In today’s highly competitive lending environment where noncompliance risk is meticulously mitigated by every lender, title companies that hope to keep their relationships strong with their lender partners need to do many things right. One of the most basic things they must get right has to do with their communication efforts.
There is a lot of information that moves back and forth between the various partners during the loan origination process. Lenders are driven to close each deal as quickly as possible, not just to ensure a good borrower experience, but also because every day the loan is in process costs the lender money. It’s also true that every day that goes by exposes the lender to compliance risk. Miscommunication costs time and can cost title companies business.
Here are three tips for getting communication right.
1. Maintain a paper trail.
We all have many phone calls with business partners every day. In some cases, we meet face to face to discuss a particular transaction. These communications must always be captured in writing and sent back to the other party to confirm that any instructions were understood. Even when the other party promises to follow up with information in writing, it’s a good tip to keep your own record.
2. Don’t make them wait.
We’re all busy and we can’t be available to every phone call or to catch each email as it comes in. In cases where the other party expects a response, don’t make them wait. Make it a habit to get back to your business partners the same day you receive the request for information. If you can’t designate someone else in the office who can. Making a business partner wait is a good way to lose that business.
3. Accuracy counts.
Good communication that involves bad information is not really good communication at all. Whether it’s a simple status request or pricing information for the lender’s Loan Estimate, make sure that any data sent to your partners through any medium is accurate. When mistakes occur, follow up as quickly as possible with the right information.
Doing your job well will not be enough to keep your business partners if you don’t communicate with them effectively. Make it something you work to improve all the time.