After I lured the client in, calling them back on time, many follow ups with e-mails, they are now committed to me. HURRAY..... Not only was I very NICE, but I was always available and helpful. But wait, you now have been trying to get a hold of me for the last 2 to 3 days. You leave me messages and e-mails. Maybe you just assumed that I am very busy, because I seemed so helpful. That I have so many customers. Maybe I called you back and said I am busy, that I will get back to you later. But it's been days now.
So, how busy are you? Busy as a bee? What constitutes the word BUSY? Is this just a good excuse, so you can work on your own time/schedule, since you think the client is now with you. That you won them over?
I just got off the phone with a client earlier today that found me because of my blogs. Great I thought.... After speaking to her, they had been qualified by a loan officer almost 3 weeks ago. She went on to say how nice that this person was, how helpful, and how they stayed in touch. But now, this person is hard to reach and doesn't always return calls in a timely manner.
Let's define timely manner. To me? 1 day, 24 hours..... Meaning, if it's too late to call you, I will at least e-mail you that night or the next morning. But this loan officer must be one happy BEE because she has qualified this borrower and can move onto the next hive per se.
Don't get me wrong, things do happen. I had this conversation with Ron Withers this morning and we both semi laughed, because he told me a story when he was in the military. And you know what, his commander said the same thing that I said to Ron. "Unless you are dead or dying, what isn't it that you can't do at 2 am in the morning, if you were busy earlier." As I stated before, things do happen. Family does come first! But if something has taken place, you can leave a quick message on your cell and or an auto reply in regards to your e-mail.
Conclusion : How comfortable do you get once you have the client that says that they will use your services??? Just because I am in the mortgage industry and I know what to look for or ask, a huge RED FLAG popped up. With the market (by Dominick Gaccino) changing drastically and rapidly just one week ago, I asked this client if she had been contacted by the loan officer in regards to the changing rates. She said no, not at all. I then told her that anytime I even have clients shopping for a home in any market and there is a big change, I let them know by way of an e-mail and then a follow up e-mail. I sent 3 of these such e-mails last week when the bond market raised rates. But what prompted her to start searching again was because she started to feel uncomfortable with the lack of response. And because of her last conversation with the loan officer, this person didn't feel as comfortable in getting them the loan as she did 3 weeks ago. Gee, is it because rates have gone up, raising their payment?
How quickly do you try to react? What are your methods? One thing I have always learned, "keep your clients expectations to a certain level". Don't over promise .... I'll keep you all posted in what happens.
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