Setting clear expectations (with customers and partners)

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, Setting clear expectations (with customers and partners), with Dale Vermillion. Hi Dale!
Dale Vermillion	Hey Jake.
Jake Vermillion	In this installment, we want to explore how to set clear expectations with our customers and our partners when turn times may be slower and responsive communication may be more difficult. Starting as always with customers, what specific expectations should a loan officer set with borrowers as part of the sales process?
Dale Vermillion	You know first and foremost, I want to say that this is one of the most important elements, of all of the sales techniques and skills in an up market; because, when you're in high volume, look, things slow down. There's capacity issues, particularly when you're dealing in, you know, record low-rate markets where volume is massive, you know, you've got high production all over the place. You got to understand that there is always going to be capacity challenges within that. And when you have capacity challenges, you want to be proactive and preempt those things by creating a little bit of release of the pressure. You know, I look at today's marketplace and, you know, we literally are seeing record numbers and we can't keep up with the production that's there; yet, we continue to constantly do things the way we've always done them, expecting the industry to be a 30 day industry when it's not a 30 day industry necessarily. So, in an up market where volume is high and turn times are going to be longer, you've got to set right expectations from the start. That's so vitally important with your customers. And let them know, "Look, the good news is we are gonna get you into this loan. We're going to get you access to these incredible programs. We are going to help you save a ton of money." Use that as a leverage point in setting expectations, but then remind them that because there's so much demand that it's going to take longer than normal. So, equate it to going on a trip. "Okay. You want to go on a great vacation. Everybody wants to go on that great vacation and there's a whole bunch of people trying to get on the plane, you know, to get there. We're going to get you on the taxiway. The problem is it might take you a little longer than normal to get to the runway, but the good news is you're on the plane. That's where we've got you." I want you as loan officers to really remember that it starts with right expectations. If you over-promise and under-deliver, you're going to have frustrated clients. If you under-promise and over-deliver, you're going to have happy clients. So, if I have a market where I know that it's going to take me 40-45 days to close, and yet I'm still committing to 30 days, I am creating problems for my customers, for myself, and for everybody involved in that transaction. And I know as well as everybody that if I tell somebody 30 days and close in 32 and I tell another customer 45 days and close in 43, the 43-day customer is the happier of the two at the end of the day, it's all about the expectations you set. So, be sure to understand this one principle: expectation is based on education. So, if you educate your customers to understand the market conditions, the fact that you're in an up market. If you educate them to understand that there's capacity issues, if you educate them to understand that there are multiple facets to a mortgage transaction and it's not just us as the lender that is busy, but it's everybody we work with—the appraisal company, the title company, the closing agents, the courthouse. Everybody's dealing with capacity issues and there's challenges that can happen from any direction. And we're going to do the very best we can, and we're going to set a longer turn time and a longer lock time on the front end to protect your rate and protect your program with the expectation we're going to close as quick as we can; but, at maximum it's going to take this longer time, you're going to have much happier customers—I guarantee it—and less frustration.
Jake Vermillion	So, sticking with the customer: what specifically should a loan officer communicate after completing the sale as the loan enters processing?
Dale Vermillion	Once you get into processing, it's important that you set expectations on the communication now with your teammates. Look, you know the temperature of your operations team. You know if they're running behind and not making contact. So again, just like you don't over-promise for yourself, you definitely don't over-promise for other people. So, it's really important that you set expectations where you yes, walk them through the process of what they should expect, how long it's going to take, who they're going to be working with, and what that process looks like. But, you also are mindful of the fact or remind them that you are the key relationship with them. You're going to be watching their file for them, that they may not get the kind of response that they're hoping for initially. And if that's the case, they should contact you and that you will be establishing a regular cadence of follow up with them. Look, it's really important that we're establishing continual connection on the backside with our customers through the process, and let them know that if there is things that don't go the way that we would like them to that they are always open to contact us. Where you see a lot of problems happen is where we don't let them know that could happen, they're frustrated, and we get involved in that way too late. Set that expectation from the start. Let them know what to expect. Let them know that you're there for them. Let them know that they can always contact you. And you've established a better rhythm for the backside.
Jake Vermillion	What about with partners? How can loan officers work with their referral partners to set realistic expectations without creating dissatisfaction that could ultimately end that partnership?
Dale Vermillion	Well, and this is the biggest challenge that most loan originators deal with if you're working with third-party referrals, particularly with realtors where, you know, they're getting paid a big commission on this thing and they want their commission check as quick as they can. So, they want that deal to close as fast as possible. But again, It's all about setting those expectations from the start. It's all about making sure that you are focusing on with your partners, them understanding the marketplace, them, understanding that, "You know what I could do like everybody else, and I could take a 30-day contract in a market where 30 days is probably not viable. Or, I could take this deal that I know is going to take five weeks and I'm going to tell you I'm going to do it, and then just beg forgiveness later by extending the contract." But, I don't believe that's the best way to do it. I think the better way to do it is to really be honest up front and say, "Look, rather than begging for forgiveness, let's just get permission on the front end to go ahead and get that longer time. We're going to try to work to a closer time." And here's the beauty of that: you don't have to deal with extensions, you don't have to deal with disappointed customers, if anything, we're going to come in ahead of time versus behind time and putting pressure on everybody in the process, and creating an environment that probably is going to become—at the end—highly stressful. If I were to give you a parting thought it would be this: I believe if you look at the mortgage industry, and we're really honest with ourselves, we would agree that turn times are way more important to loan originators, and to realtors, and to everybody else in the business, than they are to the actual customer. The customer's willing to wait longer as long as they know they're getting that great deal they were looking for—if you just tell them upfront. So, we've got to educate. We've got to work with our partners. We've got to make sure that we're communicating well. And if we do that, we're going to keep everybody satisfied. And we're also not going to put so much pressure on our ops team that they bend to the point that they could break. Because let me tell you the last thing you want to do is burnout, or frustrate, or upset your ops partners when they're already working long hours trying to get your files done because you're creating tough expectations from the start that makes it hard on everybody.
Jake Vermillion	Don't forget to complete today's Skill Challenge by taking the time with your next borrower to set clear expectations for the post-sale process. Alternatively, you could have that same conversation with a referral partner. And then let us know how they reacted, whether it set the tone for that transaction or partnership, and what's come of it since by clicking the feedback link in the show description. Coming up next, Managing your pipeline (to prioritize selling).