Falling interest rates mean more refinancing deals.
According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), we typically see a spike of 20% to 40% in mortgage refinance applications when interest rates are in decline. And that’s pretty close to what we saw this week, within days of the Federal Reserve rate cut: Mortgage applications spiked by 24 percent almost immediately.
That’s just the week-over-week numbers. On a year-over-year basis, mortgage refi applications were up by 127%, per NAR data.
So these should be gravy days for mortgage salespeople. And we hope you get your share of the business.
The fact is though, that the increase in business isn’t going to be distributed evenly across mortgage sales professionals. The Pareto Principle is in effect: At least 80% of the refinance business will go to the top 20% of mortgage brokers.
Your mission is to do everything you can to make sure you’re on the right side of that 20th percentile.
When interest rates are dropping, opportunity is ripe for the taking—but only if you know how to identify the right prospects, engage them effectively, and move them effectively through your sales pipeline to the close.
This guide will walk you through advanced strategies for prospecting, marketing, and uncovering refinance opportunities, and how to use BNTouch CRM to convert these leads into closed deals.
1. Never Stop Prospecting
Your prospecting activity, more than anything else, is what will determine your long-term success. If the entry-side of your sales pipeline is looking a little thin, it’s because you took your eye off the ball. It’s time to get busy turning contacts into prospects, and prospects into presentations.
Here’s what you should be doing:
Leverage Your Existing Mortgage Software Database
Your first and best prospecting resource is your existing client database.
These are high-probability prospects where you have a natural sales advantage: They already know you, and probably expect to hear from you once in a while. Hit this group first, and hit it hard with an organized marketing effort.
Your own mortgage clients who secured loans at higher interest rates are prime candidates for refinancing. BNTouch CRM allows you to segment your contacts by mortgage origination date, loan type, and interest rate. This segmentation makes it easy to pull lists of clients who locked in rates before the current drop.
Once you have your list, you can set automated email or SMS campaigns within BNTouch to notify these clients of the potential savings they could realize by refinancing. Use clear subject lines like “Refinance Now and Save $X on Your Monthly Payments” to grab attention, and include personalized data in the email to make it relevant to each individual client.
Hint: Brokers and principals, you should be tracking this effort, too… particularly your “orphan” clients from salespeople who have left your firm. Assign them to your best closers, and to new salespeople to jumpstart their careers. It’s a good idea to have them close jointly with veterans, so they learn the ropes quickly while they wait for their first-year prospecting efforts to eventually bear fruit.
The BNTouch CRM makes it a snap for agency principals to assign orphan clients to new agents. This is especially important when interest rates are falling, because your clients will almost certainly be hearing from the competition.
Make sure they hear from your team first.
Cold Calling and Warm Calling
For new prospects, cold calling can still be a powerful tool, especially when you combine it with warm calling techniques.
Hint: Use BNTouch’s lead tracking system to capture leads from your website, third-party lead vendors, or referral partners. The CRM can assign these leads to you or your team in real-time, allowing you to follow up promptly with a call.
When making the call, don’t lead with generic offers. Instead, use customer-specific data. BNTouch mortgage refinancing sales platform software gives you a big leg up because it allows you to access the data you need to do precisely that in seconds.
Where your competition might have little choice but to advertise a rock bottom rate (that the reader may not even qualify for!) you can set yourself apart right off the bat by reaching your customer with specific, hard data.
Start by referencing the lead’s property value, estimated equity, and current mortgage balance, all of which can be easily pulled from public records or third-party integrations with BNTouch. A script could read or sound something like:
“Hi [Name], I noticed that you’re currently holding a mortgage with a rate of about X%. Given the current rate drop, you could save around $X per month by refinancing. I’d love to run the numbers for you and see how much you could save. Would you be open to that?”
Social Media and Digital Prospecting
If you’re not already leveraging social media platforms to generate leads, you’re missing a huge opportunity. Run targeted Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or other social media ads that direct users to a landing page created through BNTouch, offering free mortgage consultations. Use language like “See How Much You Could Save with a Refinance” to capture the attention of homeowners in a specific geographic area.
You can integrate these campaigns directly into your CRM to track lead activity, responses, and conversions.
Learn More: Mortgage Ads: 5 Tips for Making High Impact Mortgage Advertisements
2. Create Effective Presentations
Once you’ve identified prospects and scheduled a call or presentation, preparation is key.
Use BNTouch’s robust client profile feature to gather all the information you need about the prospect’s current mortgage, financial goals, and any relevant documents. Having all this data at your fingertips allows you to tailor your pitch.
For example, let’s say the client has an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) and their rates are set to increase when interest rates begin rising next cycle. Highlight how refinancing to a new and lower-rate mortgage would stabilize their payments and potentially save them thousands over the life of the loan.
An opening question could sound like “Right now you’ve got an ARM. That means that your payments will go up sharply if interest rates go back up. And eventually, they will. If the numbers make sense, would you be open to locking in today’s lower rates and lowering your payment or building equity up faster?”
Scheduling and Running the Presentation
Got someone who thinks they might benefit from a refi? That’s where a great mortgage-specific refi platform can come in very handy.
Use BNTouch’s integrated calendar to schedule presentations with automated reminders for both you and the client. During the presentation, walk the prospect through the numbers—BNTouch’s interactive loan comparison tools allow you to show different refinancing options, including shorter loan terms, fixed versus adjustable rates, and the impact of lower interest rates.
Always come prepared with multiple options. Prospects appreciate seeing a comparison between staying in their current loan and refinancing to a few different structures. This lets them weigh the benefits and make an informed decision.
Level Up Your Efficiency: BNTouch Google Calendar Integration
3. Anticipate and Neutralize Common Objections
One of the most crucial steps in the sales process is overcoming objections. Here are some common objections you’ll face in the refinancing process, and how to respond to them using facts and figures from BNTouch:
- “What about the closing costs?” A frequent concern for prospects is the cost of refinancing, particularly closing costs. Again, BNTouch can help you neutralize that objection before it even comes up:
When you use BNTouch to send a refi proposal or scenario to a prospect, the system will automatically calculate a break-even point for you, based on their loan records and the information you provide.
So you can say something like “here you can see your break-even point, if we go with this idea. So after just X months, you should be completely in the black. Can you see what I mean?”
That last question is important. If they don’t “see what you mean,” you won’t get the sale. So it’s important to get their “green light” signal on the break even point before moving on to the close!
If you do it right, you knock down this potential objection before it even comes up.
- “I’m worried about extending my loan term.” Clients may hesitate to refinance because they don’t want to reset their 30-year mortgage. BNTouch can generate scenarios for shorter terms, such as 20- or 15-year options, which may have similar monthly payments due to the lower interest rate.
Your response could be, “do you want to pay off your mortgage even faster?”
Wait for them to say “yes.” Confirm that’s exactly what they want to do. Then you can show a shorter-term loan, as appropriate.
- “What if rates go even lower?” Fear of future rate drops often causes indecision. Show the prospect historical rate data available in BNTouch, demonstrating how waiting too long for an additional drop can backfire if rates rise instead.
You can say something like “You can wait, but you could wait a very long time. It could be years before rates get lower than they are now. The last Federal Reserve Open Market Committee move (as of this writing in September 2024) was to cut rates by 50 basis points. That was pretty aggressive right there. A bird in the hand is usually worth two in the bush. The best time to start saving money is now.
If rates fall further, you can refinance again. But meanwhile, you’ve been saving money the whole time.”
If the prospect doesn’t bite, you probably didn’t qualify them well enough. So at the end of the process, you can say something like “What would it take to get you to refinance? Is there a rate you’re looking for?”
Then shut up! Wait for them to commit to a number. If you can find them that rate, you’ve got a sale. If you can’t, you can add them to your tickle file list. Then if rates fall further, your BNTouch automated refinance CRM system will automatically send an alert to your client, and drop you an alert that it’s time to follow up by SMS message or phone.
4. Keep Your Pipeline Flowing
Automation to Stay Top-of-Mind
In a refinance market, speed and follow-up are essential. Once you’ve made contact, keep the prospect engaged by using BNTouch’s automated refi workflow tools. For example, you can set up a series of follow-up emails or texts that are triggered by specific actions, such as when a client opens an email or views a comparison.
The CRM also allows you to assign tasks to yourself or your team for follow-up calls, document requests, or even a final check-in to close the deal. These reminders help ensure that no prospect slips through the cracks.
Make the Recommendation
After gathering all necessary data and addressing the client’s concerns, it’s time to make a recommendation. This is where being a good listener gives you a big advantage. Sure, most people are cash-flow motivated when they consider refinancing. But not everyone. People refinance for many different reasons:
- Some people want cash out.
- Some people want to get out of debt faster.
- Some people want to extend their loan term.
- Some people want to unlock liquidity to remodel.
- Some people just want lower payments.
Keep track of what your prospects and clients tell you about what they want to do.
Then use your BNTouch’s refi automation software tools to show the client how each scenario helps them achieve their specific, individual goals.
Remember, presenting the numbers by itself isn’t enough. You need to explain why refinancing is the right choice for the client based on their specific goals.
Learn More: Refinance Calculator Software for Mortgage Brokers
5. Close the Sale
When you’re with the prospect presenting a solution, it’s important to maintain a sense of urgency. Don’t let the client fall into the trap of indecision. You don’t want them to waste their time, and you don’t want your time wasted, either.
Use BNTouch to track real-time rate changes and communicate any small upticks in rates that could affect their deal. This creates a sense of urgency without feeling pushy.
You can show them the last significant uptick in mortgage rates and what that did to mortgage payments. Reiterate that the time to lock in today’s lower rates.
Simplify the Application Process
One of the major advantages of using a tool like BNTouch is its ability to streamline the entire loan application process. Use digital tools to pre-fill applications, request documents for e-signatures, and track the loan’s progress in real time. This makes the process seamless for the client, increasing your chances of closing the deal swiftly.
Follow-Up After Closing
The sale doesn’t end at closing. Set reminders in BNTouch to check in with the client a few months later to ensure they’re satisfied and remind them that you’re available for any future mortgage needs, such as another refinance or home purchase.
This is prime time to get referrals from happy clients.
If the client isn’t happy for some reason, this is your golden opportunity to find out why. So you can take steps to make it right.
Conclusion
In a falling interest rate environment, the mortgage sales professional who effectively prospects, markets, and engages with potential refinancing clients will win more deals. By leveraging BNTouch’s CRM capabilities, you can streamline every stage of the process—from prospecting to closing—while providing a personalized, data-driven experience for your clients. Focus on educating your clients, offering clear options, and overcoming objections with confidence, and you’ll see your refinance pipeline grow.
Contact us to book a free demo today!
Learn More
BNTouch CRM for Individuals
BNTouch CRM for Teams
BNTouch CRM for Enterprises
Next Steps
Schedule a BN Touch CRM Demo
See Pricing Options
The post How to Prospect, Market, and Close Mortgage Refinancing Deals appeared first on .
