Best Selling Author Jack Daly Explains How to Optimize Lead Conversions

Jack Daly makes his living teaching CEOs, sales executives and entrepreneurs how to improve their sales. The author of two books, Hyper Sales Growth and The Sales Playbook, he formerly managed 2,600 retail and wholesale executives. In this interview, he discussed two key messages for all loan officers, branch managers and company executives who are out there fighting compression wars and dealing with rate shoppers:

#1 Never quote a price until you’ve established value.

#2 Stay ahead of technology and use it to make it easier for your customers to do business with you.

If you get in the game of playing PRICE, “you end up in a really nasty place that can only lead to price compression,” Jack says. “So, it’s important to differentiate yourself from everyone else out there with value, because, people by and large don’t buy on price. Price is just one of the components.”

Regarding technology, Jack says, “If you're doing business over the next five years similar to the way you've historically done business, I have news for you. You're out of business, because you’re not leveraging technology.”

Fact: Less sales people will do more business in the future than in years past because of technology.

Fact: Those who embrace technology will be the survivors and the thrivers.

Mortgage Coach is exactly the kind of technology that will put you ahead of the competition, Jack says. “The kinds of things you do in your Total Cost Analysis are exactly what will differentiate the buyer to choose you over someone else. You've just blown them away by virtue of the analysis you've done, the technology you're leveraging, and the speed at which you can execute. And speed is absolutely key because we have been turned into an immediate gratification society. We want things now. And the things you've been doing at Mortgage Coach over the last 10 years, in my opinion, are the minimum requirement to close the deal unless you want to have little to no margin.”

“And it’s not about size,” Jack says, because technology is affordable for any small to medium-sized mortgage company.

Establish Best Practices, Then Replicate Them

Back when Jack ran his team of 2,600, he used to say, “there are not 2,600 best ways to respond to the comment that ‘your rates and fees are too high’. So figure out the 10 best responses to major objections, and then practice them.”

So what are your most successful conversion processes as a loan originator? He asks. “Follow your playbook and you'll convert more deals. It doesn't get any simpler than that.”

This is similar to the sports leadership process, he says. “Consider Nick Saban, coach of University of Alabama, four out of the last seven years National Championship, the number-one recruiter in all of college football, and the highest paid coach in sports in all of college in the U.S. Now, what he's known for is the process. As the number one recruiter, he's recruiting all high school All-Americans to go to the University of Alabama. Can you imagine him on the first day saying, “here's the playbook. We won four out of seven years. The three years we didn't win, we were at the dance. Study the playbook, practice the playbook, and implement the playbook.” Then can you imagine a high school All-American saying, “Hey Coach, I've been playing football since I was in Pee-Wee, I was a high school All-American, I've got my own style”? I mean, it's ludicrous. It's crazy.”

Similarly, there’s no need for it in business. “I don't want to hear from a loan officer, ‘well I've been in the business for eight years, and I sorta have my own style and I don't need to adapt to this technology. I don't need this Total Cost Analysis.’ You are the guy in charge of the company or the leader of your branch. You know this is the way to do it. And, the very best loan originators in the nation are doing it. So, what is it going to take for you to get on the bus?”

He has a stern message for branch managers and the C-suite:

“If I'm running a mortgage company, I ultimately am responsible for the health of that company, and I'm not trying to get consensus. I know, as a leader, this is correct and if I can't, in some way, convince my sales people that they need to be doing this, and if they're still going to go rogue on me, then unfortunately, we part company. I hate taking the hit of losing the production that those people are doing, but I know my company will be stronger and better as a result of it.”

I strongly recommend you take a few minutes and watch this interview with Jack Daly.

He recommends that everyone read Exponential Organizations by Salim Ismail and Michael Malone, and says it’s the best book available today on how to use technology to maintain your competitive edge.

Click here for the Mortgage Coach YouTube Channel.

Click here for Hyper Sales Growth by Jack Daly.

Click here for The Sales Playbook for Hyper Sales Growth, by Jack Daly.

Click here for our Script-a-Palooza interview transcript to find the best scripts for overcoming rate shopping.