By educating clients and building meaningful connections with Homebot, lenders like Sarah are improving their retention rate and creating customers for life.
Branch Manager & Coach
An active coach, loan originator, and Branch Manager at Guild Mortgage, Sarah Lee does it all.Sarah has established continued success in building her mortgage business, by focusing on educating her clients and bringing real value to her partnerships. We had the opportunity to chat with Sarah to learn how she uses Homebot to generate 50 conversations every year.
“On average there are about 50 conversations a year that originate in Homebot. So when they're asking questions through Homebot, all of that's always coming back to me and my team.”
Following the 2020 / 2021 refi boom, and entering the scarcity of today’s market, Sarah has leveraged Homebot to build trust with her client-base, growing her retention rate while being positioned as the definitive expert for her clients to turn to with questions about their equity, buying options, investment scenarios, and more.
“It's very important to know how to set yourself apart from your competition, brand yourself, you know, be an expert in your field. All of those things have always been important, but now they're more important than ever because there's just less business.”
Staying connected with clients is a key component to her strategy in 2023 and beyond, being top of mind when they need guidance, and ensuring they take the wisest step forward in their homeownership journey. However, it’s not only about the educational value she brings to the table, Sarah strongly believes in connecting with her clients on a more personal level as well.
“It's important to be connected with your customers, on a more personal basis too, people wanna do business with people that they know and like and understand. And so in that sphere, we can't just be always talking about business, we have to be talking about personal life too.”
Gone are the days of semi-cold-calling past clients, Sarah now has a great lead-in for checking in and nurturing relationships with them. Every month her customers share how much they love getting Homebot, how it makes them feel like she’s still taking care of them long after close.
“My customers love the material that they are getting in Homebot, and when I want to make that phone call to have a more personal touch with them, Homebot is the first thing that I mentioned because that immediately makes it a warm and fuzzy call because immediately the customers say to me, “Oh yes, we're getting our Homebot. We love it, Sarah!””
The spark from that conversation about their home and how they’re doing is incredibly effective at leading into future business. In fact, out of the 50 conversations coming from Homebot every year, Sarah finds many of these leading to closed deals.
“My customer is using this tool and they're reaching out either with, “Hey, is this a good time to sell?”, “Hey, I need a CMA”, “Hey, I'd like to talk about this refinance.” And just the mere fact that we're having the conversation is really important because we want them to remember we are their lender for life.”
As we know, a circle of influence is crucial when building a database and driving new business. Perhaps even more importantly though are the partnerships with agents who drive significant amounts of business to lenders across the country every day. The problem, however, is that getting their attention can be quite difficult as their referral business is heavily in demand.
Sarah knows this obstacle well, she touched on the importance of understanding the quid-pro-quo that needs to exist, the value agents need to receive right at the start.
“It is really hard to get a real estate agent to give you the time of day, they get bombarded with programs all the time. So like, what can I give to you before I ever ask something in return from you?”
Her solution is Homebot. A tool that will drive value from that realtor's own database, while also being a place to connect with shared clients and prospects, handing off leads to one another as they work towards a common goal.
Having been using Homebot for over 4 years, Sarah had a wealth of success stories to share, with one in particular worth highlighting as it’s her go-to story for new realtor partners:
“Probably my favorite testimonial from one of my agents was that [Homebot] taught him that he shouldn't upload all of his database at once because he didn't have the time to respond to all of the inquiries he was getting through Homebot. He realized he needed to drip the database into Homebot so that he could manage his time and manage the response rate that he was getting.”
When it comes to knowing the right way to reach out, Sarah also finds value in the data Homebot serves up on how her clients are engaging with their monthly Home Digest report. Activity in the dashboard shows her who might be interested in buying, refinancing, or simply keeping themselves up to date with ways they can leverage their home to build wealth.
“If you don't know who to call on any given day, when you're trying to work your database, go into Homebot, look at that activity feed. Take the top 10 that are clicking through right to various different sites. That activity is telling you something's going on.”
Oftentimes Sarah’s clients are reaching out for a CMA, giving her the opportunity to loop in that preferred agent, solidifying that business partnership while taking care of the customer and opening up another chance to connect on a personal level.
“It's such a gift because Homebot’s facilitating this conversation between me and the customer, but then additionally opening up this door for me to have follow-up conversations with the real estate agent. And if I didn't already have a very strong relationship with that agent, I have the opportunity to deepen that relationship with the agent.”
Homebot is, and has been, a must-have tool for Sarah and her colleagues, she even goes as far to say that it’s “probably one of the biggest tools at Guild”. She has more time to support her role as a coach, a way to reinforce partnerships, and a world class way to fulfill her mission in delivering value to clients and staying in touch for the long run.
Ready to see what Homebot can do for you? Schedule a demo today and see for yourself.
Join thousands of Loan Officers and Agents that love using Homebot.
Branch Manager & Coach
Join thousands of Loan Officers and Agents that love using Homebot.
Join thousands of Loan Officers and Agents that love using Homebot.
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