Dave: Congratulations on having a solid idea of what you want. So many in this industry never zero in on their goals. I always say—if you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you arrive? I would also like to say that I am unaware of your previous attempts, so in advance, I will apologize in advance for suggesting anything you have already done.
The first step with any target is research. Find out as much as you can about this person and their business. For example, as big as they are, I am assuming they have a team. Who are the members? Not only get on social media and learn about your target, but the entire team. Who do they use for closings?
Interview and perhaps partner with their vendors to find out even more. This does not mean you have to spend months researching them—but finding out if they are baseball fans, dog lovers, market condos, etc., will help you with the next steps–of which I have already mentioned a few places to start.
Often the team is the key to your objective. While the top producer is likely to already have long-term relationships established, many members of the team are newer and are not as established. Your efforts to help train these team members and become their mentor should lead to a few deals. And once you start closing deals for one member of the team, this acceptance can spread to other members as well, and eventually to the ultimate goal: the top producer.
Another strategy is to develop relationships with partners of the team as well. This could be their settlement company, home inspector, or even a financial planner who works with them. What you are doing is integrating yourself into their sphere. This creates a back door to the top producer. What if the financial planner gives you a lead and you can then introduce the prospect to the top producer? You are now in prime position!
The final place to look for help is within yourself. Everyone has experiences, skills, relationships and more that can be leveraged to help others. Training members of the team will be very helpful to the top agent, but what more do you bring to the table?
Sometimes we take for granted skills we have which others lack. For example, if you are a computer whiz, could you help out team members who don’t know how to find the “any” key on a computer? Or perhaps you have social media skills that would help them expand their reach.
Are you an expert in converting leads? Perhaps you worked in a call center earlier in your career and can coach some of the team members, or even call some of the leads yourself. Dig down deep. If you live in a huge condo development, perhaps you could help them market that project. Sometimes we look everywhere else for solutions, when all we have to do is leverage resources we already have.
Dave Hershman is Senior VP of Sales of Weichert Financial and the top author in the mortgage industry. Dave has published seven books, as well as hundreds of articles and is the founder of the OriginationPro Marketing System and Mortgage School – the online choice for expert mortgage learning and marketing content. His site is www.OriginationPro.com and he can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
