By Jim Schmidt
Branch manager
poli Mortgage group inc.
Managing Expectations
These four steps will keep your clients at ease through the loan process
of managing a client’s expectations and
ensuring more business will be referred
to you in the future.
The loan process can be a stress- ful event for clients, especially when it comes to new-home
loans. Clients buying a new home are
dealing with Realtors, home inspectors, sellers and moving companies,
as well as a host of complications that
can occur in the homebuying process.
Stressed-out clients often can make
for stressed-out brokers and originators,
as well. Tense situations can escalate to
unpleasant customer experiences —
unless you’re properly prepared. Taking
several key steps can help you lessen
the anxiety of your clients by managing their expectations, thus ensuring
that they’re pleased — and at ease —
from the beginning of a transaction to
its closing.
need, what will happen after they’re
locked in, how long the underwriting
process may take and what kind of
communication they can expect from
you in the future.
This may sound simple, but it can be
easy to grow used to working in a certain way and simply expect clients to be
familiar with that manner of working, as
well. This can be avoided by taking the
time early on to walk the client through
the process. It’s helpful to let them
know that problems can arise in the
loan process, especially when it comes
to issues that delay paperwork.
expected of them at each step of the
process — and clients should be familiar with this process, as well. Rigorous
and transparent organization can help
put clients at ease, while also assuring
them that nothing will accidentally fall
through the cracks.
Step 1: communication
Brokers and originators should always
begin client relationships by letting clients know what to expect. For instance,
let them know what documents they’ll
Step 2: organization
Many companies don’t have an internal
platform that allows their originators to
perform their job functions from anywhere at any time. You need to make
sure that you have a system that ensures every step of the loan process is
being carefully outlined and tracked.
Employees should know what’s
Step 3: Teamwork
Getting buyers into homes requires careful coordination among closing attorneys, Realtors, homebuyers and brokers.
Emphasizing the power and quality of
this team is paramount to a positive customer experience. When something goes
wrong, there’s often the potential for one
side to blame the other, but building
relationships with other involved professionals can help avoid this.
Doing a good job in this respect
also can help you build your pipeline,
as Realtors like doing business with
originators who can get their clients
financed and keep their customers
happy. Proper teamwork is at the heart
Step 4: problem solving
Even with excellent communication,
organization and teamwork, problems
still can arise in the loan process. If and
when you hit a bump in the road, address
it as quickly as possible. Clients may not
be happy when a hiccup occurs, but
they’ll be grateful that you were upfront
and honest with them.
Remember, most problems are hidden opportunities, so brokers and originators should perceive them as ways to
forge even deeper relationships with clients. After all, if you’re the one who can
solve a problem, you become a hero in
the eyes of your customer. •
Jim Schmidt is a branch manager for Poli
Mortgage Group Inc. He has extensive management, origination, business development and
marketing experience that spans more than two
decades and encompasses a variety of professional settings. Schmidt joined Poli Mortgage
Group in 2001 as a loan originator and, in
2004, became sales manager in addition to his
position as a loan originator. Reach him at (781)
801-1436 or jims@polimortgage.com.
between initial and expected interest
rates is a competency that many successful loan officers have. Teaching
other officers how to convey such complexities to prospects requires a different skill set, however. A loan officer who
has mastered both sets of disciplines
can be a natural fit in the classroom, but
managers should know that such a balance is rare.
« TRAIN continued from page 52
7. additional benefits
Loan-officer training obviously is helpful to its direct students, but mortgage
companies should consider other employees who can benefit from loan-officer training, as well. namely, can
such training benefit officers’ internal
relations with operations employees or
service team members?
Absolutely. By allowing — or even
mandating — that certain additional
employees participate in sales-training
sessions, overall team effectiveness
can be significantly strengthened.
Processors, under writers and servicers
can bring much value to a loan officer’s
education and can learn more about
themselves, their company’s sales culture, metrics and priorities.
In the process, an organization’s employees will begin to perceive each other
as more than mere associates or support resources. Shared learning leads to
shared values and shared accountability.
8. Value
In terms of actually designing training
programs, mortgage companies should
know how to ensure that their efforts
yield significant returns. In other words,
how can CEOs and managers get the
biggest bang for their buck?
