no bigger transaction that people go through than a mortgage. Therefore, yes we want to create value through benefits. And yes, we want to give them a great loan. And yes, we want to do all those things. But, we've got to build all of that around the foundational mindset that I've got to get this customer to love me, not to like me. To be loyal to me and trust me, not to just think I'm okay. If I do that, they're going to have this inherent desire to want to work with me and I'm going to be able to win that deal even in the face of competition.
Jake Vermillion	Don't forget to complete today's Skill Challenge by proactively addressing your competition with a borrower. Just try it! And then let us know how it went by clicking the feedback link in the show description. Coming up next, Handling rate resistance (with a powerful objection response).