Residential Magazine

Build relationships with financial advisers to diversify your business

Partner with financial advisers to land leads and share business strategies

By Leo Anzoleaga

Purchasing a home is a huge responsibility. A mortgage is often the largest debt a person will have in their lifetime, which is why they are encouraged to hire licensed professionals to guide them through the process, including real estate agents, insurance agents, title companies, and of course, mortgage originators. Another key member of the homebuying team is the often-overlooked financial adviser.

The majority of your leads are likely referred by real estate agents. This should remain the case for most originators, but financial advisers are a blue-ocean opportunity. You can rely on them for leads but also as professionals from whom you can learn.

“Mortgage originators need to start thinking about mortgage lending as an advice-driven service by providing consumers with better analysis, guidance and planning.”

Financial advisers receive compensation for the advice they give. Mortgage originators need to start thinking about mortgage lending as an advice-driven service by providing consumers with better analysis, guidance and planning. They can align with folks who already do this, such as financial advisers.

Perfect pairing

A financial adviser is trained to help clients create, manage and work on their financial plan. The most common and widely accepted credential in this field is a certified financial planner. Their services may include creating milestones for goals, providing tools and platforms, navigating complex decisions, tackling unexpected changes and managing investments, assets and debts.

A fiduciary is a subset of financial advisers who is legally and ethically bound to place the best interests of the client ahead of the best interests of themselves or their firms. Fiduciaries, which make up about 11% of financial planners, are legally obligated to disclose all potential conflicts of interest.

When originators work with certified financial planners, the pairing can provide consumers with the most comprehensive financial guidance before they close, when it’s time to move again, and any time in between. A mortgage is just one slice of a consumer’s overall financial picture and you and the financial planner should be considering home loans within the context of that big picture.

“Understanding their current ‘philosophy of cash’ helps to inform why they might be inclined to manage debt one way versus another,” says Matt Buchanan, certified financial planner with Buchanan Wealth Management in Reston, Virginia. “Mortgages tend to be the largest debt a family will incur. Understanding that debt by itself is neither a good nor bad thing but rather helps clients create strategies toward their goals, which might very well be more quickly and easily accomplished by deploying their cash to strategies other than just simply debt reduction.”

Personal priorities

Clients maintain various personal priorities when it comes to debt, said Derilyn Freeman, a certified financial planner with Prudential Advisors in Vienna, Virginia. “For some, this could mean becoming debt-free as soon as possible no matter what. This isn’t always the ‘best’ way according just to the numbers.”

She added that for many, it could be the right way to go, as long as they can stay on track for their other goals. “For example, paying the minimum on your mortgage could give you the ability to max out your 401(k) and receive a tax savings, not to mention the match from your employer, which is free money on the table. Most importantly, we will help people understand the different kinds of debt and why some debts are more important to pay off first, like high-interest credit card debt for example.”

Additional ways a financial adviser helps a client manage debts (including mortgages) can be asking a lot of questions and understanding how the answers fit the puzzle. By understanding the dominant attitude and view that a client has toward the home they are purchasing.

For example, is it seen as an investment and part of their overall portfolio approach? Is it seen only as a place to live in and enjoy, and thus to optimize the financing with no other considerations? Or is it a combination of both and in what proportion? What are the tax liabilities and how does a home purchase factor into the equation? What is the client’s level of risk tolerance?

Understanding how financial advisers assist clients with debt management allows you to provide more value to both the homeowners and financial advisers through educational content, helpful tools and tailored financial planning services.

Network building

Building your network of financial advisers will require you to create a process and test it over time for effectiveness. These steps can help you get started.

First, ask for referrals from your network, identify financial planners in your market, attend networking events they might attend and ask clients to connect you to their financial advisers. At the same time, dive deeper into financial advising to learn more about what they do, the terms they use, industry issues and common practices or regulations for your state.

And have a system for your leads. Just like you would for a potential homebuyer, keep track of your financial adviser leads. For instance, keep them in your customer relationship management platform to collect contact information, properly organize them, track activities and manage communications.

Follow and engage with each potential referral partner on social media or invite them to coffee via email. Lead with curiosity, asking good questions to learn more about their business, approach and clientele. Be prepared to tell them about your approach and unique selling proposition. Have a case study or two ready to demonstrate how you provided a solution that positively impacted the client’s bigger financial plan.

Nurturing relationships

Remember that these are relationships that need to be nurtured. Follow up after each meeting with a sincere thank-you note or email. Then be strategic (not spammy) about nurturing that relationship. Send them articles that remind you of something you discussed. Send them additional case studies and questions. With permission, add them to your newsletter. Host a homebuying event and invite them to sit on the panel.

After you have built trust with a financial adviser, ask for a referral. Ask for something specific (i.e. “Have you met with a client in the past three months who had trouble submitting a winning offer on a new house?”) or provide them with strategies for identifying leads in their database who might benefit from mortgage planning. Help them solve problems for their clients, and it will be a win/win/win scenario.

Reciprocate by sending them referrals. It’s the only way a true relationship will last. This means you need to add a couple of steps to your pipeline to ask clients if they have financial advisers, ask if they are interested in an introduction and finally connecting the two. Real estate agents will always be a powerful referral source for mortgage originators. As the industry continues to shift, one way to diversify your business development lanes is by partnering with financial advisers.

Author

  • Leo Anzoleaga

    Leo Anzoleaga is a certified mortgage planning specialist and senior vice president of residential lending at Neo Home Loans. Over the past two decades, Anzoleaga has built his successful mortgage business through relationships, strategy, and execution. The Leo Anzoleaga Group is known for its exceptional customer service to clients and referral partners, in-depth cost analysis, and a commitment to follow through and follow up on every transaction. Anzoleaga is also a Forbes Finance Council contributor and the founder of the How2Collective.

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