Producing Results, Delivering in Real Estate

By Jeff Mandel

RISMEDIA, Dec. 26, 2007-The best baseball players have historically immortalized their careers during the month of October because of their ability to consistently produce great results and deliver under the immense pressure created during the playoffs.

Just as the “fourth quarter” is historically the time to define your baseball career, the current mortgage and economic environment has produced an opportunity for most in-house mortgage companies, mortgage partnerships, and their respective loan officers to entrench their value within their respective organizations. The importance of consumers and real estate agents working with a mortgage company that they can confidently know will continue to be in business and get their loans closed has never been greater. However, there continues to be numerous barriers restricting consumers’ access to the in-house mortgage operations.

Two of the primary obstacles I continue to see across the country are:
1) The inability of the real estate company to effectively position their mortgage company or partnership in front of the consumers
2) Real estate agents continue to be unwilling to refer their customers to the in house mortgage company.
Just like baseball, it all comes down to at-bats. It’s impossible to be successful as a major league hitter unless you’re consistently getting at-bats. Similarly, how can your mortgage operation ever be successful if the consumer is not adequately exposed to their operation and capabilities?

I continue to be astounded at the number of real estate affiliated mortgage companies that I am asked to review due to their underperformance that it’s like sifting for a pin in a pile of hay to see that an in-house mortgage operation exists. Unless your mortgage operation is significantly positioned throughout your real estate company how can you realistically expect your customers to know that it’s an option let alone ever use it?

The following are some recommended methods to enhance your customer’s awareness of your mortgage operation:

1) Integrate it’s branding into all of your company’s marketing materials.
2) Ensure that anywhere a customer comes in contact with your company (in your office lobby, website, advertisements, sales materials, etc.) that your mortgage company is effectively positioned to gain positive recognition (i.e., don’t bury it in small fonts at the bottom or make customers go through five links within your website to find information on your mortgage company).
3) Develop service level guarantees and/or advantages such as closing cost discounts, etc. to help differentiate your mortgage operation and entice customers to utilize its service.
4) Post your mortgage company’s commitment to core values such as integrity, world class customer service, commitment, professionalism, etc. throughout your office.

There’s a common myth within the real estate industry that if a real estate agent provides a mortgage company referral then they must provide at least three recommended companies to the customer. My first inclination is to coach real estate agents that this myth is incorrect and that they should only recommend the in-house company (to the extent the in-house company provides competitive pricing, adequate mortgage products, and great service). However, after performing further analysis I typically identify that the in-house mortgage company is often not included as one of the three recommended companies. If your mortgage company and loan officer are not getting any at-bats then it’s impossible to ever increase your hits, runs and overall success. Therefore, a phased approach should be leveraged.

The requisite first step is to leverage the “myth” to your advantage and work with your real estate agents to ensure that your mortgage company is always included as one of the three recommended mortgage companies. Once this first transformation occurs and your at-bats and capture rates begin to rise then begin the second phase of coaching your real estate agents that they only need to refer your in-house company.

So if you are committed to taking advantage of the current environment, there has never been a better time to improve your overall results. The keys to this recommended approach are:

1) Increase your overall at-bats by significantly enhancing the awareness and presence of your mortgage company
2) Create enticements through service level guarantees to enhance the confidence in your mortgage company’s execution
3) Execute, execute, and execute.

Because we all know that one hiccup in the execution will spread like a virus throughout your office. It is imperative that your mortgage company and/or mortgage partner are not only getting hits but consistently hitting home runs in the clutch by ensuring that your service levels and customer satisfaction are off the charts.

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