Those of you who are regular readers of this commercial loans blog know that I have been pounding on you to use every available free minute to expand your snail mail list and email list of referral sources. Every day you should be adding bankers, commercial real estate brokers, property managers, residential mortgage brokers, residential real estate agents, other lenders, accountants, attorneys, and financial planners to your lists. You want referrals, not shoppers.
But that general rule being said, there is a time to put down your mailing lists and simply do deals. You should drop everything when the fish are schooling.
Commercial mortgage borrowers apply for commercial loans in spurts, much like having a school of fish wander underneath your fishing boat. Your phone will be dead for three to five weeks, and then suddenly everybody and their brother will want a commercial real estate loan. Your phones will light up like a Christmas tree. Your email box will be flooded with leads.
When commercial mortgage borrowers are schooling, drop everything, and devote 100% of your time to fielding lead calls. Forget about processing the new deals that you land. Forget about trying to place some of the older loan applications in your pipeline. I want you to do nothing but field lead calls. Sell-sell-sell. Get those new commercial loan packages headed your way.
Just as suddenly, the school of fish will soon (about six days later) wander away. Your phones will stop ringing. New referrals will stop coming in by email. That is the time to go back to processing all of your loans.
Remember, commercial mortgage borrowers tend to move about the same time, much like the movement of a school of fish. These investors all tend to apply at the same time. When that happens, drop everything, and work your lead calls. Sell-sell-sell!
