A couple of weeks ago I had lunch with a loan officer who was leaving the mortgage business. He had been in the business for 6 years and decided the pressure was just too much for him. I always liked him, he had very good standards and from what I knew, his clients liked him.
Over the last few years he would refer clients to me that he couldn’t get done and often I was able to get mortgages for them. So, those that knew him would normally say good things. During lunch he was telling me that he would be leaving the business by the end of October and going to work for a lumber company. So I asked him what was going to happen to his past clients and was surprised that he said he hadn’t thought about it. His statement was they will have to find someone else to work with in the future. How about I buy your database of past clients, I asked. He was a bit evasive, so didn’t pursue it.
I asked him why he wouldn’t send a letter out to them, letting them know he was leaving the business. He said that was a great idea. This morning he sent me a copy of the letter, which gave all my contact information and recommended that they contact me for all their future mortgage needs. Wow, I wasn’t expecting that at all. He said some beautiful things in the letter. He told me he didn’t feel right selling the database of people, but wanted to refer them to someone in the industry that he trusted. Keeping good relations with your competition goes a long way.
