Sales is 100% a numbers game.  Some are just really good converters of turning prospects into clients.  Some are really good at getting prospects but not as good at turning them into sold clients.  Some are great at closing, but lose relationships that could lead to additional sales.  Sales is all about helping others, no matter what way you slice and dice it.  Today’s installment of JUICE is about how to increase those ratios and strategies that help others gain success.

Number 1, the biggest difference between good and mediocre sales people is the ability to walk the client through their pain.  That fact finding phase where you ask questions and LISTEN more than you talk.  Even I have had difficulty over the years at this.  But the best of the best walk their client through having a pain that they can solve with the need for their product or service.  HOW DO YOU DO THIS THE BEST? Tell stories.  Listen to others stories, they tell you want to tell them.  Facts tell, stories SELL.  Remember that.  99% of the conversations I have daily involve me telling someone else about another brokers success or what pains they came into when doing a loan and how they solved it with ME.  There is an art to painting pictures in the sales process, I often do this with guidelines.  And one thing my network loves about me is I don’t just say yes if I don’t know a guideline, I look it up or ask an underwriter to ensure that information is correct to put together a loan.

Number 2, keep prospecting.  Once you have the art of your sales pitch down now you need people to prospect in order to make sales.  The biggest mistake some make is letting the foot off the gas when the iron is hot.. They spend hours or days or weeks attempting to close a sale, then they don’t ask that client for a referral.  They hang up or walk out without asking for the most important part, MORE BUSINESS.  In some sales it’s called the rehash, in mortgage sales it’s the referral ask.  You can’t ever have enough people to call.  The best mortgage folks I work with have leads to call for days, or applications to call back from last week still.  FOCUS on the front end, and the money and the numbers will follow.  Think 70%, and even if your closing ratio is better than that lower what your subconscious mind thinks it is.  WHY WOULD I DO THAT?  Well because it keeps you hungry to grind for more.  The more prospecting you do, the more opportunities you will have to close more clients.  And then when you close someone take that sale all the way home, not just to the board room table.  What I mean is those you fought for their business are often times the best sources of referral business.  Don’t be shy to ask.  If you ask you will get.  You miss 100% of the opportunities you don’t take.  Are you a Mortgage broker reading this?  If so, who do you have doing your 580-700 FICO deals?  I Motive-ate these loans to the closing table all month long.  Let’s work together, reach out to me.  586-737-7456 is my office line.

Number 3, have fun and look to add value in helping others.  The CORE of the success that others have in sales is NOT the product or the service.  It’s the person that the client is working with and their inherent feeling of helping other people.  The more like-able you are, the more engaging you are in taking an application, the more needs wants dreams goals you find out about your client.  And in mortgages you can custom tailor that loan to help the client achieve that goal.  Then add value to the client by following the GOLDEN RULE of marketing.  WHAT’S THAT?  Well it’s easier to sell an existing client than it is to go out and find another one.  Create synergies with not only your business partners to work with you over and over again, but clients too.  Too many times I see that clients are closed and then a year or two years later that client is moving and that LO/Agents have no idea.  WHAT?  I ask myself, why don’t Broker’s position themselves to be the newest addition to any one clients financial team.  Their “Banker/Broker” for life.  To help the client buy a second home, start an investment portfolio or help their kids buy their first house.  Not many take this approach, seems elementary, but not many Broker advertisements actually state this.  Add value, stay in front of your past clients with newsletters and birthday cards and ask for referrals all the time.  What loan are you working on today that I can help you get done to help that client?  I am taking applications now for April closings.

The more you do these things the more sales you will see.  The more you will be building a portfolio of business partnerships, and be able to help others.

Sell Well – JUICEMAN