Once there was a loan officer, who marketed his services to some Realtors®. His story went something like this...

...One day he invited an agent to lunch. During the course of the meal, the loan officer told the agent every reason why they should do business together.

By the time they had finished, the loan officer convinced the agent to use his services. At first the agent was reluctent, but eventually acquiesced when they saw the loan officer pick up the lunch tab.

A week later the agent referred a buyer to him. Unfortunately the transaction didn't go smoothly. Although there were several meaningful reasons, the agent didn't want to hear it, and instead, became upset, really upset.

The transaction finally closed, albeit a week after the initial close of escrow. The agent was so disgusted by this, they told the loan officer that they’d never refer another buyer to him again.

It Doesn't Have To Be That Way

Loan officers tell stories like this frequently. In fact, some loan officers refuse to pursue real estate agents because they’ve developed an unfortunate perception - a negative one. Either way, the perception was created from their own personal experiences or they listened to too many loan officers describe their horrific stories.

Don’t let a bad past experience ruin your enthusiasm to partner with agents. Don’t allow what other loan officers have said negatively about agents to interfere with your beliefs. The greatest source of purchase transactions that occur daily are with residential real estate agents. You can’t ignore it. If you do, you're forfeiting too much earning potential.

The Power Of Choice

You have something going for you that’s extremely important when dealing with agents, they need you more than you need them.

See, you can earn income from generating loans from many sources of business. An agent can’t. For a purchase transaction to be completed, an agent needs you to handle the mortgage financing, unless of course, it's a cash sale, but how often does that happen!

This isn’t meant to give you a sudden ego trip. It’s meant to point out the obvious when dealing with agents. You have the power of choice. You get to decide which agents your marketing will attract.

Many Go About Marketing to Agents Wrong

Like a manager hiring a candidate for a job position, you're hiring agents to become your strategic partner. However, like managers who make poor hiring decisions, so can loan officers selecting agents.

To prevent this from happening, what if when you choose an agent as your strategic partner, you implemented the best