The mortgage business is complicated. There are a lot of guidelines and regulations to know, especially if you offer more than a handful of products. I’ll cover two simple tricks to become a product expert, which will help you close more business faster and enable you to be a bigger asset to your clients.
I remember working with a guy years ago who outproduced almost everybody else. He found ways to make difficult loans work that other originators couldn’t.
Though he was a good originator, there wasn’t anything exceptional about him other than this: he knew his lending guidelines inside and out. Because he knew his guidelines well, he was able to close loans that other professionals overlooked, disregarded, or gave up on.
One of the simplest ways you can close more business faster is to learn your guidelines thoroughly.
Spend 15 to 20 Minutes Every Day Reading Guidelines
Here’s a simple trick to close more business faster: spend 15 to 20 minutes every day reading guidelines.
Yes, mortgage guidelines are pretty dry. I always joked with my clients that if they were having trouble sleeping, they should get their mortgage disclosures out and start reading. They’ll be out in no time, right? 🙂
I highly recommend setting aside a few minutes every morning to read guidelines. You don’t need to spend a lot of time.
In fact, I recommend that you don’t spend a lot of time doing it. If you read for an hour, for example, you probably won’t remember most of what you read. If you spend just 15 to 20 minutes per day, you’ll take away little tidbits of information that will stick in your memory better.
Again, all it takes is 15 to 20 minutes per day to become a product expert. When you’re more knowledgeable, it will be easier to fund the tougher loans that you’ll inevitably get.
Write About Your Product
On a whim, I started a mortgage blog when I was just a handful of years into my mortgage career. I don’t have that blog anymore (I probably should have kept it in hindsight), but I started this site just a few years after I began exclusively doing reverse mortgages.
I’ve discovered that writing about the products I offer helps me to learn them inside and out. If you want to become a product expert, write about the products you offer. Start a website and start blogging.
A website is also a great marketing asset to help you generate more business. When your clients land on your website and read your content, they can see that you know what you’re talking about.
Write about how certain products work, who they’re best for, and some of the basic qualifying requirements your clients may be interested in.
You may also want to write case studies based on real world scenarios about how a certain loan product helped a certain client. Keep the details and personal information confidential, of course, but case studies are great for solidifying in your mind how to apply various mortgage products to certain client scenarios.
Writing case studies is also great practice for talking about your product because they’re benefit-oriented. The whole point of a case study is to explain how a loan product helped a client in a particular situation. Writing case studies enabled me to have more intelligent and concise benefit-oriented conversations.
Before you start a website, I recommend running it by your compliance department. Some companies are more strict than others, but all companies are hyper worried about running afoul of regulations these days.
If you decide to start a website, I recommend using Siteground for your web hosting. I’ve used them for years. They have everything you need to get a site online quickly and for a reasonable price.
You can order your domain name and install WordPress (the blogging platform that runs your site) all in one place with just a few clicks.
A Warning
As you grow your knowledge, resist the urge to regale your mortgage clients with mortgage minutae. It’s OK to display your knowledge and expertise on a website, but not while you’re talking with your clients.
I remember a mortgage guy I used to work with who had an appraisal background. He was a funny guy and a great friend while we worked together, but he had the tendency to get into longwinded discussions about appraisal requirements with his borrowers.
His clients didn’t need to know all of the arcane details about how appraisers do their jobs. They often got overwhelmed and chose not to work with him.
Resist the urge to get into the weeds! Your newfound detailed knowledge is not for impressing your clients while you talk with them. Again, displaying your knowledge on a website is fine. The goal is to learn guidelines to help your clients find the best loan solution and navigate the loan process more quickly and easily. The end result will be more closings for you.
Happy originating!
