by David Depman

It’s hard to stand out in the lending marketplace. If someone does a quick search online for mortgage brokers or loan officers, they’ll go dizzy from all the options they find. While you’re potentially one of the better options in town, it only matters if your prospective business partners connect with you — if and when they find you.

We’ve said before that one of the best ways to develop your business is to nurture your network, adding business development partners be they realtors, construction execs or whomever.  It’s one of the best ways to grow your business.  We’ve highlighted some ideas on this before, but there is one tried and true method that still delivers.  It’s a very effective use of time and effort, but it’s something almost everyone hates: cold calling.

The reasons not to like cold calling are so common, they’re almost cliché: I hate talking on the phone, I hate getting rejected, it doesn’t work. All this is true (with the cavaet: if it’s done wrong). But done right, cold calling can keep your pipeline filled with valuable prospects and connections.

It all starts before you dial

Be confident. No other quality or trick will benefit you more than this. If you have any doubt that cold calling is acceptable in terms of business etiquette, remember this: by calling a qualified prospect, you are doing business, during business hours, with other business people. You’re offering something that they need for their business, and you are competing for their business.

Have your list of calls ready. By having your list of qualified prospects ready with the proper information, you will avoid delays. Delays inevitably lead to distractions, and both result in wasted time for you. Cold calling is about setting goals for quality calls: a number of calls in a set amount of time.

Focus your call. This is another key element that you need to develop. Call it a script, a process or a modus, the point is you need to know what to say to introduce yourself, the reason for your call and the value of your call so it will result in your goal.

Jeremy Forcier is a loan officer in California who has a really positive mindset on the idea of cold calling. Here are some of his points from a discussion he had with Dave Savage from Mortgagecoach.com:

“When calling a Realtor, your goal should be one of three outcomes in this short 2-minute call:

1) Schedule an appointment (at their office, a neutral location, or at an event they will be attending for example)

2) Invite them to something (like a mutually interesting event, a promotional event you are hosting)

3) Ask them a question, and then give them information on the question you asked (this is a chance to follow up and deliver value)

Here is a tidbit from Jeremy’s discussion with Dave from one of Dave’s Coaching Calls:

You can listen to the whole episode here.

And finally: Don’t take yourself too seriously. Look, no one wants to hear ‘no’ all day long. Getting rejected is tough to handle. But remember, ‘you’ are not being rejected. They may not have time, they may be closed minded, they may just blown a deal before you called and are in no mood, but those are all things that aren’t ‘you’. So give yourself a bit of a break, not every call is a winner. What you can’t do is give up. You may get a ‘no’ once, twice or even four times, but yes’s happen.

And if you’re not generating new prospects, you will fall behind. Cold calling is one of many first steps that can result in face to face meetings with great people like yourself. You need to work at maintaining the company of great realtors, bankers and current clients. Cold calling is a valuable tool when done right. Doing it right is effortless, just listen to Jeremy’s call, it was fantastic. But Jeremy isn’t a rookie, and learning to do it right takes practice and dedication.

Are you cold calling the kinds of realtors you want to work with?