Salespeople aren't perfect --- but we're not all bad
I recently had a weird experience where I met with a couple looking to buy their first home. Usually I meet with people well before they have found a property and we build up a little trust before they need to apply for a loan. In this case, in the few days between when I first spoke to them and when we met, they had already made an offer on a place and had it accepted. So here I was meeting with people for the first time who not only needed to hear all the usual mortgage basics, but also (so I thought) needed to apply for a loan already.
In my mind, I was doing something helpful by having an application ready and waiting for them, but in their minds they were still at the "getting to know you" stage. In the end, after I spent more than 2 hours going over the entire mortgage process with them and talking about options, they were not comfortable signing the application then and there and, unfortunately for me, ended up going with someone else. I honestly think the reason is that I scared them by having a loan application ready and waiting for them. Even though they were days away from needing to submit a loan application, they just weren't ready.
Here's today's lesson: What we do every day for a living is familiar and routine to us, but it may not be to our clients. Getting a mortgage, especially for the first time, is a huge step. To me it's routine ... so it's easy to forget how intimidating it is to someone who hasn't been through it before. And I honestly can't blame these folks for being wary --- even though *I* know I'm totally down-to-earth and trustworthy, and even though I sensed that they were fairly comfortable with me, it was just the idea of being asked to sign something when they weren't ready to do so that, I think, caused them to look at me with suspicion. Lesson learned.
I just got off the phone with another prospective client whom I had advised not to refinance now but instead to work on improving her credit first. After meeting with me a few weeks ago, she had an appointment with another broker who was driving up from Rhode Island to present a refinancing option to her. My client insisted that she was not going to sign anything and that the RI broker had simply stressed to her that she likes to meet her clients before she does a deal, but I was absolutely positive that the woman would arrive from RI with an application in hand ready for her to sign. It turned out I was right. The RI broker tried her best to get my client to sign an application that would've put her into a mortgage that was no better than the one she had and that would've cost her almost $15k in closing costs! The broker was irritated that my client wouldn't sign the application and, since then, has had her boss making annoying followup phone calls.
Of course, this is outrageous and it's the kind of behavior that gives salespeople a bad name. But what occurs to me is that my trying to pursuade the first couple to sign the application on the spot was, in a sense, no different. Just because I knew that I was doing a good thing for them to get their loan application in process and just because I knew that I would be giving them a fair and competitive deal, doesn't mean they knew that. In their minds, maybe I was just as pushy as the RI broker who tried to bully my client into signing up for a bad deal.
Lesson learned: I will never propose to a client that they sign a loan application upon our first meeting unless *they* make it clear that's what they want to do. I feel bad that this couple, whom I liked, ended up somehow not trusting me. That's never a good feeling. I would've loved to have helped them with their loan. But we live and learn.
In my mind, I was doing something helpful by having an application ready and waiting for them, but in their minds they were still at the "getting to know you" stage. In the end, after I spent more than 2 hours going over the entire mortgage process with them and talking about options, they were not comfortable signing the application then and there and, unfortunately for me, ended up going with someone else. I honestly think the reason is that I scared them by having a loan application ready and waiting for them. Even though they were days away from needing to submit a loan application, they just weren't ready.
Here's today's lesson: What we do every day for a living is familiar and routine to us, but it may not be to our clients. Getting a mortgage, especially for the first time, is a huge step. To me it's routine ... so it's easy to forget how intimidating it is to someone who hasn't been through it before. And I honestly can't blame these folks for being wary --- even though *I* know I'm totally down-to-earth and trustworthy, and even though I sensed that they were fairly comfortable with me, it was just the idea of being asked to sign something when they weren't ready to do so that, I think, caused them to look at me with suspicion. Lesson learned.
I just got off the phone with another prospective client whom I had advised not to refinance now but instead to work on improving her credit first. After meeting with me a few weeks ago, she had an appointment with another broker who was driving up from Rhode Island to present a refinancing option to her. My client insisted that she was not going to sign anything and that the RI broker had simply stressed to her that she likes to meet her clients before she does a deal, but I was absolutely positive that the woman would arrive from RI with an application in hand ready for her to sign. It turned out I was right. The RI broker tried her best to get my client to sign an application that would've put her into a mortgage that was no better than the one she had and that would've cost her almost $15k in closing costs! The broker was irritated that my client wouldn't sign the application and, since then, has had her boss making annoying followup phone calls.
Of course, this is outrageous and it's the kind of behavior that gives salespeople a bad name. But what occurs to me is that my trying to pursuade the first couple to sign the application on the spot was, in a sense, no different. Just because I knew that I was doing a good thing for them to get their loan application in process and just because I knew that I would be giving them a fair and competitive deal, doesn't mean they knew that. In their minds, maybe I was just as pushy as the RI broker who tried to bully my client into signing up for a bad deal.
Lesson learned: I will never propose to a client that they sign a loan application upon our first meeting unless *they* make it clear that's what they want to do. I feel bad that this couple, whom I liked, ended up somehow not trusting me. That's never a good feeling. I would've loved to have helped them with their loan. But we live and learn.
posted by Carol at 2:25 PM
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