I Have a Referral for YOU, and the Clock is Ticking!
July 8th, 2008 by TitleRep
I consider myself a fairly busy guy. Between my normal daily appointments, classes that I teach, small businesses I run, being married, and what little social life I have left, I always have time to return the calls and emails I receive throughout the day. I try to get back to people within an hour. That was always my general rule when in the mortgage business, and it’s still my general rule today.
I also consider myself a fairly impatient guy. Maybe it’s just me, but I figure if I can get back to people quickly, anyone should be able to. Especially in this “wired” world we live in. If they don’t, it’s their loss, and I move on.
Such was the case yesterday when a friend of mine called me and left me a voicemail. Apparently, the house he and his wife have been renting for years is being sold out from under them. They received a note on the door saying you have 30 days to get out!
He knows I’m pretty well connected in the Real Estate market, even though his specific area of interest isn’t my territory, and asks if I would refer him to a Realtor in that area. I happen to know two agents in this area that he’s looking, so I decided I would email the both of them and give my friend a choice. They’re both good people, decent producing agents, and I figured they would take good care of him.
The email went something like this:
Hey XXXXX,
A good friend of mine is looking to buy a house in the next 30 days in your area. I don’t have your business card handy, so can you email me your contact info so I can forward it to him please? He’s being kicked out of his current rental, and needs to get things going pretty quickly.
Thanks,
Jeff
That was sent Monday at 3:30pm. Today (Tuesday) at 10:15am I finally got a response from one of the agents. Tick Tock –Too Late.
Is 19 hours too long to wait, or am I just way too impatient?
*As of writing this post a full 24+ hours later, I still have not heard back from agent #2.
July 8th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
In this day and age, I feel like if the call is placed during business hours it should be returned before ending the day and going home unless other expectations have been set.
Referrals are far to valuable for an “I’ll call back tomorrow mentality.”
I believe I would most likely feel the same way.
July 9th, 2008 at 9:45 am
True, I suppose it would be a little different had I emailed them after “business hours”.
But really when you’re basically self employed, whether you’re a loan officer or Realtor, can you afford not check emails/calls during the “non-business hours”. I know my wife used to get annoyed sometimes, but she never minded when the paychecks came in!
July 9th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Here’s where using a little tech-savvy auto-responder email would have helped both these agents. In Outlook, you can set up an “Out of Office” message indicating when you will be checking emails and when you will be responding via a telephone call. It is the same idea as changing your voicemail message to indicate the same thing. It needs to be done daily.
Letting folks in on what your schedule looks like for the day, lets them know that you are organized, that your time is valuable and informs them as to exactly when they will hear back from you. Not having these expecations set up on your voicemail and email leaves people guessing and that’s generally when they grow impatient and start looking elsewhere.
Time Management Tip: If you respond to emails after-hours you will set an expectation that you will be STUCK with and that will be very hard to change later on. If you check on emails, no later than 8am and begin responding to the emails that came in after-hours from the night before, it will be early enough that you won’t miss out on opportunities AND you will not set expecations that you’ll regret later on AND that your significant other will grow bitter about, regardless of the checks you bring in.
I’ve coached enough Mortgage Professionals and Realtors to know that NO GOOD comes from being overly reactive and overly accessible.
P.S. My advise is never to email a referral, especially if it’s a referral for a Realtor. Good Realtors are not in front of their laptops, they are networking, viewing homes, conducting pop-bys, giving listing presentations, etc., etc. Plus, you don’t want to miss out on a relationship building moment.
Long-winded, I know, but I hope this helps.
-Coach V.
July 9th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Some good points there. I guess I’m guilty of setting the expectation that I will go above and beyond for my clients.
July 9th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
I may not always be in front of my computer, but I always have my BlackBerry handy. If I can’t make a quick call, for whatever reason, I can always send a quick note saying, “Thanks! Cell # is 555-555-5555. More details shortly”
For better or worse, this is definitely a “you snooze you lose” industry.
July 14th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I agree with setting the expectation. In my business I have my voicemail say that I will return calls between 9 - 10 am and 3 - 5 pm. It took me along time to feel comfortable with that, but now people know when they will hear from me and 9 out 10 will say call today at 4 or tomorrow at 9 am etc.
Also, I never email possible referrals unless they specifically sate to communicate that way and it is usually after my first conversation. To much gets lost in email and I type slow!
P.S. - MAKE SURE YOU CALLL DURING POSTED HOURS!
Jim
July 20th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
when referring to realtors, Unless you have already established communication methods, I almost always ask the potential client if i can have someone call them. And then i will contact the realtor via phone and let them know that the referral is all set up and waiting for them. The key is you have to do this by phone. Victoria DF is right, the good realtors aren’t in front of email the way the good lenders are. they just aren’t. IM/texting actually works REALLY well with communicating with realtors though. I have had nothing but success in using text with realtors for any reason.
-James
http://www.pdxhomeloan.com