Partnering With Professionals –
It’s Not Just Asking For Referrals
By Randall A. Luebke, RFC
Many articles have been written about how to prospect for professional referral sources. However, repeatedly I am asked this question by other originators, “Now that I have met with my prospect, what do I do next?” Do you just ask for referrals, then sit and wait as they pour in? Certainly this is a rather one sided strategy that is used by many. This article will drill down deep on a much better strategy. A strategy my mentor, Todd Duncan, calls “Power Partnerships”, a strategy that will help you to become a giver and not just a taker, and a strategy that will help you to develop a roadmap to grow and enhance those partnerships. What do you do? Read on!
First, we need to define some terms. If you segment all your referral sources into groups, you would likely find that you have at least two, maybe three or more. One group that refers business to you should be your clients. Another group could be builders for example. The group I am addressing in this article is the professional; financial planners, attorneys, business managers, Realtors, CPA’s, stock brokers and insurance agents. Collectively, I refer to them as Professional Referral Partners or PRP’s.
Partnership Is Not A One Way Street
My definition of a “PRP” is a professional that has the ability to refer new clients to you repeatedly. I have already defined two of the three words in PRP for you, professional and referral. The last word, however, is the most important word, “partner”. Why? Because a “partnership” is what you want to create. A true partnership is a bi-lateral relationship. That is, you do not just ask for and receive referrals, you give and contribute to the partnership for which you earn your partner’s referral business. And by giving, I am not referring to rate sheets, donuts or money. What I am referring to is adding value to your relationship, your “partnership” as any partner would do in any business relationship.
The Platinum Rule
Several years ago, author Tony Alesandra, coined the phrase “The Platinum Rule” based, of course, on “The Golden Rule”. Paraphrasing these rules, The Golden Rule says, “Treat people the way you want people to treat you”, Tony’s Platinum Rule says, “Treat people the way they want to be treated”. In other words, in this professional relationship do not sell what you feel is important, give what they feel is important.
Todd Duncan has a great phrase describing most salesperson’s selling technique as “show up and throw up”, graphical, yes, but unfortunately oh so true. This technique is prevalent throughout all businesses, is it not? It represents the opposite of The Platinum and Golden Rules. I am 100% confident that everyone reading this article has experienced this sales technique. You approach a salesperson for help, let say to purchase a television. Then, with very little if any information from you (for example, they may ask you how much you want to spend) the salesperson starts “selling” you a television. You feel pressured, maybe frustrated, potentially confused. You feel anything but confident and well served. The message here should be loud and clear. That is, that the PRP’s that you want to receive referrals from will feel the very same way about you and your sales technique, unless, you take the time to truly understand what their needs are and how you can serve them.
What’s In It For Me?
That is what your prospect is asking them self as they evaluate every word you say. They want to know how they will benefit by working with you. You see, we assume that the PRP will be thrilled to refer their business to us because we will do a great job for them, or because we have great rates or programs. We assume like the television salesperson that we know what the PRP’s wants and needs. You may get lucky. You may be able tell them about the things that are important to them. The chances are much greater, however, that you are going to cause them to feel (you guessed it) pressured, maybe frustrated and potentially confused.
There Is A Better Way
Rather than take a chance of stumbling across the right hot-button for your new PRP, why don’t you simply find out what is important to them. How? Just ask!
Here is a great set of questions that you could ask any professional:
Sarah, obviously you have been a successful Realtor for many years. Assuming that you have worked with several lenders over the years that have helped you to finance at least some of the homes you have sold, help me to understand, what’s important about a lender to you?
Then listen note their responses. The following are some typical answers.
Competitive Rates
Good Communication
Variety of Loan Programs
Now that you know what is important to them, you need to know how they will know when they get it. That is, you have your definition for “great rates”, so will your PRP. Rather than assume you know what they are thinking, ask for clarification. Therefore, for each of their responses go back and ask another question to clarify their meaning.
For example:
Sarah, you know that no mortgage company has the corner on the lowest rates. Sometimes we are the most competitive. Sometime we are not. That being said, we are always in the hunt. You said that having competitive rates are important to you Sarah. So to be competitive, how much above the lowest rate could I be and still be competitive in your mind?
Their answer will almost always be in a range that you can accommodate. Conversely, their answer is that you must always have the lowest rate to be competitive, and then you know what you must be able to do to meet their expectations. The operative word here is “know”. What has always amazed me is how readily we salespersons are willing to shoot ourselves in the foot by offering more than the client expects, just because we assumed we knew what they wanted. Take “good communication” for example. The typical salesperson might jump right in and respond with, “here’s my pager number, my cell phone number, my email address. You can call me 24/7 and I promise to return your call immediately! And, I promise to call you everyday to status you and mail a report to you once a week” If this is your mindset think that to be sure that you have offered your wife’s and children’s cell phones numbers as well, just in case yours is out of range.
Aside from the obvious over-commitment made there is another danger to this approach. That is, the busy professional (the kind that actually can refer you a lot of business) probably doesn’t want to receive that volume of communication. Most top producers want to be able to confidently delegate responsibilities to trusted partners and not have to baby site or micro manage them. Again, knowledge is power and knowing what your PRP wants gives you the power to give them what they want to receive, not what you want to give.
The next step is to prioritize there wants. Ask which of their answers is most important, second most and so on. Once again, do not assume that you know their answers. For example, what I have found is that although rate is generally the first answer they give me during the interview, it is generally the lowest on the list once I ask them to prioritize it. Quite frankly, I think that it surprises them somewhat as well. Prioritization, then, puts there wants in perspective and allows both parties to see and understand the relative importance of each want.
At this point you know what is important to your PRP, you know how they will know when they get it, and you know which want is most important and which one is least important. NOW, finally, you get to respond! Moreover, you can respond is a way that is clear and meaningful and your information is valuable because it is what your prospect wants to know. There is another benefit that I have discovered using this technique. That is, something I cannot deliver on everyone one of their expectations. For example, when working with Realtor PRP’s, many of they say that, “I want my loan officer to be available on weekends to send me pre-qualification letters”. The problem is that I do not work on weekends. So what do I do?
Well, the typical salesperson would either promise to accommodate the Realtor and not keep their promise. Or, if they did decide to keep this promise they are likely breaking another promise to his or her family or to themselves. What I have discovered, however, is that if the PRP’s want is lower on the list, and if I have done an outstanding job of telling them how I can meet or exceed their expectations on many or most of the more important needs, that the PRP can live with my not being able to deliver on that need.
If you want to work with professionals, you need to be professional yourself. Professionals do not wing it. They train and become skill practitioners of their craft. What this means is that you need to have a strategy and scripts to back it up to build a relationship with your prospective PRP’s. I hope that you found the ideas in this article helpful and that you will be able to incorporate this interviewing technique into your practice. It will change the way you are perceived in the eyes of those you are interested in serving. It will help you to be more effective in delivering a service level that will grow your relationships and it will serve as a platform to develop your “Power Partnerships” with professionals in your market.
For more information on this topic and to receive a copy of the complete script that I use in my PRP interviews, please email your request to RandyLue@Rebiz.com. I will send you the script and a number of other resources that you can use to help you transform your mortgage origination business into a Professional Mortgage Planning sm practice.