Simple steps to create a fantastic first impression

by Mikel Erdman

Real estate sales and mortgage loan origination are unique businesses that require trust and confidence by the potential client early on in the relationship. In fact, the first two minutes of the initial meeting are critical to establishing the tone of the entire mortgage transaction and future client relationship.

These same principles apply to real estate customers as well. I’ve put together a few tips to help you manage that initial introduction successfully and turn your customers into commission-producing, raving fans.

Be Yourself
The key to a positive first impression is the feeling of trust between you and your potential customer. Too many times we try to make our professional persona something different than our true self.

This can be dangerous when dealing with clients. If the customer feels that we are hiding something or being “fake” they may, even subconsciously, doubt our trustworthiness.

Interestingly, we are trained from childhood on in ways that help us instantaneously develop trust with people we come into contact with or to avoid interaction with them.

Do You Ever Feel The Hair Stand Up On The Back Of Your Neck?
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, he illustrates the point well using the term “thin slicing.” Gladwell explains that we instantly judge new people and situations “because we have to, and we come to rely on that ability because there are lots of hidden fists out there, lots of situations where careful attention to the details of a very thin slice, even for no more than a second or two, can tell us an awful lot.”

Here’s a question: Have you ever been in a situation where the hair stood up on the back of your neck? When that happened were you in an uncomfortable or nervous state?

That reaction is caused by the sympathetic nervous system and is part of every person’s natural “fight or flight” response. It is an example of your bodies’ unconscious response to the feeling of distress.

The snap judgments you make about a new person or situation are automatically interpreted by your brain, which sends messages throughout your body to protect you from your environment.

Clearly, this is a response that we do not want to trigger in our prospective customer within that crucial two-minute introduction.

Here’s How You Develop Trust Right Away

By being comfortable with yourself and willing to expose your true self to your prospects, they will be more at ease and feel like they can trust you right away. In fact, in the best of cases, your customer will feel privileged to have made a new friend and will want to tell others about you.

One of the most consistent pieces of feedback that I have received from my clients over the last 15 years of successful referral-based marketing in the mortgage industry has been, “Mikel, I don’t know why, but I just feel like I can trust you. I’m going to go ahead and do what you suggest.”

My response, developed over the initial years as I started to see this pattern, became, “Well, thank you for that compliment. I have to tell you that your trust is well placed. I really do care about getting you the best deal for your situation, and I’d do the same for anyone who you might refer to me in the future.”

Feel free to use that script.

It works.

“The most exhausting thing in life is being insincere.” –Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Mikel Erdman is the founder of MySMARTblog and MortgageBlogContent. He is a published author and speaking authority on topics including marketing automation and how technology can positively affect company and individual sales efforts.