5 Steps to Position Yourself as a Consultant

Apr.13

By Todd Duncan

How would you like to be in a position where for the rest of your origination life, you never again have to worry whether your rates and fees are competitive enough to get you business? How would you like to never give out a good faith estimate as the decision-making mechanism a borrower uses to do business with you? How would you like to be in the position of having clients never again question the cost of doing business with you?

If you are like most originators, the fact of having rate and fee discussions with a borrower raises your heart rate, changes your focus, increases your fear and reduces your confidence in getting the deal. That’s why one of the most significant opportunities for loan originators is to know how to create High Trust with borrowers so that rates, fees and price become secondary to doing business together.

The Mindset of a Consultant

Recall the Law of the Shareholder, which says people buy stock in themselves. You must see yourself as someone in business as an originator, not as an originator in business. When you are working with borrowers, you are in the business of consulting. You are NOT in the business of doing loans. Loans happen when the advice you give and the way in which you give it creates trust with your borrowers.

The High Trust Borrower Interview has five core steps and typically takes between 30-60 minutes:

1. The Introduction: A strong High Impact Opening statement.

2. The Core Values Interview: A series of questions designed to establish the borrower’s central values.

3. The Highest Value Needs Interview: A series of questions to learn the borrower’s needs and the benefits the borrower wants to receive.

4. The Presentation: Here you share your solutions to the borrower’s needs in order of importance as well as product and mortgage management solutions. 

5. Asking for the Business: You conclude by getting a commitment from the borrower to move forward.

Remember: Your main goal during this process is to build trust with your borrowers, so they would never feel the need to look for help from any other originator.

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