Mortgage sales strategies: are these eight habits killing your conversion?

By Dave Vermillion

October 30, 2023 • 6 min read

When it comes to conversion, you need to get personal

To build a world class sales organization, a big part of it comes down to conversion. With today’s high interest rates and low borrower demand, the reality for mortgage lenders is that every opportunity counts – even more than in prior years. Now is the time to not only ensure your sales team is practicing the habits that deliver an exceptional borrower experience and turn prospects into customers for life, but also to ensure that your team isn’t making the eight most common mistakes that kill conversion.

1. Delivering a fast response that doesn't have a personal touch

According to Demin Social, 74% of borrowers go with the first lender they speak to, and 92% with one of the first two lenders they speak to. In short - if you don’t move quickly, you won’t win their business. However, it’s not enough to just send an automated text message when someone reaches out to you. People see right through that. Instead, you need to make a strong first impression at that very first touchpoint. That’s where the relationship starts. The best thing you can do at this point is call that borrower.

2. Quoting rates up-front

With today’s higher interest rates, loan officers need to think beyond just quoting rates and start communicating from a value proposition perspective. Quoting a rate by itself won’t build a relationship. However, if you take the time to gather the info needed to provide an accurate quote (not meaningless input based on a self-stated credit score, for example), you’ll start to create a relationship with that borrow, gain their trust and help keep them from shopping around elsewhere.

3. Starting conversations with products

Loan officers must stop talking only about the various products they can offer. Tons of LOs immediately ask: “Well are you looking for FHA, VA, HELOC, etc.?” Instead, start the conversation by asking: “What are you looking to accomplish?” This open-ended question starts a dialogue, and avoids “yes or no” answers. Don’t get me wrong, having a variety of products is a great selling point! However, to determine the right product fit, you first need to understand the borrowers’ goals.

4. Treating prospects like suspects

Jumping right into qualification questions can be quite intimidating to potential borrowers. Loan officers who start a conversation with these questions often imply that they will only spend time with a borrower if they meet the right criteria. Getting out of the instant qualification mindset, and into a relationship-building mindset will produce greater results.

5. Asking borrowers to self-serve

Yes, today’s consumer has many self-serve, automation preferences. But when they are looking for a multi-hundred-thousand-dollar loan, they have questions and need advice. Online applications are great, but they should never replace a personal relationship.

6. Underestimating the power of a relationship

As mentioned above, we’re talking about a major financial transaction, perhaps the largest in the borrower’s lifetime. That comes with a lot of baggage. If you aren’t taking the time to build relationships and show borrowers the value of working with you versus your competitors, you won’t win their business.

7. Having the LO take all the actions

Taking an app without docs or locking a rate doesn’t constitute borrower commitment. Why? Because those are actions taken by the Loan Officer, not the borrower—and true commitment comes from the borrower taking action, not the Loan Officer. So how do we gain a borrower’s true commitment (and avoid having them shop our offers or unhook later in the process)? By getting them to take meaningful actions, like providing docs, allowing their credit to be pulled, and scheduling a face-to-face appointment to discuss their goals and desires—those are borrower actions.

8. Skipping follow-up

If you aren’t following up with your leads and staying in contact throughout the entire sales process, you are either missing opportunities or letting them fall by the wayside. This is where a technology partner like ICE Mortgage Technology® can serve as the icing on the cake for your sales operation. But again, partnering with a best-in-class technology provider doesn’t eliminate the importance of making personal touches throughout the process and ensuring your team members are calling their borrowers every week while in-process.

Next steps

Beyond these tips, having the right tools in place can go a long way toward helping you meet your goals for the last quarter of 2023 and to being prepared for whatever comes in 2024. ICE Mortgage Technology is a great partner that can help your foster a better, relationship-driven approach by managing repetitive tasks so your team can devote more time to sales opportunities and personal interactions with borrower. To learn more, tune into my recent conversation with Tom Radle, VP of Solutions Sales at ICE Mortgage Technology, where we discuss how to earn borrowers’ trust with modern technology.

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