Written Bys: Robert Nolan, President and CEO of Ivystone Consulting Group (IvyStoneCG.com). His firm offers training classes for mortgage loan officers, sales or production managers to help develop effective communications and people skills with Real Estate Agents and Builders. He can be reached at: RNolan@IvyStoneCG.com.
Have you ever been in a foreign country and unable to find anyone to help you locate a hotel or restaurant? Your map is useless because it’s written in a language you don’t know. Eventually, someone recognizes you’re lost and gives you directions and even draws a map you can read.
Similarly, have you wandered into a real estate office trying to get past the receptionist / gatekeeper to find the agents in need of what you have to offer? As a loan officer you have proven programs and services that separate you from the competition. And once you’re finally inside those golden gates, what will you say by way of introduction to the agents you came to see?
Will you have rehearsed some of the “greatest one-liners of the greatest loan officers who ever lived” or will you fumble for the right words to impress the agents.
Have you planned a conversation based on your own words to say that will impress the agents?
Have you planned a conversation based on information you’ve gathered prior to entering the office?
Problem one: You’re not made of the same ingredients that make up the greatest loan officer that ever walked the earth, man or woman. You’re YOU! You have your own individual personality and ways of communicating with others using your own word groups and body language, so why try to be someone else?
Problem two: When you fumble your words like a football, nothing good usually happens. It is as important to practice what you’ll say to an agent as it is for a football player to practice running through tacklers. Practicing and planning a conversation will keep you from fumbling when you get into the real game.
You can transform your weaknesses into strengths by taking a few simple steps.
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