In my post today, I’ll show you how to partner with loan officers to grow your insurance biz.
You see, the BIG question most agents have when they first get started in this business…
Is where to focus their marketing efforts.
Should they start poundin’ away with cold calls?
Run mailer campaigns?
Or is it all about events and building your network?
My answer is… NONE of those things.
In my opinion, it’s all about building relationships with insurance referral partners.
And I’m talking about how to partner with top mortgage brokers and loan officers
Because once these partnerships are set up, the business comes in on autopilot…
Plus the quality of the lead is much higher.
And they usually close at around 70% and above.
But of course, the questions now are…
How to partner with loan officers?
How to build a relationship and work with top mortgage brokers?
How do you stand out from all the other agents and get their business?
How can you make insurance referral partners a part of your over-all insurance agent marketing plan?
This might not be news to ya…
But it all comes down to what kind of VALUE you can provide.
Unfortunately, being friendly is one a small piece on building a partnership with loan officers…
And even worse than that…
There’s still alotta agents out there who think delivering coffee, donuts and gift cards is how to partner with loan officers and work with top mortgage brokers.
It’s not.
Everyone else is doing it too.
And all you’re really doing is giving loan officers one more reason not to bother with you.
So what do I mean when I think of providing value?
Well, answer this for me…
What do YOU think is most valuable to a loan officer or mortgage broker?
…or anyone who runs a business for that matter?
Leads. New Customers. Bottom Line Revenue.
Now, I will admit…
To get that for a Loan Officer ain’t easy.
But if you can figure out a way to make it happen…
(Or instead, follow a proven step-by-step system…)
Think of what kind of position this puts you in.
Sure, there’s a growing number of insurance agencies running ads out there these days.
But how many of them know how to do something like generate homebuyer leads?
Not many.
I’d wager 1% at best.
So when you got a skill that only 1% of other people in your field have…
Suddenly your value skyrockets.
And you’ll become the guy or gal who’ll be lucky enough to work with top mortgage brokers.
Like I said already though, it’s all easier said than done.
So if I can give you ONE piece of advice to take away from this…
(No matter how you’re trying to give value to loan officers now…)
It’s to be persistent.
These guys are busy.
They don’t know who you are, or what you can do for them…
So sometimes it takes a few tries to get the message across.
And if they push back with one or two little objections…
That doesn’t mean it’s time to give up either.
If you know that the partnership would be a win-win, don’t be afraid to push for it.
‘Cause at the end of the day…
No one’s gonna care if you were ‘pushy’ at first…
If now you’re helping stuff their pockets with more business, and more money.
But let me tell you though, that was only half the equation.
See, there’s one thing many insurance agents get wrong.
Even if you manage to work with top mortgage brokers, and bring a good loan officer onboard…
If you make this mistake, it’ll undo all that hard work.
And leave you back making cold calls trying to find the next policies.
Here’s how it usually goes:
Insurance Agents looking to partner up with a loan officer go above and beyond at first.
They promise to be the fastest, most dependable agent they’ve ever worked with
And for a little while, that’s probably true.
But then, as time goes on…
They get complacent.
The relationship with the loan officer and the work with top mortgage brokers becomes more of a friendship…
Than a business partnership.
And with friendships, people think they can slack a little and get away with it.
“Ahh crap, forgot to get back to Larry the Loan Officer today. That’s alright, he won’t mind if I respond tomorrow.”
Larry might be a nice guy…
And he might forgive you for now, because you’re a nice guy too…
But if this mindset continues for a couple months…
Larry’s gonna start wondering why he even needs you.
Someone who’s RELIABLE.
And even if you’re giving Larry all the leads in the world…
If you’re not there when he needs you…
He’s gonna start looking for someone else.
Because his top priority is keeping his clients happy.
So if you want a good, long lasting relationship…
You MUST be as quick with answering Larry’s requests 6 months down the road, as you’d be during that first week of working with him.
And if your agency is boomin’ and you’re running thin on time…
Maybe it’s time to think about hiring.
Or at a minimum, bringing on a couple cheap VA’s.
Just because you can do everything yourself, doesn’t mean you should.
And the cost of hiring an employee is often way less than what it’d be if you lost a good LO…
Because you were running out of hours in the day to respond to their requests.
Remember this important tip on how to partner with loan officers…
Consistency after forming a new partnership is just as important as how hard you work to get the partnership.
And this also applies when you work with top mortgage brokers.
Don’t let your hard work go to waste.
Nato owns Guajardo Insurance Agency. He learned the lessons he needed to learn so that his agency avoided the traditional ups and downs of lead flow and sales. He created Fully Covered to do just that. A methodology and system that provides predictable and automated online leads to insurance agents that have a passion for helping people.
Today, Nato runs his business together with his wife, Angelica, without the stress of finding the next client or worrying about if there is enough money in the bank. Plus, he gets to protect clients with our Agency and protect his peers through education and systems that took years to figure out on his own.
