Most mortgage company owners treat their hiring and sales processes as two entirely separate entities. However, selling a home isn’t that different from marketing your business to a new employee. The end goal is to sign a contract, whether it’s a 30-page closing document or a job offer.
Relying on loan officer referrals is like waiting for a new seller to come to you—the latter works sometimes, but it’s not an effective growth method. To increase your numbers and get as many home listings as possible, you need to reach out to homeowners in your area. Similarly, if you want to hire as many experienced loan officers as possible, you need to have an active and organized recruitment strategy.
While B2B appointment setting may not be the most obvious loan officer recruitment method, it’s one of the most effective ways to attract top talent. By applying traditional sales tactics to your hiring process, you can expand your team with the perfect loan officers for your business.
Read on to learn how your mortgage company can recruit more loan officers using the B2B appointment setting process.
Loan Officer Recruitment vs. B2B Appointment Setting—What’s the Difference?
B2B appointment setting is when sales development representatives (SDRs) from one business reach out to other companies in hopes of turning them into a customer. Any business that sells products or services to other businesses can benefit from this sales development method. As a mortgage company, you don’t typically sell your services to companies, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use appointment setting for another purpose—recruitment.
Loan officer recruitment is the organized process of finding and contacting qualified loan officers, sharing information about your business, determining if a career change is mutually beneficial, and ultimately getting them to sign an employment contract. Recruiting qualified loan officers helps you expand your business and build your customer base.
Homebuyers want a trusted loan officer to guide them through the complex approval process, offer advice on the best mortgage option, and walk them through the financial decisions that could have a long-lasting impact on their lives. If your loan officers have the best reputation in the area, you can attract more buyers. The more buyers you represent, the more commission you collect, which enables you to grow your business.
Even though you’re approaching employees and not business leads, you can follow the same four steps during recruitment that other companies use during B2B appointment setting:
- Cleanse: At the beginning of the recruiting process, you have to compile a list of potential recruits and find their contact information. Depending on your source, you might end up with inaccurate or incomplete data. Lead cleansing helps you confirm your information, collect additional details, and determine if the loan officer is a good fit.
- Introduce: Once you have a lead’s contact information, you should introduce your company during a cold call or email. Your introductory conversation can impact the rest of your recruitment efforts, so it’s crucial to make a good impression.
- Nurture: Unless your loan officer leads are desperate for a new opportunity, it usually takes around three months to set an appointment. During that time, you need to communicate frequently and show your lead why they should choose your company over a competitor.
- Set appointments: If your lead is ready to discuss a job offer, you should set an appointment as soon as possible to get the onboarding process started. This meeting is your opportunity to sell your company and convince the lead to sign an offer letter.
Using the power of B2B appointment setting, you can give your company exposure, build relationships with the most successful loan officers in your city, and gain a competitive edge against other mortgage companies.
3 Ways To Enhance Loan Officer Recruitment Using B2B Appointment Setting Strategies
Want to recruit as many great new employees as possible? Use these three B2B appointment setting methods to enhance your loan officer recruitment program.
1. Qualify Your Leads Early and Well
In B2B appointment setting, lead qualification is the process of determining whether a potential customer fits your target profile. The most effective programs use lead qualification early on to ensure sales reps don’t waste their time nurturing leads who will never buy. Successful recruitment programs follow the same process.
You probably have criteria you want your recruits to fit, and asking qualifying questions can help you determine who’s worth chasing. These questions can include:
- How long have you been a loan officer? If you’re only looking for new employees with 10 or more years of experience, this question can help you disqualify leads immediately.
- How happy are you with your current employer? It’s crucial to gauge a lead’s willingness to move before you spend time nurturing them. There’s no point in contacting a recruit who is extremely happy with their current employer and will never entertain a switch.
- How often do you approve loans? You may have a loan approval threshold you want your recruits to meet. If a lead is nowhere near your target number, you can remove them from your list.
- What would it take to get you to move positions? You have criteria you want your leads to meet, and they have a wish list for their future employer. A recruit may check off every box on your qualification list, but if they want a benefits package or specific perk you can’t offer, they’re not worth pursuing.
Asking each lead qualifying questions early on in the hiring journey sets your entire program up for success. Qualification allows you to focus your efforts on the officers who would be an asset to your business.
2. Use Lead Nurturing To Keep Top Recruits in Your Pipeline
In traditional B2B appointment setting programs, the term “sales pipeline” refers to your group of qualified prospects. Loan officer recruitment programs contain a hiring pipeline of potential employees. To secure as many employment contracts as possible, you need to keep your top recruits in your pipeline for as long as it takes to book a meeting. You can’t predict how long the recruiting process will take, which is why it’s crucial to nurture your leads.
You’re not the only mortgage company trying to add experienced officers to your team. If you want leads to sign your offer letter over a competitor’s, you need to use every nurturing opportunity to convey value. Taking a page out of the B2B appointment setting playbook, you can use these methods to demonstrate your company’s value to leads:
- Warm calls: Spending a few minutes on the phone with your recruits each week allows you to develop strong relationships. Your leads may express frustration with their current company or ask specific questions about your business, and you can use your conversations to address their pain points and share your company history.
- Personalized emails: Recruits won’t want to join your business if they think you only view them as a revenue source. Sending personalized emails shows that you appreciate their unique credentials and see them as an important addition to your team. It also allows you to build on past conversations instead of sending a generic message.
- Marketing collateral: B2B sales teams use marketing collateral to share information about their products and services. You can use collateral to highlight your company perks, benefits, current team members, and success stories.
- Social media posts: You may not be able to tailor every social media post for a particular recruit, but you can post information that most prospective employees would find helpful.
Using the above methods, you can keep your mortgage company at the top of your lead’s potential employer list and increase your chances of setting an appointment when they’re ready to move.
3. Treat Your Appointments Like a Sales Pitch
The end goal of B2B appointment setting is to schedule a sales meeting with potential customers. During that meeting, companies pitch their products or services during a sales presentation. If the meeting goes well, it often leads to a closed deal. Hiring meetings are very similar—you may not be pitching a product, but you’re essentially selling your company to potential team members. By approaching your hiring meetings like you would a sales meeting, you can improve your chances of turning recruits into employees.
In B2B sales presentations, closing sales reps use pitch decks as a meeting guide. Pitch decks typically include slides that outline your company’s history, your lead’s problems, the solutions you offer, your key differentiators, and next steps. You provide the substance of the presentation while your pitch deck serves as the backbone.
Recruitment decks should include roughly the same information as a sales deck with a few tweaks here and there. Instead of outlining information about a product, you can give a detailed rundown of your business and what you offer employees. For example, if you provide ongoing training programs, reimbursement for courses and certification tests, or other desirable benefits, you should include that information in your slides.
A customized sales presentation can provide the final push your recruit needs to accept an offer. Unorganized hiring meetings can make your business look sloppy and undesirable. Treating your hiring meetings like sales meetings allows you to add a professional touch, keep the conversation on track, and drive home your value as an employer.
Trade Loan Officer Referrals for Recruits
The mortgage industry is incredibly competitive—you need all the help you can get to increase your market share and grow your business. Replacing your referral sources with a structured recruitment program can give your business the support it needs to outgrow the competition.
Leveraging B2B appointment setting tactics for your loan officer recruitment program can be challenging, especially if you’re not well-versed in sales. If you need an expert’s help to develop a successful recruitment program, Abstrakt can help. As one of the nation’s top B2B lead generation companies, we can apply our sales expertise to your recruitment strategy and grow your mortgage business. Our sales team has represented countless mortgage companies throughout the nation for over a decade, and we’ve mastered the art of loan officer recruitment.
It’s time to stop relying on referrals and start generating recruits as an Abstrakt partner. Contact us today to learn more about our B2B appointment setting services for mortgage companies.
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