It starts with picking up the phone, according to a leading executive
The rapid cooldown in Canada’s mortgage and housing markets over the past year has seen purchase activity slow – and for mortgage agents dealing with that changing climate, the shift from a transaction-based to a more advice-driven approach starts with picking up the phone, according to a leading executive.
Chris Karram (pictured), co-founder and chief strategy officer at SafeBridge Financial Group, told Canadian Mortgage Professional that the current market represents a valuable opportunity for mortgage professionals to set themselves apart by proactively offering solutions and financial expertise to existing clients.
“The reality is, mortgage agents have in the last 10-plus years established themselves and done a good job of marketing and branding and relationship building,” he said. “A lot of what they did was pick up the phone and solve a problem.
“In this environment, they have to go back to the basics of… actually making phone calls, calling people: How are you doing? Can I help? Can I give you some instruction, some guidance, or can I just help put your mind at ease?”
Those discussions about how agents can be of service to their clients on an outbound basis are going to drive opportunities in a market that’s no longer red-hot on the purchase front, Karram said, but that could see something of a mild uptick as would-be buyers get of the sidelines following an apparent end to Bank of Canada rate increases for now.
Offering advice beyond mortgage solutions
A focus on alternative revenue opportunities for agents has been a central part of SafeBridge’s approach since its foundation, according to Karram. He articulated the company’s view of a mortgage as just one piece of an overall holistic approach to wealth management, with its advisors tying that into other wealth-building strategies to provide comprehensive overall service to clients.
“We’ve always wrapped up the opportunity to speak with one of our advisors to help build out a proper financial plan – insurance strategies, tax strategies, wealth management strategies, to make sure that all of the decisions you’re making actually are working in a coordinated way together,” he said.
“The term we’ve used for that from 17 years back is mortgage-centred financial planning, or MCFP. So we’ve been doing this our whole life – it’s not new to our firm whatsoever. But in the environment that we’re currently in, there’s no question that as a mortgage professional, there’s a fear of a slowdown in the market, which we’ve seen and whether that completely turns around or not is yet to be determined.”
Mortgage agents who persist with the same transaction-focused strategy they’ve followed in recent years without acknowledging that the market has shifted are unlikely to carve out new opportunity this year, Karram said.
That’s one of the reasons he described himself as proud of the SafeBridge team for having taken an “outside-of-the-box” approach to differentiate themselves of late, whether new social media or marketing campaigns, developing relationship skills, or pursuing educational or training opportunities.
Those efforts have been bolstered by the extra value proposition offered by the company to help clients make decisions in investment, insurance, tax, or overall strategic financial decisions depending on what they’re looking for.
“In doing so, it adds real credibility with the mortgage agents because now they’re solving more problems than just the mortgage, even when there is no mortgage problem solved,” he said, “and at the same time, it’s a point of contact with the client and allows them to demonstrate, ‘Hey, I’m here to help you in all of what you’re doing.’”
Why a unique value proposition matters in the current market
With an experienced team available to agents to help them address clients’ other financial needs, Karram said the value add would allow mortgage professionals to deepen trust with clients and potentially drive new referral opportunities.
Those agents who are picking up the phone to speak with clients, Karram said, are “isolating and separating themselves in a way that’s substantially better than anything [clients] could ask for… This is a way to stand out from your competitors and make sure that you look different than any other mortgage agent out there.”
Ultimately, Karram said that will prove the key difference between agents who thrive in the much-changed mortgage market and those who find themselves in difficulty.
“If you can become that person who is no longer just helping [clients] facilitate a purchase or refinance or pulling equity out, but who is the resource to the most trusted advice that they can get, you’ve absolutely elevated yourself to becoming the number-one asset in their life,” he explained.
“And if you can become that as a mortgage agent, your experience and relationship with that client is going to go to completely different heights every day.”
How are you differentiating yourself from your competitors in the current mortgage market? Let us know in the comments section below.
