In today’s digital world, knowing how to sell mortgages over the phone can be very difficult. Less people are picking up the phone and compliance is getting stricter. However, cold calling is still a valuable tool in your sales strategy if utilized properly.
Successful cold calling is all about having a clear goal in mind and properly executing your plan. Keep reading to learn how to sell mortgages over the phone.
In order to sustain success, it’s important to remain consistent and dedicate part of your day to strictly cold calling. If you think it’s too time consuming to cold call, you’re not alone. However, you can significantly increase productivity by optimizing your call schedule.
How to Optimize Your Call Schedule
The hardest part about cold calling is starting. After all, call reluctance is a common phenomenon that makes it challenging just to pick up the phone.
Make it easier on yourself by dedicating at least an hour to dialing without distractions. Research shows that switching from one task to the next takes a serious toll on productivity. So, block off your calendar, turn off distracting email and phone notifications, and get dialing.
Going through your database and researching who to call can be very distracting. Instead, optimize your call schedule by creating a call list ahead of time. Having a call list prepared allows you to focus on going through your calls as quickly as possible. So, when the time comes to start calling, don’t stop until you’ve reached your goal!
Consider Using an Auto Dialer
As you know, calling leads can be time consuming, especially when you’re dialing hundreds of contacts per week. One tool you can use to make your work load more manageable is an auto dialer.
In essence, an auto dialer is a software that connects to your phone and dials phone numbers from a list. However, it also has more advanced features such as pre-programmed messages to a voicemail, routing live calls to yourself or a team member, and logging outbound and inbound records. An auto dialer can save you a ton of time, optimizing your cold calling even further.
A Mortgage Optimized CRM
Another tool you can use is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform. As you know, you never want to go into a call blind. When you speak to hundreds of people each month, it can be challenging to remember the past interaction you had with each lead. That is where a strong CRM platform can come in handy.
A CRM platform is a tool used to manage relationships with your customers and potential customers. It can be as simple as a pen and piece of paper, or as advanced as a premier software designed specifically for the mortgage industry.
You can use a CRM platform to leverage your past interactions. As soon as you get off a call, log the interaction you had in your CRM. Then, next time you interact with that lead, you know where you left off, and will leave a memorable impression.
Control the Conversation
Now that you’re set up for success and ready to start dialing, you need to control the conversation. It’s crucial that you’re able to guide your lead to a clear decision.“Yes, I’d love to move forward,” or “No, I’m not ready for a mortgage at this time,” are great answers. Clear responses provide insight into why your lead made their choice. Indecision, however, provides little to no information and is caused by ineffective communication.
The key to controlling any cold call is to have a clear goal beforehand, and a plan to execute it. It’s always a good idea to have a list of questions prepared to uncover your leads’ specific needs.
The wrong questions will turn you into an uninterested listener, while the right questions will allow you to control the conversation and guide it in the most productive direction for you and your future customer.
Ask Open Ended Questions
A key difference between successful calls that result in a meeting and unsuccessful calls that do not is the duration of the call. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the longer the call, the greater your odds of securing that meeting.
But, how do you engage your leads and keep them on the phone?
You want to encourage your lead to give a full, meaningful answer. Don’t give them an easy out at the beginning of the call by asking closed-ended questions. For example, “Did I catch you at a bad time?”
Proper questions give your lead an opportunity to explain their situation and allow you to gain insight on their motivations. Make your lead want to discuss and address their problems directly. From there, you can gain valuable insight on their needs and maintain control of the conversation by providing helpful assistance.
Open-ended questions are a powerful tool to have in your arsenal. Below are some examples of engaging questions that you can ask your leads:
- What challenges have you faced in the past when trying to secure a mortgage or refinance?
- What additional information would you need in order to make a decision?
- What’s your number one financial priority right now?
- What is the number one concern you have regarding securing a mortgage?
Create a Script, But Only Use It as a Guide
Without a script, it’s very easy to get off track. You have a small window to get your lead engaged; don’t waste a single moment by being unprepared.
Having a script prepared allows you to control the conversation, however, you don’t want to sound robotic. You can have the perfect script, but it won’t be effective if you’re unable to personalize the call.
Your CRM is filled with leads in different stages of the buying journey. Some are leads that have never secured a mortgage or a refinance before, while others are more experienced with the process.
Each call will be different, but you can use your script to organize your dialogue and guide your lead to the scenario you’re trying to create.
Overcome Common Objections
Even though you have your script and the perfect scenario planned out, conversations don’t always go as planned. Objections can be challenging to overcome, and as a loan officer, you will encounter a lot of them. Don’t just accept them, have a rebuttal ready to remove any doubts they may have.
We’ve all been there: as soon as a conversation is over, you think of the perfect response to the challenging question you were unable to answer in the moment. Practice those perfect responses so you’re prepared for the next time it comes up. In the mortgage industry, you will definitely encounter similar objections again and again.
One way to achieve this is by writing down five to ten of the most common objections you hear and then crafting a response for each one. Think of these as your cold calling FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions).
Practice Makes Perfect
Now that you have your script written and possible objections in mind, you need to practice until it sounds natural! Getting a new loan is a huge financial decision. Your leads are going to want to speak to someone that is comfortable and confident.
An effective way you can practice is by role playing with a colleague or even your sales manager. Use each other’s expertise to overcome tough objections and bounce ideas off of one another.
Also, you can record yourself. Review your calls and look to see where you excelled and where you need to improve. You can also ask your colleagues for constructive criticism. There’s always room for improvement.
The key to practicing is making sure you do it out loud. Rehearsing it in your head will sound perfect every time. So, practice out loud until it becomes comfortable and you don’t have to reference your script.
Leave a Voicemail
Knowing how to sell mortgages over the phone goes beyond direct interaction with your lead. Leaving an effective voicemail will play a pivotal role in your success because you won’t always be able to connect with your lead right away. They might be in a meeting, focusing on their work, or they simply don’t answer calls if they don’t recognize the number. That doesn’t mean you should give up!
Leaving a voicemail can progress your lead through their buying journey, but if you’re not careful, it can also kill the sale. It’s crucial that you leave an effective voicemail that gets your lead to want more information and get in contact with you.
Leaving a compelling voicemail starts with the duration of the message. Most cell phones will show you the length of the voicemail before listening to it. If it’s too short, they’ll assume it’s not important and delete it. On the other hand, a long voicemail can overwhelm your lead with too much information.
Fundamentally, you can’t sell your lead on a mortgage in just a voicemail. Pitching specific solutions is best suited for when you actually connect with your lead. Keep your voicemail limited to about 17 seconds or less.
Here is a voicemail script that you can customize for your leads:
Hi [Name], This is [First Name] [Last Name] from [Company Name]. As you might have heard, interest rates have significantly dropped. Give me a call back so we can go over your options in detail and see how much money you can save. You can reach me at [Phone Number], that’s [Phone Number], or you can shoot me an email at [Email].
Follow Up
If you don’t get the answer you’re looking for, follow up! Research shows that 92% of sales professionals give up after four rejections, but 80% of prospects say “no” four times before they say “yes.”
When following up, make sure you don’t reference failed attempts. Again, your time to connect is limited. If they didn’t care the first time you called, they aren’t going to care the second time. So, make sure you have a different reason for contacting them.
Then, try following up with an email after a call. A lot of people don’t have time for a phone call, and email is their preferred method of communication. Although it’s important to know how to sell mortgages over the phone, you need to be available on multiple channels. After all, you want to make it as easy as possible to connect with you.
Bottom Line
There is no perfect formula on how to sell mortgages over the phone. Every conversation will be different, but you can maximize your efforts by having a clear goal in mind, a plan to execute it, and practicing your dialogue. Follow these cold calling tips and you’ll quickly notice a spike in conversions.
