Last week I was off to the office when I received a phone call from a potential client. The potential client and I had lunch plans that day, and he was calling to confirm our appointment, and to ask if I would mind driving. Of course I agreed, and then detoured to the closest full service car wash. With 2 kids, football practice, camping trips and weekend getaways, I was more than overdue for my next full service.
As I was about to pay, I heard a woman talking on the phone about a lock-box and trying to arrange an afternoon appointment. I told her that I knew other people were busy in this industry besides me, and started a conversation about her business. If we spent more than 2 minutes chatting, I would have been surprised. She was a bit flustered about her showing, so we quickly exchaged cards, I gave her a brief description of what I did and what made my company a little different, and we both went on our way.
Later that night I found her business card in my pocket, and sent her a nice little email. More times than not, these emails are not even returned, so I usually don't get too worked up about going into to much detail. Just a little reminder about our meeting, a little more about what we can do, and I was done.
To my surprise, she emailed the next afternoon, told me about the lenders she was working with, and how slow business had been. She promised to keep me in mind on future purchases and to keep in touch. She was extremely pleasant, but again, I have received the brushoff so many times, I felt that was the direction the email was headed.
I wanted to send one more email and push this a bit harder. I explained how much I enjoyed our conversation, and would send her the next deal I received in an effort to establish some type of relationship. I threw in a few one liners, and hit send.
She responded back with a LOL response, and stated she would be anxiously awaiting the referral. I would guess she has heard this response many times before from mortgage professionals, and wasn't about to hold her breath.
I know she could not have been more shocked when I called her later that evening with the name and phone number of a pre-qualified hom buyer, in the same neighborhood she was showing the house the day before, and looking for a realtor to guide her through the process. I still can remember the laughter on the other end of the phone and the shock in her voice. In a matter of minutes, I made a realtors day!
I only had one stipulation.....I do the financing! That was a pretty easy sell considering. For all of you realtors out there....Don't be afraid to make a loan officer's day:-)
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