For years, mortgage banking managers have measured success based on whether the salesperson met the buyer’s expectations. In my opinion, this thinking is outdated because in today’s world of selling 3.0, simply meeting customer expectations is by definition mediocre. Yes, mediocre. A mediocre customer experience is not enough to instill the loyalty needed to generate […]
The Conundrum of Meeting Expectations Read More »
Two weeks ago, another national lender announced that it was closing its consumer direct business due to unprofitability. The organization’s sales approach was to buy leads and try to refinance them. This marketing approach is expensive and as a result, the company couldn’t cover the costs involved with bidding for leads. Five years ago when
Why Having a Tribe Matters in Sales Success Read More »
As a sales organization “fixer,” I see first-hand how companies are defining their current sales problems in terms of external events such as rising interest rates, compressed margins and too many regulations. In my opinion, this outward focus masks the real issues why a company fails to implement essential changes. Too often, change
Are You Willing to Be a Disruptor? Read More »
Since time immemorial, selling has been defined by having a physical location. Whether in movies, books or on TV shows, the salesperson has typically been portrayed as someone who travels to a market and physically visits a customer or potential prospect. Similarly, a sales manager’s primary job has been to take the map of a
Redefining Market Presence in Mortgage Banking Read More »
Like many people who are fans of Warren Buffett’s annual shareholder’s report, I also admire what Jeff Bezos had to say in his annual report to stockholders. This year, the Amazon founder discussed the challenge every company has in meeting customers’ ever-rising expectations. Bezos claims that “it is the nature of human beings to have
The Impact of High Standards on Recruiting and Retention Read More »
If you were to ask 100 managers about the most important trait of any good salesperson, 99 would say that producers must have the gift of gab. This singular characteristic is what often comes to mind when the public thinks of salespeople. From Alex Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross to Leo DiCaprio in The Wolf of
Why the Gift of Gab Doesn’t Work with Today’s Customer Read More »
One of the hottest topics in mortgage banking is customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is a measure of how well the company and the salesperson meets and surpasses the client’s expectations during the loan process. In mortgage banking, one of the keys to excellent customer service is meeting the customer’s closing date. According to Stratmor’s recent
Customer Satisfaction’s Seven Deadly Sins Read More »
In today’s more difficult volume environment, higher level selling skills are needed to succeed in mortgage origination. After prospecting, the sales skill I see originators most deficient in is asking for the business from potential clients. Why do originators fail at this essential task after they have invested time and effort presenting to the customer?
Why Originators Don’t Ask for the Business Read More »
In my consulting practice, I often hear managers complain about originators who are not calling leads when they are assigned to them. The interesting thing is that the amount of leads is not the problem for sales organizations, but the failure to work and close the leads that are available. As I’ve discussed in previous
The Number One Question Underperformers Must Ask Themselves Read More »
During one of my recent presentations, there was a lot of discussion about how to handle underperformers. The managers I spoke with agreed that some originators were not performing and needed to be fired. Many managers blamed HR for not letting them terminate the underperformers for fear of triggering a lawsuit. This is something I
Three Signs That It Is Time to Fire An Originator Read More »
