As we move into the second quarter, one of the questions I hear most frequently is: “Can our originators effectively present to referral resources or customers?” The majority of managers I’ve spoken to about this believe their originators do not have the ability to make a professional presentation. Why is this belief so prevalent when most originators have been in the industry for years and are considered experienced?
The problem behind poor presentations is often two-fold. First, does the sales person have the raw talent to be an originator? Second, if the individual does have talent, has he or she been trained in current techniques that work in a lightning-fast business world? Senior management teams have been lulled into thinking that hiring experienced originators means that they do not have to train their sales force in what is required to succeed in the new “normal” of mortgage origination.
Why is presenting professionally so critical in today’s marketplace? Because customers have unprecedented access to information when selecting a supplier, often the only element that distinguishes one lender from another is the quality of the front-line sales person. Now more than ever, customers are looking for companies that can provide the best value, not necessarily the best price. It is up to the originator to “sell value” and make a compelling case about why a customer should do business with his or her company.
When making presentations, many originators mistakenly believe that providing a lot of information is all they have to do. In other words they fail to be persuasive and close the sale. According to our research, when a sales person dumps a lot of information on the customer, it is because he or she never has to hear the word “no.”
How do you train an originator to become an effective presenter? First off, presenting effectively is a combination of public speaking principles and having the innate talent to be a professional mortgage originator. The nine traits that are linked with sales success are described in the attached article, “Why Johnny Can’t Originate,” that appears on page 60 in ACUMA Pipeline magazine. View the PDF.
There are five principles of effective presenting which I will discuss more in depth next time.
How effective are your originators are making sales presentations?