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The key to getting more referrals is to ask for the referral at the time of application.  Research has shown that loan officers who

 

ask for referrals at the time of application get more referrals even if they do everything else wrong.  Conversely, even if a loan

 

officer does everything else right, they will not get significantly more referrals if they do not bring up the issue of referrals at the

 

time of application.

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Suggested dialogue:

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L.O. “Mr and Mrs Jones, Glory Mortgage wants you to be totally pleased with the way in which we handle your application

 

for a mortgage.  Well, “pleased” really isn’t the word for it… We want you to be delighted, no, thrilled…that’s it “Thrilled” with

 

the way we handle your account”

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“Now you know Mr. and Mrs. Jones that I make my living by origination mortgages for people like you.  And I know, because

 

research from the National Association of Realtors tells me so, that in the course of this (home purchase of) mortgage refinance,

 

that you will talk to everyone at work, everyone you meet socially, friends, family, complete strangers, basically the whole world

 

about this transaction.  (This is a little chuckle for everyone involved).  We know you will meet at least four individuals who are in

 

exactly the same position as you (again the research of the National Association of Realtors tells us so).  They are interested in

 

buying a house or refinancing their home and they will be intently watching your transaction to see how it goes.”

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“All I am asking is that if you are thrilled and delighted about the way Glory Mortgage handles your transaction, will you pass

 

on to us the names of the four individuals who we know you will encounter who are interested in mortgage services exactly, like

 

you.”

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Now stop and think about the borrower’s situation for a minute.  Are they scared?  You bet, this is a complicated and unfamiliar

 

process.  Do they want to be pleased?  They sure do. Would they rather be thrilled, ecstatically happy?  You bet, So what do they

 

say?  They say YES of course.  What would happen if they said no.  Well, they might be frightened that they could end up less

 

than thrilled.  And they don’t want that to happen. So they say YES!  This promise will remain in their mind at the time of closing. 

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Note what I do not say:  I never say something like, “If you happen to meet anyone who might need mortgage services, I’d really

 

appreciate it if you would refer them to me.”  This is how you destroy your own efforts by being too weak and timid.  You need to

 

say, in effect, “We know you will have these referrals and if you are delighted and thrilled with this service, we expect you will

 

want to give them to us.”

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Now that the application is taken, the loan is underwritten, it closes in good order.  Now it is time to stand face to face with the

 

borrowers and recall to them their promise to you about referrals.  This can be done right at the table after closing or as much as

 

24 hours later.

 

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At this time, it is important to have a medium size gift wrapped in bright shiny paper with a big bow.  My own personal

 

preference is silver or gold foil paper, something very shiny.  The type of gift is not important, remember, they are only going to

 

see the box anyway before they give you the referrals.  I prefer an odd shaped box, not a box that might hold a bottle, so that

 

the borrowers can’t guess the contents simply by looking at the shape of the box.  Don’t agonize for hours over what kind of gift

 

to give, it simply doesn’t matter.  However, it must be unmistakably clear from the appearance of the box that what you are

 

holding is a gift for them.  There should be no possibility of confusion on this point.

 

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Before I give the borrowers the gift, I hand them a short customer satisfaction survey with four simple questions.  Examples:  Did

 

your loan close on time?  Were your phone calls returned promptly?  Did you receive accurate information about closing costs? 

 

Were the staff polite and courteous?  Have a simple answering system, Fair, Good or Excellent… or perhaps a simple 1-5 scale.

 

Now the customers see the gift.  They want the gift, right?  So what do they do? They mark all the questions excellent and hand

 

you back the customer survey.  You immediately hand them the gift.  Now the loan originator is holding the survey and the

 

borrowers are holding the gift.  The originator looks over the survey and says:

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“Well, I’m pleased to see that you were delighted with our service.  You will remember when we first met that I told you that I

 

would be asking you for the names of the people you met who need mortgage services just like you.  It is now the time to sit

 

down and list out those names.  (The loan officer takes out referral cards from their purse or inside pocket) Lets sit down and fill

 

out these referral cards now.”

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Loan officers who follow these procedures will receive on the average three to four referrals per loan closed.  When training loan

 

officers to improve their referral techniques, it is important to practice both the dialogue lines and the body movements like a

 

little play.  It is unreasonable for loan originators to expect to improve their performance without practice.

 

 

As I work with hundreds of loan officers throughout the country, it has become apparent to me that some salespeople succeed

 

because they work smart rather than hard.  Some originators spend hours each day on difficult cold calls while others almost

 

never have to absorb this kind of punishment.  The difference is often how effective a loan officer is when they work with their

 

existing customer base.  Clearly, effective referral strategies cannot be executed without good organization and consistent

 

follow up.  Sales managers need to work closely with originators to ensure that they are initiating the referral process at

 

application and not a closing when it is too late.  Loan originators that master the dialogue and body language of a good referral

 

presentation are working smart, rather than hard.  They ought to be recognized for their mastery of essential selling skills and

 

compensated accordingly.

 

 

The pursuit of referrals does not end when the loan closes or shortly thereafter.  Experience shows that satisfied customers will

 

provide referrals up to one year after their loan closes.  Any customer who provides me with a referral after closing gets one of

 

the following follow up cards from me.  It does not matter whether they respond or not and offer them a free magazine

 

subscription to the publication of their choice.  The purpose of this is to keep them interested in giving me referrals.  Every

 

month for twelve months, the customer will be getting a magazine subscription from me.  If I get more referrals, I will renew it.

 

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There are other ways of following up after a closing.  Because the customer himself is not shopping for a mortgage, he is not

 

currently being besieged by other loan officers looking for business, Thus, anything that a loan originator does post-closing will

 

add value to the relationship.