Loan Officer & Real Estate Agent Professional Tips

Getting yourself educated about new lending laws and loan products is one of the best ways to add more value to your career as a Loan Officer. You not only acquire more knowledge, you gain more confidence and the borrower and realtor partners will feel more comfortable working with you than someone fumbling around looking up the new laws or guidelines for 2-3 hours. 

Fortunately, to measure the success of keeping up to date on mortgage lending you don’t need to look very hard for success stories.  A nationally renowned mortgage expert and speaker, Brian Sacks received numerous referrals just by teaching seminars and webinars to real estate agent. He not only helped them understand the market trends, they helped him close  38 loans in just one month

So, if you are determined to step your game up to a higher level and receive a consistent flow of realtor referrals, one of the best ways is to become an NMLS-accredited continuous education (CE) provider.  The goal is to be in front of as many prospects as you can.  By teaching CE classes you get repeated access to prospects without cold calling or marketing to reach potential referral partners. After all, they have to learn in order to maintain their licenses, so you have their absolute attention.

You’re probably well aware of the numerous CE providers to choose from to renew your license. Just as you want to stand out and attract new clients, you want to do the same with people who attend your CE courses. The following are some tips to trigger more  agents to send you business.

• Change your program periodically.
  If agents are being taught the same thing each time, they tend to not return and your chances diminish on creating a mutually beneficial relationship. 
  • Mix things up in your courses every now and then by doing the following: 
  • Invite guest presenters
  • Restructure how its presented
  • Make it interactive with a Q&A format
  • Insert relevant current news

Client referrals are not automatically given to you just because you teach Continuing Education courses. As a loan officer you need to shine to borrowers.  It should not be a stretch to do the same with real estate agents in your class. Be certain your courses are packed with valuable knowledge and engaging, These classes are not to be used as a marketing campaign to bring in new business.

• Highlight your marketing.
  Look at hosting a CE class as a strategic business investment, as opposed to a job. Similar to working on loans follow up with agents who signed up to see if they had further course questions to build a relationship and provide scenarios within the course about how you helped a borrower.

In order to stand out from the numerous other CE providers have a unique business logo and slogan, website and persuade realtors with information why your courses are better than the other choices.  This can be done using paid ads and through online forums.

• Take advantage of technology to improve rates of enrollment. Many loan officers use some  type of system to successfully keep track of their leads. If that works very well, why not apply the same method to gain your attendees?
  
  The proper system will follow up automatically with your past agents and communicate with them even when the course is over. You should have a database of local Realtors, which includes their contact info such as an email, phone for texting, and mailing address for post cards.

All you need to do is import the contact details into your CRM and set up a campaign to anyone who showed an interest in your courses.