Contact has a high probability of listing their home for sale shortly. Good opportunity to refer a listing to an agent and get ahead of competitors.
Alert Background:
This contact meets the minimum credit criteria set by your organization and has a high propensity to list and sell their home in the coming months. This alert specifically targets homeowners likely to sell a home and buy a new home with a mortgage. This gives you a shot at a new mortgage transaction and a soon-to-be listing that you may be able to refer to one of your favorite agent/referral partners. If you refer soon-to-be sellers to an agent, you will likely get more of their soon-to-be buyer business.
Script Example:
This script is one example; feel free to make it your own and communicate the message in your own words.
"Hi (First Name),
It's (Your Name) from (Your Company)."
Make the Connection: At this point, you want to remind them of how you know each other. This will change the tone of the conversation from a cold call to a warm call. For example, if you helped them with financing to buy a home two years ago, bring that up. If this is a contact that an agent provided to you, let the client know the connection, for example:
"We worked together a couple of years ago to purchase your home..."
OR
"I work closely with (Agent Name)'s clients..."
OR
"I helped you refinance your home back in 2020..." (you get the picture, right?)
Now that the conversation has relevance, it's time to start talking about them...
"You may have seen the letter or email from me recently; my system periodically reaches out to clients that may be in the market, and your name popped up, so I thought I would just give you a quick call and see if I could answer any housing market or mortgage related questions for you."
Let them talk, and ask follow-up questions that will get them talking about their plans, for example...
"Have you been looking at any new homes or thought about a move anytime in the future?"
"Have you looked into the value of your home, or would you be interested in having (Agent Name) give you a good idea of your home value?"
Give Value: Let the conversation continue from here, with you asking questions about them. Let them tell you how you could help them. Remember, selling and buying a home is a complicated process. All you are looking for in the initial call is if they intend to sell in the coming months. People don't want mortgages; they want homes. The more value you can give, in the form of insight or answering questions, the more likely they will open up and have a meaningful discussion.
Differentiate Yourself: Talking about rates and terms will put them to sleep. Rates and Terms will sound very similar from one lender to the next. Tell them how you are unique compared to other lenders and why you like helping find their dream home.
Possible Next Steps:
The homeowner is ready to list in the next 1-3 months:
- Answer any questions they have and get them pre-qualified.
- If they aren't ready to pull credit, let them know about your SoftPull tool, and you can still get the pre-qualification process going without a hard credit pull.
- If they don't already have a listing agent, ask them if it's ok if you introduce them to a good agent you know and trust!
- If possible, make an introduction to the agent so the client has a warm intro and the agent knows that the referral came from you.
- Keep in touch often through the process.
The homeowner isn't quite ready but is thinking about it, maybe within the next 4-8 months:
- Send them an email thanking them for the time and let them know you will check in in 30 days. This will ensure they have your contact info if they have any questions along the way.
- Set reminders in your CRM to follow up with an actual check-in email or call once a month.
- If they don't already have a listing agent, ask them if it's ok if you introduce them to a good agent you know and trust!
- If possible, make an introduction to the agent so the client has a warm intro and the agent knows that the referral came from you.
The homeowner isn't interested at this time:
- Ask if there is anything else you can help them with; for example, have they considered doing a cash-out refinance for home improvements?
- Send them an email thanking them for their time, and leave your contact info.
- Add them to your value-driven nurture campaigns in your CRM.