When I first started out as a loan officer, one of the things I found to be the toughest, was taking an application over the phone. I just didnt seem to have the skills, nor did I have a plan. I was literally calling people on the phone and saying something to the effect of; Hello, my name is Jay Conners, and this is what I do, and this is why I am calling, would you be interested? No wonder I wasnt having any success.

Knowing that my pathetic tag line wasnt going to cut it, I knew that I would have to change my approach.

Over time, through trial and error, and a whole lot of sales training, I was able to incorporate my own six step process for making a sales call. Keep in mind that this approach works just as well face to face as it does over the phone, and can be used in many situations, not just selling mortgages.

Follow these six simple steps, and youll be on your way to taking more apps.

1. Be prepared

* Have a clean desk, a clean desk is proven to provide a less stressful work environment. Plus this way you wont be searching for that elusive pen.

* Have everything you need at your fingertips. ie; pens, pencils, calculator, scrap paper, computer on, and of course a blank application.

* Not having all of the necessities readily available, leads to having to find them, and having to find them leads to dead air, dead air can kill a conversation.

2. The personal touch

* Once you have your customer on the phone, and have introduced yourself, it is important that you relax them. Engage them in small talk about something other than a mortgage, ie; the obvious one, the weather, if a dog is barking in the background, ask about the dog, people love to talk about their pets, etc., etc. This technique gets them talking and gives the conversation a personal tone that will last throughout, and once the conversation turns to business it becomes all the more easy.

3. Make your assessment

* Ask probing questions, find out exactly what it is your customer is looking for, if they are unsure, you can help to educate them. Also, ask open-ended questions. An example of this would be; Tell me more about why you have decided to refinance your home? The tell me more part of the question forces them to go into greater detail than just a one word answer. These techniques will help you come to assessment of just what product or program best fits your customers needs.

4. Make your pitch

*Now that you have gathered all of the appropriate information, you are ready to make your pitch. Start by saying something in the area of based on what we have discussed this evening, I think this product would best suit your needs, A challenge you may be confronted with might be, well I need to think about it. One way to meet this head on is to ask if there is any thing you did not explain clearly enough, and that you would be happy to go over everything again. Once you have an agreement and your customer is comfortable, you can then move on to step five.

5. Close the deal

* Once your customer has decided on a mortgage product, do not let them off the phone without their 100% buy in, say something to the effect of; Now that we have decided on a program, lets not waste another minute, I will go ahead and order the appraisal, title, credit report, etc. If you are discussing a purchase, ask permission to contact their realtor so that you may introduce yourself.

6. Follow up

* Step six goes without saying, but it bears repeating. The follow up is extremely important. Customers hate to be left in the dark. Every time something happens, give them a call. When their appraisal comes in, give them a call, when their title comes in, give them a call, etc. The more you keep them in the loop, the stronger the relationship becomes, and the better the chance they will refer you business.

So there you have it, the six step sales process.

I understand that every scenario is different and sometimes these six steps will not apply. But please dont be afraid to give it a shot. Make an attempt to commit the six sales steps to memory. Make it fun, give it your own name, roll play with an associate for practice, or personalize it by adding, or tweaking a few things of your own. But most of all use it to your advantage, it helped me increase my number of applications per week and Im sure it will help you to.