I know the holidays are a busy time for most of us but I’m proposing that with a little planning and leg work, I’m going to share with you three things that you can do for the next three months so you’ll be ready to take on the world.
1. Send a copy of the HUD-1 settlement statement with a cover letter on all your closed loans for 2010; mail this on Jan. 3.
The letter should read: “Enclosed is a copy of your closing statement (HUD-1 Form) that you will need for your income tax returns. Please give it to the person who will be preparing your tax returns. If you are preparing them yourself and filing a Schedule A form, you’ll need to include some of the numbers from this HUD-1 form on that schedule.
"If you are looking for someone to help you with your income tax returns, please call me and I’ll give you a couple of names that I know will do a good job for you. (Note: Or you could include some names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses in this letter.)
"Thanks for the opportunity to work with you this year, and if you know of anyone who wants to buy a home or needs to refinance, I would appreciate your giving them my name.
"Hope you and your family have a great 2011!
"(Name, etc.)
"P.S. I’ve included a couple of my business cards in case you run into a friend who needs a mortgage! "
Here is a related hint: as you close loans, make a copy of the HUD-1, put them into a file folder and at the end of the year, you won’t have to look through every file—you’ll just need to address the envelopes.
2. Schedule three homebuyer seminars; one each in January, February and March
The absolute best time to hold homebuyer seminars are those three months. However, right now is the best time to get everything set up so you’re ready to market all three of them at the same time. Why? Because if someone can’t attend on the date you set, you’ve already given him or her alternative seminar dates to consider.
Choose the dates and give attendees the location, time, and what will be covered. Get post cards printed and create mailing labels and send those out 10 days before your seminar date.
I recommend that you invite past clients (yes, past clients). Pre-print labels and have your post cards ready to mail. If you’d like to market to apartment complexes, you can buy mailing addresses from
Invite your family, friends, people whom you do business with. (By the way, most loan officers forget to include their family and friends.)
For tips on how to hold an effective home buying seminar, you can view an online seminar, free at
3. Set up business planning sessions with six of your best real estate agents. Even three would be awesome.
There are some great real estate agent business planning tools on line. Keller-Williams has some free (and paid) downloads you can use for your sessions—scroll down to the Millionaire Real Estate Agent book and you’ll find the business planning downloads at
I recommend that the planning session be from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Then take them out to lunch afterwards to talk informally about what you just talked about.
Ask if they need an accountability partner and if they would like you to follow up with them.
Do it now! You’ve got a few days left this year. Just think how it would feel that come Jan. 2, your three-month marketing strategy is ready to go!
Karen Deis is president of LoanOfficerTraining.com. To get more information, or to contact her, visit
