- increase conversions: As luck would have it
- Increase conversions: second that emotion
- Increase conversions: I’ll Take Door Number 3
After two years of rarely seeing par pricing on the rate stack, Chris was super excited to quote a reasonable par rate. His client, John, was financially savvy and understood he’ll likely refinance within two years as rates move down, especially given we offer no-cost refinances to past clients. They discussed paying points for a lower rate but the client had no interest in paying for a rate he’d likely replace soon. Chris was excited and John seemed like a happy client.
Two days later Chris offered an equally impressive par rate to Cindy, another fantastic client referral from a top agent. This time, Chris skipped the analysis of paying for a lower rate or weighing the benefits of various options. Cindy seemed pleased with the rate quoted for her pre-approval and went under contract on the perfect home only days later.
That’s when things went wrong. Cindy checked the internet and saw rates a half point lower. Her trust in Chris had been broken. Chris was hurt and knew Cindy was seeing only the rate and not the associated cost online. Luckily Cindy’s agent is a pro and she encouraged Cindy to dig deeper into the associated costs of those ultra low rates and encouraged her to ask Chris if he offers those rates as well.
Cindy researched more and found out the online lenders had costs associated with their rates, felt bait and switched, and she reconnected with Chris, who then provided her three rates and fee options. In the end, Cindy chose the middle option, the one with a slightly lower rate with a small cost. She recognizes she’s likely to refinance in the next 18 months the but she just felt “more comfortable” with the option she chose. And that’s ok. Because she chose it.
Remember, this loan business is business for us. We can look dispassionately at financial situations and choose what seems to be the best choice for a client. But our clients are going through an emotional and business transaction where they have a strange mixture of absolute control (like choosing the house the buy) and what seems like no control whatsoever (inspection results, the loan process, etc). When we use our expertise to provide them choices to make the decisions they feel in control and better about their choices. If Cindy had chosen the middle option at her first meeting with Chris, how likely would she have been to go to the internet to search for other options?
As mortgage professionals it’s our job to narrow the choices and then empower our clients to make the best choice for their needs. And their needs have emotions that will sometimes conflict with our professional logic.
The next client that came to Chris was presented three choices, selected one of them, owned their own choice and never looked back. Chris got lucky that Cindy came back. Take luck out of your sales process at every turn and win more business!
[salutation]
- Our team uses a couple ways of presenting options depending on the client and how tech focussed they are. Let’s chat and I’ll share what we use and the factors that go into to which way we present to different clients.
PPS. In our experience there’s a pattern to what option a client will take when presented three choices. I’d love to hear about your experience and share ours. Let’s chat!