The lower interest rate environment helped our No. 5 producer, David Jaffe of OnQ Financial, Westlake Village, Calif., have a strong year.
“We have always tracked our clients’ mortgage and as the market moved, we were able to proactively go after our existing database of clients and save them money on a refinance,” he said.
Another reason for his performance, Jaffe explained, is that he moved to a new company at the start of the year. His new firm had better turnaround times and he was able to get his files moved quicker.
He praised the operations department at OnQ (whose corporate headquarters is in Scottsdale, Ariz.), which allows him to close loans quick. And getting deals done quickly in this environment is the best way to build business.
Jaffe has been in the business nearly 21 years and has developed a substantial database of past clients, and those clients followed him to the company. He stays in continual contact with them.
When Jaffe started in the business, he attended a Todd Duncan seminar and took his advice to build a client database to heart.
He makes 12 contacts per year, four newsletters and eight “who I helped” postcards, scenarios on what he did to help a client. There are also approximately six e-mails as well.
Furthermore, Jaffe tells his clients that he is there to manage their mortgage going forward. “Like a financial advisor manages their assets, we’re going to manage their mortgage debt. If we see an opportunity where we think we could them, we will go ahead and give them a call,” he said, adding this is called his “Rate Watch Program.”
Obviously this type of program works well in refinance periods and 2011 is shaping up to be a year originators will have to get purchase business. So Jaffe and his team have shifted gears. And even in this kind of market, his business is “100% referral.” He does not advertise or make lead calls.
His purchase business year-to-date is up 30% over what it was last year. This is being built on going after Realtors as well as leveraging his database.
If he doesn’t know who the agent is on a purchase, he calls them and discusses what to expect through out the deal. Eventually, they are put on his “drip” marketing system and they get “a value-add once a week from us,” just as a way of staying in contact.
