The new year is fast approaching, and now is the perfect time for you to plan out where you want to take your lending business in 2018. Whether you aim to increase the number of closed loans by a certain percent each month, or cater to more refinancers in the future, there are a number of sure-fire strategies to help you accomplish your goals. Here are three easy ways to get started:
1. Get Personal
You deal with the ins and outs of mortgages every day so it’s understandable if you’ve become desensitized to the process. However, remember that even though you may deal with 10 clients in a month, your clients are only dealing with one you. This can be a major milestone for your borrowers (especially the first-timers!), so try your best to make the process as personal as possible. A hand-written note, a housewarming gift, a higher level of responsiveness—these are all ways you can show your borrowers that you truly care about giving them the best. (Plus, it can also lead to them coming back, or even referring others to your services, too!)
2. Get Digital
You mention to a close friend that you are interested in trading in your speedy sports car for a family van, and your friend recommends a local car dealership that you’ve never heard of before. Your friend swears by the quality of both the car buying experience and the options available at this dealership, so you plan to go and check it out. But ask yourself—what are you most likely to do before visiting this place you’ve never seen in person? If your answer is “I’d probably Google them,” then you already understand the power of being accessible online. You may have put off adopting a digital persona up until now, but the longer you choose to wait, the more you’ll end up missing out. Take the dive and get digital.
3. Get Planning
Don’t go into 2018 with a thrown-together business plan. Prepare for the year now so you can easily make changes along the way. What regulation changes do you know to be coming up? Which past clients may be looking into refinancing this year? What tradeshow, conference, or networking events are you looking forward to attending? This can be a pretty time-consuming task, but try to knock it out in one sitting and see how it can alter the flow of your time in the upcoming year.
Build on the success (and mistakes) of your lending experiences 2017 and go into 2018 as a better lender for your borrowers. Affirm that this year coming up will be professionally better than this past year, and work (don’t just wait) for it to become a reality.