Rob Bayer of Anomaly Squared: Optimize Your Loan Officers’ Time with Call Center Outsourcing

Rob Bayer is a Call Center executive with more than 25 years of experience. Currently, he oversees call center services for 20+ mortgage groups with an emphasis on speed to lead and driving high contact rates. He is responsible for the overall strategy and direction of Anomaly Squared. LinkedIn Profile:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-bayer-b61b88bb/.

What is an average day for your loan officers?

• Do they reach out to super-qualified leads that are ideal candidates, ready to purchase?
• Are they bogged down; going through leads that may or may not be qualified?
• Are they cold calling day after day and hoping for the best?

You did not hire your loan officers to be call center agents and I am sure if you ask them, tracking down and qualifying leads is not their favorite thing to do. They would much rather spend their days speaking with prospects who are highly qualified and ready to move forward with their loan.

That is Utopia!!!  And, that perfect world can exist with the right processes and partnerships in place.

Collaborating closely with those teams who specialize in contacting and qualifying leads quickly is a valuable way towards reaching your conversion goals. Typically, only 5-15% of qualified leads convert. The good news: companies that automate their lead management processes can see up to a 10% increase in revenue in 6-9 months.

Utilizing a call center outsourcing provider opens the door for multiple touchpoints with your leads, before and after they become your customer.

The first is the lead qualification and live transfer process. Implementing this practice is a huge time saver for your loan officers. It leaves the tedious process of working through prospects to the call center so your loan officers can focus on the ready-to-move-forward leads.

How it works: 

• Step 1:  your company shares a selected and generated list of potential buyers with your call center partner who then places the leads into their dialer system. Great Call Centers will check for any compliance issues and then begin dialing through and narrowing down to those who meet your ideal criteria.
• Step 2:  Once the agent has an interested buyer on the phone, they will ask the qualifying questions
• Step 3:  When the prospect is ready to move forward, the agent will initiate a live transfer so the potential buyer can speak with a loan officer immediately.

Strike while the iron is hot!!!  This process allows your loan officers to do what they were hired to do; close more loans and do what they love, optimizing their time to do tasks more specific to their skill set.

The second:  Speed to Lead matters!!!  The option to have leads sent to your call center partner’s dialer, in real time from your website, is another valuable method of reaching leads quickly and efficiently. When they fill out a form requesting information, it is highly likely they have done so on other sites (your competitors). Do not wait until someone ELSE has the time to reach out, speed to lead is crucial as it produces higher success rates. Call Centers are valuable partners especially when speed to lead matters.

Thirdly, wherever they are in the buying cycle, it is important to continue reaching out to leads until they make their purchase and beyond. Call centers can set up a calling cadence that allows consistent follow-up until the prospect is ready to move forward while maintaining a healthy balance. An important statistic to keep in mind, 63% of consumers requesting information on a company or service will not purchase for an average of 3 months, especially with large purchases like a home. Staying connected goes long way toward long-term conversions.

And lastly, once the deal is done and you have a new customer, it is not time to set it and forget it. In this competitive market, there is value in developing a solid customer service team and after-close care plan.

Follow up and check-in. Are they satisfied? Are they looking to refinance or cash out? Remain engaged with your customers.

These strategies can be accomplished by partnering with Contact Centers that share your same philosophies!! 

–Lead Qualification.

–Speed to Lead

–Follow Up

–After Close Care

All four of these help optimize your loan officers’ time, improve conversion rates, and improve employee and customer retention.

No matter the size of your company, the benefits of a great call center partner are countless, especially when their goal is to see their clients succeed.

WIN TOGETHER.

(Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect policy of the Mortgage Bankers Association, nor do they connote an MBA endorsement of a specific company, product or service. MBA NewsLink welcomes your submissions. Inquiries can be sent to Mike Sorohan, editor, at msorohan@mba.org; or Michael Tucker, editorial manager, at mtucker@mba.org.)