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PEOPLE ON THE MOVE //

BY SARAH WOLAK, STAFF WRITER, NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE

As the lending industry becomes increasingly competitive — and digital — loan officers are recognizing the importance of strengthening their online presence through customer reviews.

In an age where nearly everything is reviewed online, the days of simply trusting family and friends isn’t enough.

Even Yelp and Google reviews have competition with review platforms such as Experience.com, Podium, and Trustpilot that promise success and strong reputations.

Especially in a tight market, even just one positive review can improve a loan officer’s visibility, attract new clients, and solidify a reputation. As customers are waiting on the sidelines for rates to drop and inventory to catch up, loan officers in particular are playing survival of the fittest, which is causing many to become discouraged and unable to reach a solid customer base.

From Paul Cassidy’s perspective, loan officers should be in charge of their own brands and take it upon themselves to rein in customers. Cassidy, who is Experience.com’s regional VP of business development, says that online reputation should account for at least 20% of organic business.

“Nowadays, we rely so much on what people say, and it’s not just our family or our friends,” he said. “More reviews usually means higher trust, so it’s worthwhile for [LOs] to invest in reviews.”

Experience.com, which brands itself as an experience management platform, helps with online presence, listing management, and review automation and integration, according to Cassidy. The site acts as a dashboard for anyone — including LOs — to keep track of their review pipeline. But Cassidy says it’s not Experience.com doing all the heavy lifting.

“You want to make sure that you’re beating the competition. That means investing in good algorithms and knowing who you market to. Google trusts and suggests people who have good, current, recommended is replying to online reviews and engaging with your consumers.

“You should publicly thank that consumer, it boosts your SEO,” he explained. “Experience.com isn’t an SEO company, but [being boosted] is an outcome of our product.”

Let The Stats Speak

and relevant reviews,” Cassidy said. “There are other factors that go into it, too, like having good, updated profiles and that your information is consistent across your profiles.”

Paul Cassidy, regional VP of business development, Experience.com

Cassidy also said that advertising the specific products in which you specialize is important in order to cater more toward “niche” searches from potential customers. A pro tip that Cassidy

If LOs are relying solely on their referrals, they might want to reconsider, according to Vincent Petrillo, Trustpilot’s vice president of commercial for North America. Trustpilot hosts over 167 million reviews and is free to anyone who has had a buying or service experience in the past 12 months. Petrillo says that as long as a user has a Trustpilot account and doesn’t have a conflict of interest with the business they’re reviewing, they’re free to post.

Petrillo, vice president of commercial for North America, Trustpilot

“We were founded in 2007 on the basis of people freely being able to make choices and build trust based on reviews. A study that [we] did in 2020 showed that 89% of consumers in the U.K., U.S., and France check online reviews before making purchases,” he said. “Narrowing that down, 93% of U.S. consumers say online reviews have an impact on their purchase decision.”

Petrillo explained that in the mortgage industry, many consumers are eager to read reviews before making the biggest purchase of their lives. “We [at the company] see a lot of businesses in the financial services industry coming to us for our services since they know that their customers are looking for trust and a soundboard for their own financial decisions,” he said. “These companies naturally want to strengthen and secure their reputations. Consumers want — and need — to read about them.”

Christian Kartchner, an account executive at Podium, says that as the mortgage industry tightens, consumer habits have shifted alongside the market.

“Customers are always on their phones and like to look at reviews,” he said. “[Reviews] are the modern word of mouth. It’s natural reinforcement and confirmation [bias] to see a product or service that has tons of good reviews.”

REVIEW ME, PLEASE

“Please review me!” may not be a phrase that LOs want to reiterate to their customers, but sometimes, getting reviews

— especially worthwhile ones — takes the extra push.

Peter Costakos, senior vice president at CrossCountry Mortgage, says that he started campaigning for reviews after a colleague of his bragged about having over 400 Zillow reviews. “I knew I needed to up my game if I were to compete for customers,” Costakos said. He says that CrossCountry uses Total Expert, a Minnesota-based software company, to manage its reviews, but that he himself decided to jump all-in for reviews.

“I have about 78 individual Google reviews and just under 200 Zillow reviews,” he explained. “With Google, it can be difficult because many reviews are categorized under the company as a whole, which takes away from the individual professional.”

Costakos says that he always encourages his customers to write reviews. But as he continues growing his business, Costakos says that he notices customers taking the initiative to write reviews before he even asks.

“People are taking time out of their lives to write something,” he said. “So when asking for reviews, it has to be personal … and organic. Especially with your approach, you should try and match the energy of the customer. For example, you should try to ask customers to review at the high of the mortgage process, which is typically when they’re cleared to close. Especially if the loan was challenging, at that moment they’re thrilled and engaged working with you.”

For Sean Zalmanoff, founder and chief loan officer at Better Rate Mortgage, there’s a specific time to ask clients for reviews.

“There’s a time period which I call the magic window where not much is expected from the customer or me, so when I ask a customer for a review during that time that the customer feels like they absolutely owe you it,” he explained. “At that point the loan is basically cleared, but the customer will focus on giving you that review. And for me, every customer that I’ve asked to leave a review for me has done so.”

Zalmanoff says that he specifically asks for Google reviews since the platform is his “single largest referral source.” He says that Yelp only showcases six out of the hundreds of reviews that he has, and Facebook reviews can be spammy.

“As an individual, Google reviews are what drive people to my business,” he said. “When people call me up directly from a review they read, they’re seeking me out to do business with them. It’s my loan to lose.”

Petrillo says that getting a review shouldn’t be a hassle, especially when customers value your services and feel prompted to write reviews on their own.

“Having customers review and be vocal about their experiences offers a different level of insight into your business,” he explained. “You as a business have so much opportunity to learn from that review.” n