It’s easy to assume we’re providing good customer service, just as a byproduct of being ourselves. In this competitive atmosphere, however, assuming you’re doing a good job just because you haven’t heard differently isn’t going to cut it. Customer service nowadays doesn’t end by ensuring a loan closes on time.
Today’s consumers are looking for experience. Make sure you’re providing the best experience possible by implementing these three easy steps into your customer touchpoints.
Transparency is a cornerstone of our industry. This starts with ensuring your clients have all the information necessary to not only understand the terms of their loans, but to follow along in the mortgage process.
Creating a step-by-step guide can put clients at ease. The Homebuying Institute has some great resources and inspiration to get you started. Being the pro that you are, you should also incorporate the answers to your most frequently asked questions from borrowers. You want to break all this down into simple, easy-to-understand steps. Information is always appreciated, but an overly technical or convoluted guide may have the opposite effect on borrowers.
Think about how annoyed you get when you send a text and that person immediately calls you. Hello! You just let them know your preferred method of communication – at least at this particular juncture – is text, not phone.
Give your clients the same respect. If they leave you a voicemail, call them back. If they send an email, respond via email, and so on.
Remember, too, that it’s not just how you communicate and what you communicate but when you communicate that matters. Speed is always of the essence. A timely professional is a trusted advocate. Someone who can’t be bothered to get back to you for three days tells that client they’re not important and this guy has other priorities.
Yes, you’re the pro. Yes, this borrower is looking to you for guidance, clarification and advice. Great. Give it to them. However, you can’t begin to give a client what they want – let alone provide superior service – if you haven’t heard them out. What’s true in most relationships is true here. Listen more. Talk less. Keep in mind that listening isn’t simply waiting to speak. It’s absorbing what the other person is saying, taking notes if need be, and asking follow-up questions or for clarification when appropriate.
One of the top customer service complaints that plague every sales industry is “she just didn’t listen to me. It’s like she didn’t hear a word I was saying.” No one likes to feel dismissed. On top of that, our time is one of our most valuable assets. If your prospective client walks away feeling they weren’t heard, not only did you not do your job, but you wasted their time – and yours.
Customer service will always be the cornerstone of success in any business. Make sure yours stands out from the competition for all the right reasons.
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