By Dave Hershman

Dealing with objections may seem difficult, yet receiving objections means you are progressing within the sales process.  Those who are not selling will be the recipient of no objections.  Those who are selling will be the recipient of many.  Let’s take a look at one common objection:

“My neighbor is a loan officer part-time and I promised that I would do the loan with her.”

Those who hear this statement are hearing a response to an important question such as, are you ready to make application now?  No matter what the variation, the point is the loan officer asked for the business and the objection was a direct result of a positive action.  If the question was never asked, then the objection would have never been voiced.

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Not all objections can be answered.  Good sales people recognize when to let go.  Many waste their time and ruin relationships by pressing the issue when there is no hope of resolution.  For example, let’s go back to the previous example, but change the parameters:

“My son is the top producing loan officer and I am going to work with him.”

This solution is a little more difficult to overcome than a neighbor who dabbles in mortgages wouldn’t you say?  There is probably little you could say to dissuade this potential client.  But it is good to keep the door open:

“Let’s keep in touch in case things don’t work out to your satisfaction or I can help your son in some way.”

Bottom line is that it is wrong to continue to press the issue when there is little hope of coming out on top. And never disagree with the prospect.  Understand the importance of their objection and empathize with their position. The time you invest with little chance of reward could be better spent marketing sources that have a better potential of return in your favor.

About the Author: Dave Hershman is a VP of Sales for Weichert Financial Services and founder of OriginationPro (www.OriginationPro.com), providing marketing content and training programs for the industry. Email him with “Ask the Mortgage Management Expert” questions or comments at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced their residential sales statistics for January 2019. This comes on the heels of their announcement six days ago of the December statistics as the government entities try to make up for time lost due to the government shutdown.

Sales of new single‐family houses in January 2019 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 607,000. This is 6.9 percent below the revised December rate of 652,000 and is 4.1 percent below the January 2018 estimate of 633,000. The fact that sales fell off in January doesn’t come as much of a surprise to many nationwide players in the real estate and mortgage industry who have seen reduced activity levels early in the year. Interest rates, however, have been falling and might provide some relief for a market looking to regain momentum. With the economy expected to continue to grow, albeit at a slow rate,  Freddie Mac is still predicting the total housing market will bounce back and post a modest growth for 2019 ( $6.1M total sales in 2019 vs $5.97M in 2018). So maybe it’s just a slow start or maybe existing home sales can make up the difference.

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The median sales price of new houses sold in January 2019 was $317,200, down from a 2018 median price of $325,300 and a December median price of 319,100. The average sales price was off similarly.  Most experts are forecasting annual price growth in the 4%-4.5% range this year. But with a 6.6 month supply of houses on the market in January 2019 vs a 5.6 month in January 2018 you have to wonder if the slowdown in sales and increased inventory will continue to put downward pressure on prices like we saw in 2018.

Regionally, the west was the only bright spot rising 27.8 percent from December, although still down 3.2 percent vs year prior. Northeast sales were consistent, if nothing else, falling by 11.4 percent both month over month and month vs year prior. The Midwest sales were down 28.6 percent month over month and 41.9 percent vs year prior while sales in the south declined by 15.1 percent vs December but grew year-over-year by 6.2 percent.

By Dave Hershman

In any sales seminar you will be taught important sales skills such as how to overcome objections and close a deal.  The problem with this training is that you will not likely learn the real objection from the customer.  The customer may be telling you your price is too high, but consumer surveys indicate that people do business with people they like.

Price is important but a customer is not likely to react to a low rate if they do not trust the messenger.  It is much easier to say to you that they received something better somewhere else instead of saying you are someone with who they did not want to do business with.

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You have to have confidence.  If you don’t present yourself as confident, it will be virtually impossible for a customer to trust you or to even like you.   What are signs of lacking confidence?  Over the phone it can include:

1. Hesitation in delivering answers
2. Not knowing what to say when
3. Talking instead of listening
4. Lack of a confident tone

The next question is, if you are lacking confidence, how can you develop it?

If you do not know what you do not know…stop faking it and start learning.  You need an educational plan that makes sure you are constantly learning. The plan should be multi-faceted and include live classes, reading articles and books, online courses and more.

If the problem is projecting your knowledge, you need to practice! Role-playing is an excellent method of practicing conversations with prospects. Talking on the phone to customers is not practicing. As a matter of fact, this may result in ingraining bad habits.

To gain confidence, you should also go out and join organizations and participate in their activities.  Here are two possibilities:

1. Join a networking group through the chamber of commerce or BNI. Volunteer to present information to the group or an individual who wants to learn.
2. Join Toastmasters, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping members become public speakers. It is inexpensive to join, and most areas have local chapters.

If you use these methods, they will lead you to networking opportunities and more business – while you learn and gain confidence. Put yourself in situations where you are surrounded by others and can network.  Force yourself to engage in conversations.

The key to networking is to listen!  Those who have confidence do not feel the need to talk about their knowledge constantly. They continue to learn. Confidence is a major key to success that may be missing from your arsenal.