Written by Chris Garcia 

As I sit here watching CNBCand listen to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke explain what the Real Estate & Mortgage Industries are up against, I find myself wondering what it is we are going to do about it. I ask this from the Mortgage Loan Officer's and from the Real Estate Agent's perspective.

I do not have a background in real estate and have very limited experience as a loan officer, but what I do have is a lot of experience in the sales industry. I also believe I have good judgment in times of turmoil.

Ok, we have mortgage brokers closing left and right. We have major banks changing the way they run their mortgage branches. We have mortgage products going away and guidelines tightening. What do we have left?

Now for our real estate buddies: No great mortgage products to help make miracles happen. Customers can no longer afford our sky-rocketing housing prices so we now have a surplus of homes for sale. What is that...we are now in a buyer’s market? Customers can't be told to make a decision quick because it will sell within days....customers are getting picky and fickle....what is the world coming to?

Now I am sure there is a lot more to the issues but I am just highlighting the obvious. But here we all are, sitting in this dilemma. What do we do?

What would I do as a salesman sitting on the outside looking in? A great sales manager of mine always told me; when you find yourself in this predicament just go back to the basics. Stick to what you have been taught and do it. I truly believe that in every industry we have some basic steps we need to follow in order to close a deal. Try to be slick and skip one or two and it will bite you in the butt, I have tried and it hurts. I am going to cover them in a 7 part series. Here is what I feel are some standardized basics:

1.       Meet & Greet - A no brainer for some but for others it is a tough one. Be professional, stick your hand out, introduce yourself and allow them to introduce themselves to you, welcome them and thank them for a) coming in or b) taking the time to meet with you. Nothing fancy here. Just being courteous and polite. What about their names: Big one here; REMEMBER THEIR NAMES! However your brain works figure a way that will help you remember your client’s name. And then use it, over and over in your conversation. Think back to back in the day when you met a girl or boy you liked…I mean really liked. Could you imagine having a conversation with that person and not know their name? My belief is the reason it was easy is because you gave that person 100% of your attention and you were genuinely interested in that person. The two of you were in your own bubble and nothing else mattered outside.

Try giving your client that level of attention. Don’t get caught up in thinking about the next step. You might be surprised at the level of loyalty this gets you. The dividends will come back to you in future referrals. 

In my next blog I will cover Step 2: Building Rapport. Thanks for taking the time to read and I will see you soon.