0:02 How to prevent clients from ghosting
0:05 you. Hey, I'm Scott Pegford and today
0:07 this is a live uh session where I'm
0:09 going to share with you some insights
0:10 from coaching calls I've had in the last
0:12 week. So, something I started last week
0:13 and I was calling it the weekly broker
0:15 breakdown, which doesn't even make
0:16 sense. So, I'm just going to call it
0:19 coaching Q&A. And my whole goal here is
0:20 to either give you conversations from
0:22 coaching sessions I had and maybe some
0:24 point I may do them live where I have
0:26 real coaching sessions with people, but
0:28 who knows? Right now, I'm going to do it
0:30 just this way. So today I did a deep
0:32 dive into discovery calls. I was doing
0:34 some training with some of our agents
0:35 and I thought there'd be some things you
0:37 would find useful. Uh if you've ever had
0:39 clients ghost you. So you know you have
0:40 that initial conversation, everything
0:42 seems great and they disappear. Why
0:43 didn't they do the app? Why didn't they
0:46 send you docs? And then even worse, they
0:48 circle back to you, you know, 30, 60
0:49 days later with an offer in hand and
0:52 say, "Hey, can you get me financing? Uh
0:53 I, you know, you've got five days or
0:55 less to get me financing and it's a
0:57 nightmare. I'll tell you how to get how
0:59 to prevent that from happening. Also, uh
1:01 if you ever get on a call and and you're
1:03 finding the client is actually just
1:05 peppering you with questions and you
1:07 find you can't get into a rhythm, I'll
1:08 tell you how to fix that as well. And
1:10 then I'm going to give you the best
1:11 opener that I personally think you
1:12 should do on every single discovery call
1:14 for every client from now until you
1:16 decide to hang up your calculator. All
1:18 right, before we jump into that, I want
1:20 to give a shout out to our sponsor, Om.
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1:39 at omwell.ca/scott
1:42 and let's dive into this episode.
1:45 All right, so first things on a
1:46 discovery call, you have to have a plan.
1:48 You can't do these things and just kind
1:49 of wing it and hope for the best. And
1:51 when I was used to broker, I always had
1:52 a checklist of all the things I needed
1:54 to cover in that discovery call so that
1:55 I wouldn't forget because you do have to
1:57 a little bit go with the rhythm of the
1:58 call. Some people are going to come in
2:00 at a certain spot and I don't want to
2:02 make it so rigid that you can't and
2:04 maybe in another call I will break down
2:05 more of the details. Today I just want
2:07 to cover three key things. So the first
2:09 is the first question you should ask. So
2:11 if you if you get a call from a client
2:12 and they reach out to you and they say,
2:15 "Hey, uh, Scott, I want to talk to you."
2:16 Awesome. You get on that phone call.
2:17 First thing I want to say to them, "Hey,
2:19 look Bob, you know what? looking forward
2:20 to chatting with you and see if I can
2:22 help you. Just out of curiosity, how did
2:24 you hear about me? And very important
2:25 question, there's a follow-up question
2:27 to that. And I want them to tell me and
2:28 it was a referral. Then the next
2:30 follow-up question is awesome. What did
2:32 Sally say? And the reason I want to do
2:34 this is twofold. One, I want to hear
2:36 what Sally has to say. What was how was
2:37 she selling me? She's like, "Oh, Scott's
2:39 amazing. Even if you got, you know,
2:40 terrible credit, he's going to help you
2:42 out." I'm like, "I don't want that
2:43 client, frankly." And then I can go back
2:45 and coach Sally or figure out what I'm
2:46 saying to her. So, you really want to
2:49 ask what did they say? uh at first how
2:50 did you hear about us and then when they
2:51 tell you the person what did they say
2:53 the other thing is if they say oh I saw
2:56 your social media ask or was something
2:57 you posted hey which post stood out to
2:59 you now you're figuring out which
3:02 content actually drives that conversion
3:03 and connection and do more of that
3:05 content so you see why this is such a
3:06 valuable question and then the second
3:09 thing sort of second underneath this is
3:11 that when they start telling you about
3:12 what Sally said or they start telling
3:14 you about the content they're actually
3:15 selling themselves on working with you
3:17 so there's a psychological they're
3:19 leaning in and making a micro
3:20 commitment. So, this is why it's so
3:21 valuable to ask that question. First
3:23 thing you should ask and awesome. Then
3:24 you got to set a frame. And the frame
3:26 basically is whoever asks the questions
3:28 is in control. If you sit there and the
3:29 client's hammering you with questions,
3:31 you're not in control. That client is
3:33 running the call. They're and I always
3:35 say they your job is is to drive the
3:36 bus. You have a process that you must
3:39 follow. If you let them drive the bus,
3:41 they will always crash it and it will
3:43 always be your fault. And they you can't
3:44 blame them because you let them have the
3:46 steering wheel. They can decide where
3:47 they want to go because that's what you
3:49 should be doing, guiding them, but they
3:50 don't know how this works. And so them
3:51 asking questions and say, "Well, let me
3:52 ask you this. What's your rate? What's the
3:54 the
3:56 call's already lost. So you need to set
3:57 a frame at the beginning and say, "Hey,
3:59 look, Bob, you know what? Based on what
4:00 Sally said about you, definitely sounds
4:01 like I might be able to help you out.
4:02 Here's what I need to do. I got to ask
4:04 some questions just to understand where
4:05 you are and where you want to go. And
4:06 then I can let you know if we're even a
4:08 fit because I may not be." So does that
4:10 sound fair? And then at the end, when
4:11 most people when you say a phrase like
4:14 that, does that sound fair? 99.9% of
4:16 people except for psychopaths will say,
4:18 "Sure." Soon as they do that, they've
4:19 given me permission. And then I'll
4:21 usually add after that, hey, at the end,
4:22 I'll make sure that you can ask me any
4:24 questions you have. All right? And then
4:25 now they've got I've got the frame of
4:27 the professional, the frame that I'm
4:29 going to ask the questions. And then
4:31 what happens is is that on I'm on this
4:32 call with them. And now if they start to
4:33 get off track, I'll say, "Hey, you know
4:35 what? I I'll get to that. I promise. But
4:36 what I really need to know is where are
4:38 you at right now? What type of income do
4:39 you have?" So I'm going to bring them
4:41 back. So you you don't ever need to
4:43 argue with them if they try to go off
4:45 track. You sort of answer and deflect
4:46 and go right back to your your plan,
4:48 which is I need to understand where you
4:50 are and where you want to go to even
4:51 know if I can help you. And you think
4:53 about this like if you're a doctor and
4:55 you're doing a or even a mechanic, you
4:57 can't really diagnose somebody without
4:58 getting doing some looking under the
4:59 hood. If somebody drives in with their
5:00 car and says, "What's wrong with my
5:01 car?" And you're like, "Well, let me
5:03 have a look." No, no, no. I want you to
5:04 just tell me. If you're a good mechanic,
5:05 you should be able to know. I have no
5:07 idea what's wrong with your car. Same
5:08 thing with the doctor. If you go to see
5:09 a professional, they'd say, "I want to
5:11 see your blood work. I want to do your
5:12 blood test. I want to I want to actually
5:14 check your blood pressure. How am I
5:15 supposed to know how to diagnose you
5:17 based on that?" And plus, people don't
5:19 if they just tell you, I don't trust
5:20 what they tell me. I need to see what I
5:22 can get in in writing, right? Uh Ronald
5:24 Reagan used to say, "Trust, but verify.
5:25 I trust that you think you know what you
5:27 make, but I got to verify it for before
5:29 I'm going to use it and let you lean on
5:31 that in and rely on it in order to get
5:32 you approved." So, you're going to go
5:34 through this whole question asking
5:36 process. you know, income, down payment,
5:37 credit, uh, you know, what's the ideal
5:39 scenario? I love a magic wand question.
5:41 You know, if I could wave a magic wand
5:43 to get you exactly what you want, uh,
5:44 what would that look like? You know, and
5:46 then if they say, "Oh, I want a house."
5:47 Okay, so then the next question, I want
5:49 to find about timing. If they say, I if
5:51 I'm looking to buy a condo, whatever,
5:53 awesome. If you found the perfect condo,
5:54 are you ready to proceed tomorrow? What
5:56 kind of timeline are you on? I want to
5:58 know if this person is just searching
5:59 now going, "Oh, no, no, I can't buy yet.
6:00 I'm waiting for a gift from my
6:03 grandparents and it's 6 months away."
6:04 Cool. That's good to know. That's a
6:06 That's a But again, if you don't start
6:07 asking good questions, you're not going
6:09 to find these things. So, again, at the
6:10 front end, you're going to ask, "How did
6:12 you hear about them? What did they say?"
6:13 That's going to help you find out either
6:15 content that's converting or
6:16 conversations that are happening in
6:18 advance. Uh, and then you're going to
6:19 get them. They're going to sell
6:21 themselves on you. The next step is
6:21 you're going to say, you're going to set
6:24 a frame. You're the professional. Do not
6:25 let them. And even if you've only done
6:27 three mortgages, it's more than most
6:28 people have done because they do it once
6:30 every 5 years and they've only ever see
6:31 the other side of it. So, don't even
6:33 worry about it. So you basically you're
6:35 going to ask questions to dig in. And
6:36 then at the end, this is really
6:38 important. This is how you're going to
6:40 pre prevent getting so people that have
6:41 a conversation with you and then ghost
6:43 you. What the reason they do that by the
6:44 way is that you give them enough
6:46 information in that call that they think
6:47 they know and they think that they're
6:50 good to go and they're not because you
6:52 haven't you probably you haven't seen
6:53 documents, you haven't seen application,
6:55 you have no you haven't seen credit, you
6:57 have no idea what you don't know the
6:58 hundred landmines that are in that
7:01 application. And I I personally would
7:03 not give anybody uh a sense of what they
7:05 qualify for without some commitment. The
7:06 other thing is that if they don't want
7:07 to give me that commitment, we're not
7:09 working together. So if you want me to
7:11 just make up numbers and say, "Oh yeah,
7:13 I think I can do this, that, or the
7:15 other thing." I have no idea. Like I'm a
7:16 professional. I'm not going to do that.
7:18 I don't do a bait and switch and I will
7:19 make sure that whatever I tell you, I'll
7:21 stand behind. But that's only if I have
7:23 documents and an application. So you get
7:24 to the end of that conversation. You
7:25 say, "Look, you know what, Bob? Uh
7:26 sounds like I'll be able to work with
7:28 you based on what you said to me. Here's
7:30 the next steps in the process. We need
7:31 to schedule a strategy session. So, this
7:33 call should take about 15 minutes, by
7:35 the way. Uh, and you know, if you're
7:37 good, 10 minutes, maybe 10, 15 minutes.
7:39 And what you're going to do is you're
7:40 going to schedule the the strategy
7:42 session before you do it before you tell
7:44 them about the app and the link and all
7:46 the documents. I like to schedule it
7:48 because uh people if they don't have a
7:49 deadline, they don't ever get around to
7:51 it, right? So, if you just say, "Hey,
7:52 fill it this out." And then we'll have
7:53 So, I like to book it, say, "What's your
7:54 schedule look like?" Okay, I want to set
7:56 up a strategy session to go through a
7:57 pre-approval to go through a budget
7:58 worksheet to work out all the numbers
8:00 with you to show you or renewal refi,
8:02 show you all your options. Does that
8:04 sound good, Mr. Customer? Awesome.
8:05 Great. Then what we're going to do is
8:06 we're going to schedule that on Friday
8:07 at 11:00. Fantastic. If there's anybody
8:09 else that needs to be there, we'll make
8:10 sure they're there. Hey, you know what?
8:11 They got that scheduled in their
8:13 calendar. Fantastic. Hey, Bob, just so
8:14 you know, before that session, I'm going
8:16 to send you a link with an application
8:18 to fill out and some documents that I
8:19 need in order to be able to do that
8:20 strategy session. If I don't have them,
8:21 I can't do it. That sound good? Can you
8:23 do that before Friday? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
8:24 It shouldn't take you that much time.
8:26 Yeah, no problem. Awesome. They just
8:28 committed to getting it done, which
8:30 means now you're going to get documents
8:33 and and application is not 100%. Nothing
8:35 is ever 100%. The only thing is this is
8:37 increasing your chances of getting those
8:39 things that you need in order to
8:41 actually properly serve them. And so
8:42 then having that scheduled and I think
8:46 it's uh Dan Martell says is bam uh book
8:47 a meeting from a meeting. Bam fam. So
8:48 book a meeting. I booked a meeting from
8:50 a meeting. This discovery call books to
8:52 the strategy call. The mistake I see
8:54 people make on discovery calls is they
8:55 actually trying to sell too much.
8:56 They're trying to sell everything. Don't
8:58 sell everything. Even if you've got a
9:00 brilliant idea, save it, hint at it,
9:02 right? Like, so if somebody says to me,
9:03 "Hey, Scott, like here's a perfect
9:04 example came up today in our training
9:07 session. Uh it was a and on the call,
9:08 the person had bought a property a
9:10 little while ago and it has it was
9:13 insured CHC insured property and and the
9:15 if somebody's got a CMHC insurance on
9:16 their current property and they're
9:18 buying another property that's going to
9:20 have insurance, they may be able to port
9:21 their premium. Now, I'm not going to get
9:22 into all explaining that a discovery
9:24 call. That's confusing. All I would say
9:25 to that client then is, "Hey look, so
9:26 you just bought this place and now
9:27 you're looking at another one." That's
9:29 fantastic. I may have an idea that could
9:31 save you potentially thousands of
9:32 dollars and I've done it for other
9:33 clients. I'll make sure that I explain
9:35 that to you at the strategy session. I
9:36 They're like, "What is this thousands of
9:38 dollars? I don't I want to know."
9:40 They're going to show up to the strategy
9:41 session. This is where I'm going to and
9:42 then if they don't want to get me docs
9:44 and they don't want to do app, we're not
9:45 working together. We're pretending.
9:46 We're like, "Yeah, we're pretending
9:47 we're working together. We're not
9:49 working together." And then I know. So
9:50 that's what you do. You book a meeting
9:52 from a meeting. But here's the key.
9:53 Another key little strategy I got from
9:55 my buddy Alex McFaden. So the next day
9:56 if you start if you don't see anything
9:59 coming in, shoot them a text. Say, "Hey,
10:01 just confirming you got the link because
10:03 maybe it went in their spam. They didn't
10:04 see it. You're sitting there going, "Oh,
10:05 they're not going to get back to you."
10:07 Who knows what story you make up in your
10:08 mind, but the truth is is that you don't
10:11 know. And so always text the day after.
10:12 If you don't see anything coming in,
10:14 hey, just confirm you got the links. And
10:16 if they say yes, then you know that
10:17 that's they put their hand up. But if
10:19 they don't, like don't don't assume.
10:20 anything else is weird is going on. So
10:22 that's that's just in a nutshell. So I'm
10:24 I'm kind of doing this in a you know
10:25 short period of time because these
10:26 episodes are supposed to be short but
10:28 the whole goal here is to help you get
10:29 better at discovery calls. And so this
10:31 all came up today in our coaching
10:32 session. I thought hopefully find this
10:35 useful. So I will wrap up with that. So
10:36 last I'll give you a quick recap. So
10:38 always ask how did you hear about me?
10:40 What did they say? Or what content did
10:41 you see? Again you're going to that's
10:43 going to reinforce. Uh the next thing is
10:44 you have to have the profame the
10:46 professional frame right? You've got at
10:48 the front of that thing explain to them
10:49 how this is going to work. here's how
10:50 this works. I'm going to ask some
10:51 questions. Find out if I can help you,
10:53 if I'm even a fit. If I'm not, I'll I
10:55 promise to tell you. And I and then you
10:56 can ask me any questions. If you just
10:58 let that thing go any direction, it will
11:00 be a catastrophe almost every time. And
11:02 then the last part is don't try to sell
11:03 too much in this meeting. All you're
11:04 trying to do is get enough to get maybe
11:06 there's is there an opportunity here?
11:08 Can you help them? And then sell them on
11:10 the next step step. Book a meeting from
11:12 a meeting. Uh hope you find that useful.
11:13 Hey, I'm Scott Beckford and as I always
11:14 say, there's no problem in your mortgage
11:16 business someone else hasn't already
11:17 solved. The goal is to find the
11:19 solutions when you need them. This
11:20 podcast is designed to provide some of
11:22 those solutions. I hope you like these
11:25 new episodes, these uh coaching Q&As's.
11:26 If you ever want to uh do a session with
11:29 me, send me a note. Maybe we can chat. I
11:30 if I uh if it sounds like it would work,
11:32 I could do a recording of some of the
11:34 conversations. I don't mind doing that
11:36 as well. Right now, I'm mostly taking
11:38 them out of these coaching calls that
11:39 I'm doing, but I'm open to it. Shoot me
11:41 a note. If you have an interesting
11:43 question or dilemma, I might be open to
11:45 doing a a session with you. Thanks for
