As a Mortgage Broker every conversation you have with another person (with an objective in mind) should be viewed as a presentation.
Whether you are building a relationship that will lead to a loan application, getting a Realtor to send you referrals, persuading someone to your point of view or getting someone to say yes to dinner and a movie you are giving a presentation. In fact, every time you try to convince anybody of anything – you are making a presentation. It could be on the phone, in person, one-on-one or in a group. If you counted them, you might actually be making hundreds of presentations each day!
For most of us, our lives are basically a series of interactions with the people we come into contact with everyday. Because most of us can’t choose our co-workers, colleagues or customers, we must rely on these (random) interactions to move us closer to our personal and career objectives.
The quality of our “presentation” is one of the secrets to success. The “smarter” we are, the more success we will have. Here are six essential principle of making “smarter presentations”:
1. Know your audience. Steven Covey says, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood”. Dale Carnegie said, “Take the time to find out what the person wants and spend the rest of the time helping them get it”. You can study personality types and sales techniques all you want, but the secret to knowing your audience is simple. Before you begin any presentation, focus your attention on learning the audiences’ objectives and then take the time to show them how they can achieve it. In the process getting to know your audience, the “Law of Reciprocity” will allow you to ask for what you need in order to help them get what they want.
“Smart presentations” are customized to fit the audience, not the objective. Remember that the success of the presentation will be determined by the person or people that make up your audience. Find out what they want and adjust your presentation accordingly so you can show them how you can help them get it.
2. Why is more important than how. The most effective way to persuade people to your point of view is to focus on “why” they should do what you want them to do. Persuading and selling are not the same as training. When persuading a borrower to give us a loan application our focus should be on “why” they should choose us versus what is involved in getting a loan approved and funded. People are just like us. They are driven by basic “wants and needs”. The most successful Mortgage Brokers tailor their presentations to focus on learning the borrowers “wants and needs”. Once they have succeeded in their persuasion, then “how” becomes part of the implementation step.
3. Keep it simple. Sometimes we tend to make presentations that are more complicated than they need to be. It is more important to make sure the person we are persuading understands our presentation. When we complicate our presentation, we tend to confuse the people we are presenting to. This is a problem because a confused mind says no or maybe. Where possible you want to show them what you are telling them for four reasons.
- You will appear more prepared and more professional
- You will appear more knowledgeable
- You will be more credible (People believe what they read)
- Your presentation will be easier to understand
4. Be the emotional choice. Many Mortgage Brokers feel that they must compete on rate and fees in order to convert prospects into loan applications. The reality is that more important than rates and fees are whether prospects can trust you to guide them through the maze of mortgage options and help them make the best decision for themselves and their families.
Most Mortgage Brokers give logical presentations and stay focused on rates, fees, payments and terms. The problem with a logical presentation is that it is easy for the borrower to assume that the only difference between one Mortgage Broker and another are their rates and fees and that the best way to get a mortgage is get three bids and make a decision. A logical presentation actually encourages shopping.
The smart presenter understands that people buy based on emotion and later justify their decision with logic. As a result, smart presenters’ get people emotionally involved by finding out
- What the prospect wants
- Why the prospect wants it
- How they are going to feel when they get it
What is the primary emotional benefit the person you are persuading is going to get as a result of their interaction with you? Find out. In the process, you will improve rapport and grow the trust you need to become the emotional choice. People like to do business with people who are sincerely interested in understanding their needs and helping them get it.
5. Control the process, not the prospect. Many of you have been told to “get control” of your prospect. The problem with trying to control a prospect is that it is manipulative and easy for a prospect to see through. Attempts to control your prospect will yield resistance to your efforts that will lead to your failure to persuade. Instead, focus on controlling the process.
In any conversation, the person that asked the last question is in control of the conversation. In a sales situation, the person who is asking the questions is in control of the process. You can’t make people do what they don’t want to do. Asking questions will not only allow you to maintain control of the presentation, it will allow you to uncover valuable information that you can use to better serve the prospect.
6. Be prepared. Smart presenters are prepared for all scenarios. There is no substitute for product knowledge. If you are not up to speed on product knowledge, you must seek that knowledge now. It only takes a few minutes of effort each day to grow in knowledge and confidence. Become an expert in your field. Your ability to instantly service the prospects need for information, will determine how deep you go into the sales process. The deeper you go into the sales process, the greater the likelihood you will make the sale.
Smart presenters are confident they have the answers or can get them easily. They are prepared to offer alternatives. Failure to service your prospects need for information could provoke them to seek the information from another source. In effect, when you can’t or wont serve the borrowers need for information, you are teaching them to go down the road and ask someone else for that information. In the end, the Mortgage Broker who best services the borrowers need for information, will be the Mortgage Broker that earns that borrowers business.
Are you “Selling Smarter”? Commit today to apply these principles of giving “smarter presentations”. In the process you will persuade a much higher percentage of the people you come into contact with. These same people will also be more inclined to do business with you again or to refer others to you so that you can help them get what they want too.