By Ward Morrison, President, Motto Franchising, LLC
Mortgage professionals constantly struggle to retain the business of their hard-earned clients. Even seasoned experts in the profession tend to face low customer retention rates, often losing out when a new home purchase or refinance opportunity arises.
But why is repeat business so rare in mortgage when our friends in real estate enjoy far more repeat customers, on average? A June 2019 article from the Close.com indicates that “the typical real estate agent receives upward of 30% of their business from repeat clients or referrals”. And even better, according to a June 2018 web article on RealEstateMarketingDude.com, 65% of home buyers closed with an agent they were referred to or had used in the past. What can we learn from these apparent repeat business rockstars?
It all comes down to the “client for life” mentality. You shouldn’t only view your clients as potential repeat business opportunities, you should view them as friends. This is the approach taken by many successful real estate agents in order to boost their returning customer quotient. Earning a client for life means you’ve accomplished two things:
1. Your client feels that you see them as a friend and trusts you
2. Your client remembers you at each important mortgage milestone
While attaining the two outcomes listed above requires time and dedication, it is possible. Put your own spin on best practices used by real estate agents to up your client retention rates.
Stay in touch
A refinance or home purchase could come at any time for any of your past clients. That means you’ll have to stay top of mind all the time. I suggest at least 3-4 interactions, monthly. The key to these “touches” is that they demonstrate your authentic care.
- Send each person in their family a birthday card, every year
- Stop by to drop off treats for a pet every once in a while
- Comment (meaningfully) on their social media posts
- Call every so often, just to see how they’re doing
- Send a postcard when you’re on vacation
- Drop by their house before each holiday with a little gift (a potted plant for Mother’s or Father’s day, some hot cocoa for the winter holidays, a pumpkin in the autumn, etc.)
- Partner with a local coffee shop to send your past clients a voucher for a hot beverage on you
- Send a text with a photo of something that reminded you of that client
- Email them noteworthy news they can use
- Throw annual client appreciation parties
- Think of unique ways to show past clients how much you care
Use the best tech
Staying up to date with all of the touches listed above might seem overwhelming. Luckily there are amazing tools out there to remind you to connect and even automate some of those communications. Innovative CRMs (Customer Relationship Management systems) make your communication activities easier while upping your success rates. Chris Linsell of TheClose.com echoes my own sentiments in suggesting that agents earning $100,000 or more per year are twice as likely to use advanced technology (such as a CRM) as their lower-earning counterparts.
Work with your referral sources
Real estate agents tend to be a mortgage broker’s best referral sources. Apply the same stay-in-touch techniques to potential real estate partners to build that relational foundation. Take your “touches” to another level by offering to engage in co-marketing efforts. A useful extension of some CRMs is that they can make compliant co-branding with a real estate agent easy. Create co-branded listing web-pages, open house flyers, etc. so that your potential agent-referrer doesn’t have to.
Working closely with real estate agents will also allow you to learn from the repeat client “masters”. Watch how they truly connect with their home buyers and make some of their practices your own.
Increase your repeat mortgage client rate
Acquiring cold leads can be costly, time-consuming, and fruitless. Why not invest in fostering the clients you have? Take the “client for life” approach and watch your repeat client rate skyrocket.
Published on December 16, 2019
