Top 10 Traits of a Successful Loan Officer
Improve Your Pipeline By Doing the Following Below :
- Have a strategy!
Is your pipeline where you want it to be? If not, know what you must do immediately to improve that by the end of the week. Schedule your day, week and month! Do not do something without preparation! Medical doctors and Airplane pilots don’t do this. Be the ultimate professional and be prepared and know very well what you have to do.
- Understand your Products and Guidelines Inside-out!
How can you sell a loan to someone if you don’t really know your products? You should have a product in mind after you talk qualify your customers and pull their credit. Do not continue to take the 1003 loan application and pull credit if you know they don’t qualify. You should not waste people’s time and money not knowing your products.
- Raise Your Goals!
A great number of Loan Officers do not succeed because of setting their personal production levels low. Why give yourself low limits? If you don’t ever see yourself closing 10 loans, then how are you going to get there? If your goal is to close 3 or 4, then you will not attain the top production honors. Set your production level higher than everyone else!
- Don’t be scared to give bad news!
The fact is that this industry has good and bad news for consumers. Too many times Loan Officers work on problem files too long. This is the huge mistake because it creates a lot of excessive time working on “problem files”. When you make that unwanted call, be definitive about the decision! The earlier you do it, the faster you can move on to next deal.
- Provide Great Service!
Return phone calls immediately to your clients! Regularly call your customer during the loan process just to let them that you are handling things. Stay consistent on a daily basis and provide the customer service required to receive referrals down the road!
6 Drive & Determination
Top producing loan officers are always asking for business, and “no” just means “not yet” to them. They don’t view themselves failing; rather, what they offered wasn’t perceived right. If the Realtor doesn’t give them business, they feel they have not shown a good deal of value. If the client chooses some other lender, the loan officer analyzes what he or she needs to do to get a desired result next time. Competitiveness, drive, ambition and a healthy self-image are what counts.
- Product Discipline
Don’t try to be offer all types of loans to all consumers. You want to deliver great service and offer the best borrowing experience for the clients, so trying to do one local down payment assistance program loan every year will never make you an expert. The best originators would never work on a loan they can’t originate 8-10 times a month, which likely eliminates these type of loans. They simply refer out loans they don’t shine in.
8. They Have Proven Systems and Disciplines
The best originators adhere to a strictly outlined sales process and a sales funnel to keep clients coming in their system. There have clearly laid out requirements and systems to maintain high quality files so the customer experience is familiar and known. The loan officer’s goal is to originate loans that are going to be clear to close on the first submission.
These LO’s don’t have stacks of post it-notes, or 40 to 50 separate papers of client notes. They manage a database or CRM software for their contacts. To maximize every possible opportunity, there is a follow-up strategy. Just by never neglecting an opportunity, some loan officers have added 2 loans each month to their average annual production.
- Accountability!
Challenges and problems are your own to conquer! Be resilient! There’s no excuse to fail when you dropped the ball. Do not blame it all on the loan processors or underwriters for your failures!
- Ask for Referrals
Top originators don’t have problems asking past clients if they know anyone else that may need to refinance or buy a home? The question should not be asked until the loan officer provides a great customer experience.