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Real Life Steps to Improve Your Customer Service

While customer service may be overused as a catchphrase, you can’t overdo customer service delivery. On the contrary, all too often in business people pay lip service to customer service, though they really couldn’t care less. In a relationship-based industry such as reverse mortgage, the more sensitivity and responsiveness you demonstrate, the more it will be reflected in your results.

The following suggestions are adapted from an in-depth piece on customer service by Shannon Hicks, Vice President of marketing and product development for ReverseFortunes.com. By creating your free ReverseFortunes account, you’ll gain access to this and much more insider wisdom to help your business thrive.

Ten practical tips for delivering outstanding customer service:

1. Keep your promises. Send proposal packets when you say you will. Smart move: Fed Ex them overnight, then schedule a call to review the information the following day.
2. Be reachable. Return all calls the same day. As a courtesy to the potential borrower, update your voicemail daily with the times you’re available.
3. Be grateful. Send a handwritten, personal yet professional thank you card to the client when you receive their application.
4. Educate. Schedule a call with the borrower to follow their HUD counseling session. By addressing any concerns immediately, you remove objections and fears that can nix the deal.
5. Empathize! A home’s value may not meet borrower expectations, especially in a flat economy. Your appraisal sensitivity and understanding allows the client to proceed with a “glass-half-full” mindset.
6. Don’t succumb to ostrich syndrome. If there’s a problem during processing or underwriting, face it and act as your borrower’s partner and resource.
7. Attend the close. The end is the best part, so make sure you’re at the signing to cement the relationship and answer any lingering questions. Your client will also appreciate you explaining what they’re signing in that huge stack of paperwork.
8. Extend a virtual hand. For telephone agreements, give your borrower and the notary your direct line so they can reach you quickly. And be sure to schedule a call with your client after the loan documents are signed to say thanks again.
9. Take the next step. Call 45 days after the loan closes to review your client’s first reverse mortgage statement and answer any questions that may arise.
10. Commit to the journey. Schedule a quarterly call to see how your client is doing. Are they using the line of credit? Do they have any questions? Have any of their friends asked about a reverse mortgage? Encourage them to check in with you whenever they wish.

These are just a few practical ways you can provide outstanding customer service to your prospects and borrowers, as a reverse mortgage professional who delivers before, during and after the sale.