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I was in Las Vegas recently and had the pleasure of dining at Delilah, a swanky eatery inside the Wynn Resort. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend it (and with that, I’m a bona fide “Promoter”), not just because of the great food, or the great décor, or the great service, or the live entertainment, but because ALL of these things came together to create an “experience” that I won’t soon forget. Imagine if our borrowers could say that about their loan experience. It wasn’t the rate, or the buydown program, or the relationship with the loan officer or processor, or how simple and easy everything was — it was all of it together that knocked their socks off.
Our question this month: “What does it take to elevate a borrower’s loan journey from a service to an experience?”
I just finished reading a very enlightening book called Unreasonable Hospitality. It’s an autobiographical account of Will Guidara’s role in the rise of famed New York restaurant Eleven Madison Park. Guidara transitioned the restaurant from middling food critic reviews to the #1 restaurant in the world, thanks in large part to his pioneering efforts in pursuit of an imaginative, “hospitality-first culture.” The recurring theme in the book is that when you are intentionally hospitable and put all your effort into making your customers feel seen and taken care of, everything about your business improves.
I got to see the influence of that book play out firsthand at Delilah, though maybe not to quite the same “unreasonable” degree that became Guidara’s standard mode of operation. Still, even a taste of elevated, fine-dining hospitality had my wheels turning about how the mortgage industry might embrace this attitude and effort — not to mention the incredible revenue growth that would be sure to follow.
We can learn a lot about elevating a loan journey from a service to an act of hospitality by paying close attention to the curated experience provided by the staff at Delilah:
Delilah has a very unassuming exterior, with its quaint neon sign giving almost “roadside diner” vibes. But when you walk in, you’re transported instantly back to the roaring ‘20s. It feels like a scene straight out of “The Great Gatsby.” They nailed the Art Deco décor and overall ambiance, right down to the floral embroidery on the napkins, the chic elegance of the chandeliers, and a truly elevated cocktail menu. The attention to detail was superb, and somehow coalesced into an “experience.”
Mortgage Takeaway: We in the mortgage industry need to look for ways to turn our “service” into an “experience.” We might not be able to transport our borrowers into a different time and place like Delilah, but we can certainly use attention to detail to make them feel like they can sit back and enjoy the ride. That takes building trust from the first interaction, and there’s no faster way to build trust than to show that you’re an expert in your field. Just as excellent wait staff at high-end restaurants know the menu backwards and forwards, including the sourcing of the ingredients, the wine list, the prices, and the style of preparation, so too must a great loan officer know programs, pricing, underwriting guidelines, and the market landscape if they want to build instant trust. Combine that with an authentic interest and care for the borrower and you’ll be surprised at how quickly borrowers stop shopping, hand over the reins and say, “Lead me.”
When I sit down at a nice restaurant, I’m there for more than the food. I’m there to spend some quality time with someone, to relax, be taken care of, and against that backdrop, to enjoy some great food and possibly entertainment. When I sit down, I like to take a few minutes to settle in rather than go right to staring at a menu and self-educating. So, at Delilah, I loved it when the waitress came and offered to give us a “tour through the menu.” I loved hearing her recommendations, the specials, the popular items, and the hidden gems. I appreciated being able to lean into her expertise, knowledge, and experience.
Mortgage Takeaway: As tech solutions and online POS tools boomed in the 2010s, it seemed it was just a matter of time until everyone wanted and expected a totally digital mortgage loan experience. But that shift never came. In fact, it may have even reversed. Today, the percentage of people who say they would prefer a totally digital experience is dropping (by 16% last year alone) and now represents a minority of just 43% of borrowers. The key is to automate low-impact parts of the process and provide high-touch service when the stakes are high. How do you decipher between the two? High stress = important. The highest stress touch points in the process are 1) pulling credit, 2) receiving pre-approval, 3) getting appraisal value, 4) getting clear to close, 5) the closing event itself and specifically all the numbers on the HUD. If you can call or screen share for these five touch points, you’ll be well on your way to a “Delilah” experience.
When it comes to fine dining, the presentation of the food is often just as much a highlight as the consumption of it. Watching the tableside slicing and preparation of the Beef Wellington might as well have been performance art. And one of our party’s drinks even included a light spray of perfume over the glass upon presentation. There was live music, with a level of swank and class befitting the room’s glitz and glamour. It was all consistent to the brand and the experience.
Mortgage Takeaway: At STRATMOR, we’re constantly coaching lender leadership to including the marketing team in the creation of all borrower-facing communications, whether it’s escrow statements, mortgage bills, pre-approval emails, quotes or anything else. Two companies that do this really well are Rocket Mortgage and Chase. It’s no coincidence that these are two of the most successful lenders in the country. Sure, they have bigger budgets than most others now, but they were leading in this area long before their volumes exploded. Presentation matters. When STRATMOR secret shops lenders, we find that most loan officers either cut-and-paste from a rate sheet or from some other homemade company-unapproved template that looks amateur at best and embarrassing at worst. Borrower trust is built with consistency of simple, high-quality communication.
Here are three ways you can immediately start transforming the borrower loan journey from a service into an act of unreasonable hospitality:
Transforming the borrower’s loan journey from a service to an experience is all about attention to detail, personalized care, and building trust through expertise and thoughtful communication. Just like at Delilah, where every element of the dining experience came together to create a memorable moment, mortgage professionals who elevate their client interactions by focusing on the small touches that truly make a difference will leave a lasting impression and provide borrowers with an experience they’ll want to return to.
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