I have a Lender

Them: “I’m already working with loan officer Jimmy.”

You: “Of course, you are already working with a loan officer — who wouldn’t want to work with you? All great agents have lenders they work with. I'd still love to meet with you and hear what you've done to have such great success or so much success.

Realtor: No

Me: Let me ask you this: would it be OK if I called you from time to time to see if maybe Jimmy was busy, or if you needed a 2nd opinion on a file, or perhaps Jimmy is on vacation…is it OK if I call you from time to time to see if I can help you with something that Jimmy doesn’t have time for? Is that OK?”

That doesn't surprise me, Agent.

Great agents always have great lending relationships, and that's exactly why I'm calling you.

I'd love to get together regardless. We will stop exactly at 25 minutes — and I will respect your other existing relationship. I have no expectation of you working with me, but I'm busy in the market, so you're going to be seeing more and more of my pre-approval letters on your listings, and I think it's really important whether we work together right now, in three days or three years. You understand the process so you can confidently let your seller know that I'm a professional and they don't have to worry about the loan.

Besides I have found that timing is everything and sometimes we have the right idea or tool for the right client.

How does Thursday or Friday look?

Agent: "Well, Ryan, I'd love to work with you, or I'd love to meet with you and learn more about you. But to be honest, most of my clients already have a lender when they come to me. So I very rarely refer a business out to a lender."

You: “Do you mind if I ask you a question about that? Because I think there might be a really phenomenal opportunity that you may be missing, and I just want to try and help as much as I can."

Agent: "Sure. What question do you have?"

You: "Do you feel like your business is getting a lift from multiple angles, or do you feel like it's kind of on your shoulders solely?"

Agent: "Well yeah, it's my business, so I pretty much am the one who has to run it."

You: "I'd like to challenge that and tell you that as a potential business partner of yours, I think if we started to lean into what you just said, we would see a huge opportunity and a big lift in your business."

Agent: "What do you mean by that?"

You: "Well, when your buyers come to you, and they already have a lender, the opportunity for you to gain control of the situation is entirely yours in that situation. And what I mean by that is if you don't control the buyer's financing or you're not in control of that aspect in some way, you run a lot of risk. You have the risk of fallout; you have the risk of offers not working; you have the risk of clients not offering enough on the property. You have the risk of people not being entirely motivated. And then, for all the clients that do close, you have the risk of leakage, clients of yours that if they're connected with that lender, and that lender is not connected with you, I'll tell you, as a mortgage professional, I am committed to my real estate partners, meaning that if I worked with a client and I did not have a relationship with that agent when that client starts talking to me again about buying, or selling, or financing, I'm going to try and refer them to one of my agents as fast as possible. I'm not going to refer them back to the agent who I worked with because I didn't have a relationship with them."So the best thing you can do to create real scale and put some insurance around your database is make sure that all of the partners they work with are your partners because then it keeps everybody in your ecosystem. Also, how much business are you getting from CPAs, financial planners, estate planning attorneys? How much business do you get from corporate affinity partnerships? How many referrals do you get from other people in the transaction? How much of that is a part of your business? "

Agent: "Well, I get some, but most of my business is just from my direct client referrals."

You: "That's a huge opportunity you're missing out on. And it's because, as a lending partner, that's our opportunity to go do that, right? We are going to be the person who delivers on that commitment to get you those referrals from ancillary partners and businesses. And in our meeting, I can show you all those things.""

But the most important thing, when it comes to controlling the transaction, especially right now, let me ask you a question. How many pre-approved buyers have you worked with in 2023 who didn't end up buying a home? What percentage? Maybe 30 or 40%? Would you mind if I ask why not? Because they werepre-approved. Why didn't they buy a home? Well, some just couldn't get their offer accepted. Some couldn't afford the home they wanted; some just didn't think it was a good time. So they kind of backed off. The reason that's happening is because that client only knows what they can do. They don't know what they should do, but the most important thing is they don't know what they must do. And in our presentation, I'd be really excited to show you how we take someone from, I'm not sure to; I can't wait in roughly an hour because I can get a pre-approval letter in eight minutes online. I can just type in some information, hit enter, and I'll have my preapproval letter, and then I'll come to you right already with my lender. That only means I know that I can buy a home. It absolutely does not mean that I know I should buy a home. And the most important thing, again, is that if I don't know that I must buy a home for me and my family's financial future, then I'm going to approach the market somewhat indifferent. And that's probably what you're feeling from a lot of these buyers. That's why they're not getting the offer accepted. That's why they're lowballing offers; that's why they're dropping out.”

“So controlling and understanding that all of your buyers are getting a highly consultative process where we remove anxiety, where we remove fear and frustration and uncertainty, and we replace that with excitement and confidence and motivation, and we turn that dial on that client that goes from, well, I can to, wow, I really believe I should to, oh my goodness, I must buy a home. I want to walk you through how we do that. And I promise you, you'll see a higher level conversion, you'll see a different lead flow coming in, but most importantly, we'll create a moat around your business where you won't have to worry about leakage because everything will be in our partnership. Does that make sense?”

You: "So, I'd love to chat with you and show you what we're doing and you how we're trying to change the real estate industry and the mortgage industry. I just want to see if you're open with that."

Agent: "Well, Ryan, to be honest, I'm happy with my current lender. So I'm not looking to make a change, but I appreciate it. I just want to be honest with you."

You: “First of all, thank you for sharing that with me. If anybody appreciates loyalty and consistency with a partnership, it is definitely me. But do you mind if I just ask a question about that relationship just so I have some better context?"

Listen to response

You: "Would you consider your lender a legitimate business partner or would you consider them more of a resource, or are you aware of the difference of what I'm asking?"

Agent: "Well, no, I consider them a business partner. And I think that they help us quite a bit."

You: "First of all, okay, that's great. That's really good. Most people, they don't consider them really a partner. They just are there when their clients need a loan. What I'd like to do, if you're open to it, is just show you what it is that we do. And if you want to take that back with your lending partner, please feel free. Take whatever we're doing and enhance what you're already doing." "But the thing that I want to focus with you on the most is because you have such a great brand and because you have such a great presence in our community, I believe that you're one of the perfect partners for us to help us redefine what it means to be a real estate professional and redefine what it means to be a mortgage professional. And whether that's with us or with your current lender, that is completely fine. I just want the opportunity to show you what we're doing because I think you'll get a lot out of it. Are you open to that?"

Agent: "Yeah, I'd be okay learning with it."

If the agent is still objecting

Agent: "I'm really not interested right now, and I have a good situation."

You: “I totally get it. What I'd like the opportunity to do is just continue to follow up. I'll send you some of the videos that we're doing. I'll send you some of the content that we're creating. I'll show you some of the successes we're having with our other partners, and I would just encourage you to just be open and aware of that. And then I'm going to continue to come back to your open houses because I believe I can be helpful. And just know I don't want to step on anybody's toes. I'm not trying to steal any business. I believe that there's probably a subset of your business of buyers that aren't ready, of preapproved buyers who don't end up buying a home, of your database of people who currently own homes that, if asked the right questions, probably would look at transacting again in the near future." "And so I'm just going to send you some things if you wouldn't mind just looking at them. I believe there might be room for both of us to kind of coexist in your business, but I just want to say thank you for being open and honest with me. I know I'd appreciate that as well, and I'll continue to follow up and add value in any way that I can."