How brokers can reimagine their referral partnerships
Having a wide range of referral partners is crucial for mortgage brokers to maintain a steady flow of customers through their doors.
Having the ability to lean on those partners to help fill up pipelines is critical at all times, but especially at times when the housing market slows down.
It can be easy to take those referral partners for granted. But for two long-time originators, they wanted to take the referral partner concept to an entirely different level, and started their own business to make their vision a reality.
Craig Andriulli (pictured top left) and Michael LiPari (pictured top right), managing partners of Fortress Mortgage Advisors, now want to share their knowledge with other mortgage bankers to help elevate their businesses.
“I can tell you what's different, and what we focus on,” Andriulli told Mortgage Professional America. “It's harder to get your rhythm, because the business operates in a similar way forever. So you're bucking the trend to some degree. And so with the referral partners, I try to train these guys and say you don't want to position yourself as a commodity.
“If I pay for just marketing, now we have a relationship because I'm paying for marketing. Well, technically, that's not really a relationship. You’re sharing an expense, and it's a byproduct of investing in that relationship.”
Building a partnership
Andriulli said he examined those relationships to understand what made some of them stand out over others.
“There are obviously lots of relationships where you are sharing expenses, and you're doing marketing together to grow your business,” Andriulli said. “What I was focusing on was looking at those relationships that we've had for decades, whether it be real estate agents, CPAs, or financial advisors, and seeing what the difference was between those and all the other ones. That upper echelon relationships were partnerships, versus everything else we considered a relationship.
“The difference between the two, at least in my eyes, was that a partnership is a commitment to growth between you and that other referral source, and we're utilizing each other to help each one of us grow. You're on the same wavelength. So the way that we're approaching relationships is I'm here as your business partner, and what we do at Fortress is to help you grow your business.”
LiPari said one differentiating factor of these partnerships, as opposed to typical referral relationships, is the ability to have proactive conversations to plan out a roadmap for a customer.
“The challenge I see with partnerships sometimes, as much as they have the confidence in working together, is connecting us properly with the client from a proactive standpoint,” LiPari told Mortgage Professional America. “Sometimes it could just be pushback from a client thinking they don't need to have the conversation yet.
“You think of a real estate agent. They meet a homebuyer who thinks they qualify for a mortgage. The homebuyer thinks, ‘I don't need to talk to those guys. When I find a house, I'll call.’ No, it's more proactive. Let's have that strategy meeting. Let's talk about what we should be targeting. Let the financial plan we put together act as a roadmap so it puts you in the best position to navigate the market.”
Being a local expert
Mortgage brokers always position themselves as a trusted advisor for their customers. In fact, many brokers consider themselves advisors first before they consider the actual mortgage transaction.
Andriulli said this can go even further by being part of a team of trusted advisors for a customer. This provides expertise not just to the homebuyer, but also to the referral partners.
“How do we help utilize our expertise and our knowledge in this business, taking into consideration all the products and different experiences that we have, and how do we help you scale and grow your business to make you more profitable?” Andriulli said. “It could be any referral source, and it could also be the client directly.
“For the referral partners, sometimes it's hard to get into a rhythm because it's a completely different approach. But the ones that get it see the direct benefit from that, because it's an investment of our time, energy, and resources as a whole, to help them grow, and then obviously that rising tide raises all boats.”
LiPari said that by building those trusted relationships, they can help steer customers back to referral partners. It creates an ecosystem that benefits all referral partners and the end customer.
“Sometimes that can be challenging to make that connection more proactive,” LiPari said. “I see a challenge of being able to connect, and getting the client to see, no matter what their situation is, it's good to have that proactive strategy in place.”
Stay updated with the freshest mortgage news. Get exclusive interviews, breaking news, and industry events in your inbox, and always be the first to know by subscribing to our FREE daily newsletter.
