Satisfied clients = more referrals

You know the old adage: A satisfied customer will tell two people, but an angry customer will tell everyone he or she knows. The lucrative referral business you receive is highly dependent on the experience your clients have with their mortgage transaction. One of the easiest ways to find out whether your client had a good experience is to ask them to fill out customer satisfaction survey after their loan transaction. A survey not only helps you sharpen your skills as a mortgage broker, it also shows your clients you care about improving your business.

When creating your survey, think about what you'd like to know from your clients that would give you an effective idea of the level of service you and your staff provide. Have your clients rate certain aspects of their transaction such as your communication skills, diversity of mortgage options and the time frame of the loan from application to closing on a scale of one to 10 or a five-point scale (e.g. Excellent, Good, Average, Fair, Poor).

Some other attributes you may want your clients to evaluate:

• Courtesy of staff
• Accuracy of paperwork and closing date
• Thoroughness in explaining the mortgage process and documents
• Ease of understanding application forms
• Responsiveness to their questions and concerns

You should also ask your clients open-ended questions so they can elaborate on their ratings, such as "How did you select our mortgage company? "What did you like about working with me?" or "What could we do to improve our service?" Don't forget to ask them if they would be willing to give a testimonial so you can include it on your Mortgage XSite and in your marketing pieces.

Each time a client returns a completed survey, record the data so you can analyze the responses over a given time to see whether your service is improving. Study trends in the surveys and determine what actions need to be taken. If a client raises a specific issue, address it immediately or you risk losing him or her.

Need help creating your survey? Available April 8, the XSellerate automated marketing print campaign library will include a "Performance Survey" template, which can be edited and printed for you to hand out or mail to your clients (Don't forget to include a postage-paid, self-addressed envelope!) You can also add your own questions depending on the client or type of loan.

Whatever shape your survey takes, encourage your clients to be honest in their feedback and, of course, thank them when they return their survey. Some companies even offers incentives for completing the survey such as a gift certificate or enter their name in a drawing to win something bigger – like a trip. After all, a satisfied client is more likely to send you referrals!