COMMUNICATION IS KEY

 

First of all, we are all in a people business. People helping people is what business relationships are all about. Staying in touch with your past customers is most certainly the way to maintain a “customers for life” approach to your long term success. The questions of ‘how often’ and ‘what do you say’ are viable issues in the ‘staying in touch’ game. If you regularly contact your past borrowers/customers, I suggest you allocate at least three communications a year, (either email or letter) to celebrating life and absolutely nothing to do with the mortgage industry.

 

Maybe I am getting old enough to begin to question my own mortality. Maybe the recent death of a good friend has caused me to reconsider the ‘sales tip’ for this month. Whatever the reason, I believe you can observe what the masses do and do the opposite by allocating a few of your communications to a message that will help your valuable past customers maintain a proper perspective about their life. Help to make them laugh and to pause and think. Do not constantly limit your communications to the mortgage specific reasons they should continue to send you business.

 

The pace of life is close to frantic these days. As a result, many people fall into ruts that are dangerously deep. A rut for me is a grave with one end kicked out. Not a good place to be. So instead of appealing to your customer’s technical and logical side of the brain, consider addressing their emotional side. You’ll be surprised at the results.

 

Provide a message that will lift their spirits and help them appreciate how fleeting life is. You need not be a gifted writer. If you see something that strikes at your heart, save it and share it in your future communiqués. Just make sure you acknowledge the source. The key is to stay within your past customers “top of mind awareness”. If you can provide something that no one else is providing, and something they could continue to use, you have made an emotional connection that is often harder to break than a rational business connection. For example, maintaining perspective in a world turning as fast as ours is critical. The following statement is therefore a candidate for refrigerator doors across America:

 

YESTERDAY IS HISTORY,
TOMORROW IS A MYSTERY,
TODAY IS A GIFT,
THAT IS WHY THEY CALL IT THE PRESENT.

 

Touching the heart with every customer communication is overkill. But it will pay dividends if it is interspersed with different messages during the course of the year. This sales tip will help you to build your referral business.

 

Bill Evans

 

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