The Initial Phone Call
This sets the entire process in motion and you only get one chance to make a first impression. You need to really understand how important your first impression is. I’ve had clients after closing tell me that when we first spoke they made up their mind they were working with me. I’m sure I’ve also lost clients that I didn’t even know I lost because I didn’t have a great first call.
The key components to the initial phone call
- You must be 100% present and not doing 2 other things while you’re on the phone with them. You need to give you full attention and be your best on this call.
- You need to have a call, not an email exchange where you send an online app or text them to download your smartphone app. You need to actually speak with the person. If they don’t want to speak they’re not your client and they probably won’t work with you anyway.
- Don’t stop what you’re doing just to take the call. If you’re in the middle of working up a scenario for another client or going to a closing don’t take the call. Refer back to #1 and make sure you’re fully in the moment.
- You need to be able to end with “the next step is” and have a very clear plan for them to follow as to what they will need to do next and what you will do for them. My next step goes like this:
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- After we hang up I’m going to send you how you can complete the informational portion of the application as well as the documents I’d need to review for the full loan approval.
- Once I receive those I’ll have the file fully underwritten, all guidelines checked and I’ll start working on the scenarios we discussed.
- At that point, I’ll send those out to you so you can review and then we can set up our planning meeting to go over everything, etc…