MORTGAGE TRAINERS OF NORTH AMERICA’S

 SALES AND MARKETING

GOALS SHEETS

                Any one in a sales position, especially when earning commissions should have goals set by their boss or themselves.  Goals are an effective way to plan your sales approach and income. 

 If you are in Boston, and you decide to drive to San Francisco, how do you plan the trip?  You look at a map and plan a driving route according to your goals.  If the fastest way is your goal, you’ll note the interstates that will get you there the quickest.  The plan achieves the goal. 

Maybe you want to see the most scenic route possible and time is not an issue.  So you plan a driving route to include the Grand Canyon and other attractions on the way to meet that goal. 

Driving across the country without a map and planned goals may cause a delay in your arrival, add stress to your trip, or cause you to run into detours that may derail your plans for a vacation when you run out of time.

There are three key goals to set.  First are income goals are important to develop some consistency in commission income.  Second will be business goals which will give you your road map for the coming year and immediate future.  Although personal goals are at the end of the list, they are the most motivating of the goals set.  People measure their success by the personal accomplishments achieved in life. 

Take the time to properly think through your answers, and set goals that will motivate you.  This translated means ‘achievable goals with hard work’.  Most people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan. 

 

STEP ONE:  INCOME GOALS

HOW MUCH DO I WANT TO MAKE?  Set an income goal at the beginning of each year.  Then determine how many customers you need to close to make this income.  The following is an example of how to estimate your income, and estimated hourly earnings.  There is a worksheet at the end of the handbook, or an excel spreadsheet if on the computer you can plug in your numbers to set your goals.

To earn $60,000 a year ($5000 per month), I will net an estimated $2000 commission per loan closing.  Income goal (60,000) is divided by projected income per loan closing (2000) = 30 loans closed per year.

                What is your closing ratio?  (Number of loans closed divided by number of loan applications taken) 50-60% is good.  Take the number of closings (30) divided by .60 (for 60% closing ratio) = 50 is the number of applications you need to bring in if your closing ratio is 60%.  This would be 50 for the year, so divide by 12 for monthly goal = 4.16.  You would need to take 4 to 5 loans applications a month to make an estimated $60,000 a year with a 60% closing ratio.

                Now how many prospects or leads do you need to talk to get 4 to 5 completed borrower applications?  This you will need to determine, as each loan originator is unique and using different marketing techniques.  I would estimate 50% to begin with, and adjust as you determine your prospect to client ratio (# of applications taken divided by the # of prospect contacts).  At 50% you would need to contact 8.33 (8 to 9) prospective borrowers a month (4.16 divided by .50) to get 4 to 5 completed loan applications.

                Keep in mind if your ratio is low, you may need to change your marketing approach and strive to increase this ratio.  The better you convert a prospect to a client the better spent your marketing dollars.  A high prospect to client ratio is the magic number to shoot for when building your business and giving yourself a raise.

                If you closing ratio is low, you may not be selling the borrower on your ability to meet their needs.  Or you are not pre-qualifying the borrower up-front.  Work with your manager to improve any low percentages in these areas. 

So what does this mean?  Every month you need to develop 9 prospects, to get 5 loan applications, to get 2-3 loan closings, and make $5000 estimate per month.  This is simplistic, but basic in making goals. 

                30 loan closings are optimistic, but not impossible.  Some loans you’ll make more and some you’ll make less, but having the goal and plan of action is essential to trying to get commission somewhat stable.

                Now let’s determine your estimated hourly wage.  How many hours do you work every week?  60 hours is not uncommon once things start happening.   There is no over-time in commission income, but great income potential.  60 hours x 52 weeks = 3120 hours annually.  (Annual income) $60,000/3120 = $19.23 per hour.  It is important to know your worth.

                When you are working, constantly evaluate what you’re doing.  IF WHAT YOU’RE DOING IS NOT MAKING YOU $19 PER HOUR, DON’T DO IT!  During your working time, that is what you do.  No hair cut appointments, no shopping unless business related, and no worthless chit chat.  You must have conversations to build report, but keep it under control and remember the clock is ticking.  For example, taking a loan application should take approximately one hour.

At the end of the sheets is a worksheet you may complete to calculate your numbers.

 

STEP TWO:  SETTING SALES/BUSINESS GOALS

                REVIEW LAST YEARS GOALS – First you need to review what you did the previous year.  There is nothing better than learning from one’s own mistakes.  With the start of this New Year, you need to think about the past and set your goals for the future.  Goal setting is the only way to start the New Year.  Fine tuning your marketing, change your market approach or target market, look for some new lender programs, take MTGTNA’s Lending Source classes, or plan a vacation to pump up your attitude.  Ask yourself these questions:

                What could I have done better?

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                How could I have better handled that problem with my borrower?

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                What did I do well last year?

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                What business goals did I achieve?

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                What personal goals did I achieve?

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                NEW GOALS AND FOCUS – Now think about what you want for your goals focus.  When setting goals you need to think about your future and how to establish a successful mortgage career.  Your focus should be on working smarter not harder. 

                Remember you have some of the best products on the market available for your use.  After all, think about what you are selling.  Yourself!  Make yourself different from your competitor.  There has to be something unique about you to help people remember you.  Above all, be reliable on your rate quotes and estimated costs to close Good Faith Estimate (GFE).

                What am I doing different from my competition?

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                Why would a borrower keep me as their mortgage professional?

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                What are my strong points?

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                What are my weak points?

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                What Marketing approach worked well last year?

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                What could I do better?

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                LONG TERM BUSINESS GOALS – After your reflection you need to think long term.  A long term goal, generally five or more years in the future.  Long term five year goal such as “Having a strong referral network to keep your flow of business steady”.  Long term goals are then broken down into achievable short terms goals annually or quarterly.  Once the long term goals are set, what will it take to achieve this goal?  Set short term goals to accomplish and build to the long term goal. 

Ask yourself, “Where do I see myself in the mortgage business in five years?”

For example:  If my goal is to “have a strong referral network to keep my flow of business steady” think about what you will need to do to achieve this goal.  I need to be consistent and reliable with every program quote to clients, and build a referral database of clientele.  I may tape past client testimonials and put them on my website, and always ask for the referrals.  I will develop a good follow up system to keep in constant contact with past clients, so they never forget about my services.

                Now break down the focus.  “To have a strong referral network to keep my flow of business steady”

                Year one:  Choose a target market – First time homebuyers.  Develop marketing to attract business from first time homebuyers.  Purchase a good data base software program to keep all clients information including email address.  Learn all the first time home buyer programs, and get all the grant and down payment assistance program information.  Develop or purchase a home buyer seminar, and do one presentation a month.  MTGTNA offers inexpensive Lead Generator Tool Kits on their website www.mtgtna.com/bookstore .

                Year two:  Develop a website to make communication easier with the client.  Give me more professional look.  Give past client’s free membership on the web site giving them access to special areas of the site such as newsletter and mortgage calculators.  Post testimonials on the website for new clients to view.  Take classes to increase program knowledge.

                Year three:  Hire assistant to handle all past client communications, and data base maintenance.  Assistant will help with marketing, and client development and retention.  Continue to learn all new programs and benefits for first time homebuyers.

                The fourth year is left off, as that can be planned next year when year four is more in focused.  Yet you can also complete the fourth year if clear in your mind.  The more detail you put into your plan the more you’ll be able to visualize achieving your goals.

From these goals, break it down into the tasks you will need to accomplish to achieve what you’re stating.  Put together a ‘Things to do’ list.  You can set the budget you are willing to spend for these things to happen.  The annual goal may need to be defined in small easy to accomplish tasks.  One task may be to go online and read the conforming guidelines to learn all you can about the first time homebuyer loan programs.  Maybe I’ll take the MTGTNA course on the Hierarchy Lending Source Series (all underwriting guidelines class) or Successful Loan Closing course (understand the closing function and overcoming borrower objections).  How long do you allow yourself to accomplish this goal, and set the date for completion? 

                When you’re not sure how to get your goals accomplished, try going to a Mortgage Industry Conference.  Conferences are one of the best ways to see what’s on the cutting edge of the mortgage industry and get motivated.  Conferences have the latest programs, marketing concepts, computer technology, and overall trends.  Networking helps too as you can talk with top producers and find out what they are doing.  Using expert suggestions is a great way to improve your system or approach.

 

STEP 3:  SETTING PERSONAL GOALS

This is an excellent way to truly test your success.  How much money is enough?  Very personal question, but I can assure you from personal experience that more money is always a plus.  Just remember that as a commission sales person you do not want to max out your spending every month.  The only thing constant in this business is CHANGE.

But when times are good, it’s wonderful to purchase that new home, car, vacation, or whatever you set as your personal goal.  Maybe buying your mother her own home, or paying off her mortgage.  Giving to a favorite charity.  Some goals can be to just have all your credit cards paid off.  (Don’t close them or you could lower your credit score.)  Your personal goals must be motivating to you.  What drives you on a personal level? 

Constantly fine tune your work routine by critiquing everything you do.  What did you do well, what did you do poorly, and what could you have done better?  Continue this process until you have achieved your goals, or overcome personal bad habits. 

You must have a way to measure your success.  A goal should not be non-existent, unobtainable, or too easy.  Goals should be written down, or cut out a picture of it.  Now that the goals are set, you have to make the steps to succeed part of your daily routine.  Don’t set the goals, and then ignore them.  Tape it on your mirror or a place where you’ll see it every day.  Then when the day starts, you are looking at your personal goal.  When you get to work you can look at your business goals.  Life can detour your goals, so it’s important to adjust as needed, but keep on the road as much as possible.  There is nothing wrong with new goals when old goals become impossible to achieve or are no longer motivating.  It is not uncommon that your focus in life will change, so be flexible to modify the goals when this happens.  Goals are not cast in iron, and life may give you detours.  

                How am I going to improve my weak areas?

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                What are my customer satisfaction goals?

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                What are my personal goals?

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                Where do I want to be at the end of 2010?

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It’s time to look long term and set long term goals.  The last goal question you answered, asked you ‘where do you want to be at the end of 2010?’

                How do I plan to get there? (Set long term goals, and then outline the steps to take to reach the goal)

Long term first 4 to 5 years _______________________________________________________________________

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Now 1 to 6 months _____________________________________________________________________________

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6 to 12 months _________________________________________________________________________________

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1 to 3 years ___________________________________________________________________________________

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From the above list, you will develop things to do list with more specific tasks needed to succeed.

                What is my income goal for this year?

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                Who is my key target market?

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                What are at least 2 peripheral market sources and/or 3 referral sources to develop? (Real estate agent and CPA)

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                What approach to these markets will I use?

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                What is the budget for marketing this year?

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                What type of tracking system will I use to monitor the marketing approach?

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                What is Plan B Marketing Plan?

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MARKETING WORKSHEET SUMMARY

PICK YOUR PROFESSIONAL PARTNERS (Appraisers, title officer, etc…)

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CHOOSE YOUR TARGET MARKET

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WHAT IS THE MOTIVATION FOR THIS MARKET?

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WHAT KEY BENEFITS DO YOU OFFER THIS MARKET?

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PICK YOUR APPROACH

What will you do to move the client through the steps of marketing, and retain the customer for life?

Step 1.  Awareness (get the phone to ring) ____________________________________________

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Step 2. Interest (get the appointment) _______________________________________________

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Step 3. Desire (Close the loan) ____________________________________________________

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Step 4.  Decision (To remember you) _______________________________________________

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WHAT IS YOUR BUDGET? __________________ ANNUALLY/MONTHLY

 

WHAT FREE ADVERTISING WILL YOU USE? ____________________________________

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HOW WILL YOU TRACK YOUR MARKETING SUCCESSES?

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WILL YOU DO THE MARKETING – YOURSELF? _______________

                                                                                YOUR COMPANY? __________

                                                                                A SERVICE? _____________ WHO? ________________

 

PLANNED START DATE FOR MARKETING? _____________________________________

PLAN B ______________________________________________________________________

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If you’d like a word document of these goal sheets, email linda@mtgtna.com.