The Art of the First Appointment: Why It’s All About Them

Dive into the essentials of client interactions in this episode, focusing on the all-important first appointment. We emphasize that this meeting goes beyond a mere fact-find; it's an opportunity to establish trust and rapport with potential clients. Discover how to make the conversation entirely client-focused by asking open-ended questions that allow them to express their needs and concerns.

In this conversation, we delve into crucial strategies like active listening and reflective summarization, which ensure clients feel valued and understood from the beginning. By emphasizing the importance of a client-oriented approach, we uncover how to shift the focus away from a checklist to a meaningful dialogue that prioritizes client goals. Our discussion also highlights the role of technology in enhancing the appointment experience, demonstrating how tools like AI and automation can free brokers to concentrate on relationship-building rather than administrative tasks.

We aim to provide you with actionable insights and practical advice to enhance your engagement with clients, ensuring each appointment fosters trust and partnership. Tune in and transform your approach to client meetings today! Don’t forget to subscribe, share, and leave a review to continue shaping the mortgage broker community.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to the importance of the first appointment
• 19:00 Structuring the client
• 1:16:00 Techniques for active listening and summarizing

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi and welcome to this week's the Mortgage Broker broadcast. This is the podcast that's made for mortgage brokers at every single level, whether you're just getting into the industry, running your own mortgage broker firm, or focused on growing and scaling your existing business. This podcast is for you, and today we're talking about one of the most crucial parts of your role as a mortgage broker. We're talking about your first appointment with a potential client. We're gonna get into what makes that initial conversation not just successful but truly impactful ensuring it's about their needs, their goals and how we, as brokers, can deliver real value right from the start. If this is your first time listening to the podcast, I'm your host, craig Skelton. I'm a mortgage business owner mentor and coach, and I'm here to help self-employed brokers and business owners build this business that they want. This podcast is all about giving you practical advice and the right mindset to help you grow personally and professionally. You can expect informal discussions, actionable tips and plenty of motivation to keep you moving forward. Before we get into today's episode, if you enjoyed the podcast, I'd really appreciate it if you could subscribe, leave a review or share it with other brokers who find it helpful. Your support helps us reach and help even more people within our industry. So in today's episode, we're going to break down how to structure that first appointment to make it entirely about the client and their agenda, and why active listening matters more than your next question, and how to summarize effectively so no client need gets overlooked, and how AI and automation can set you up to focus on building trust and rapport rather than just ticking boxes. So let's just get into it.

Speaker 1: 1:41

The first appointment with a potential client is just so much more than a fact find. It's the foundation of the entire relationship you're about to build with them. So let's get into it. The first appointment with a potential client is so much more than just a fact find. It's the foundations of the entire relationship you're about to build with them. It's where trust begins. It's where your client gets the first real feel of you, not just as a professional, but as a person, as a human being too, and I want to be absolutely clear at this point it's their appointment, not yours. It's just so easy for brokers to go in thinking about what we need to cover, what compliance wants us to say, what documents do we need to get and what processes we need to follow.

Speaker 1: 2:27

But the most important part of this first appointment is. It's about understanding what they want out of it. What are their worries, what are they hoping for? What does success look like for them? And that's the first key point you've got to remember it's their agenda, not yours. When you sit down whether that's Zoom Teams, face-to-face or even a phone call the first thing you need to remember is that this is their appointment. This appointment is all about them.

Speaker 1: 2:53

So, instead of jumping into your script or your processes or your fact, find you need to start by asking the simplest question at the beginning what do you want to get out of today's appointment? And let them tell you, let them set the tone. This immediately shows that you're not just here to talk at them, but you're there to understand them too. And once they've told you what they want, then, and only then, can you add what you want to talk about to what you're going to be talking about too, and be honest with them. Thanks for sharing that. I'm also going to be talking about this today, if that works for you too, but let's make sure that we cover everything that's important to you first. It's okay to say that to clients. It's more of a partnership approach and it puts the client at the heart of the process and instantly builds trust.

Speaker 1: 3:40

So the second point is listen. Just don't focus on what you want to say next. And that's what happens when brokers are thinking about, especially when you're first starting out, especially when you're new, when you've not got this your first appointment as part of a habit. Yet You're going to be focused. You're going to ask a question. Then you're going to be focused on what you're going to be saying next, which is totally the wrong way of doing it. You need to Focus on them. You've got to listen, don't just focus on what you want to say. And there's a real skill. There's a real skill in active listening. We're all guilty of sometimes waiting for our turn to speak or thinking ahead to the next box. We need to tick, but if you're too focused on what question comes next, you're not really listening. And the reality is your client will give you all the information you need if you actually listen. They'll tell you about their concerns, their plans, their future goals and even things that they haven't shared with other advisors before, but only if you create the space for that.

Speaker 1: 4:42

One great technique that I like is the reflect and summarize method during the appointment. So, after they explain something that's important to them, it's okay to pause and say something like just to make sure I've got this clear. What you're saying is this that not only shows that you're listening, it helps them feel truly heard as well and, as we all know, people work with people. They trust, and trust starts with feeling understood, which then leads on to the third point, which is summarize and check in both during and at the end of the appointment. A huge mistake I see brokers make is powering through the appointment, getting through the fact find, asking loads of questions, writing loads of notes down and then just getting to the end and just wrapping up with a generic thanks very much, I'll be in touch. But the reality is, you should be summarising during the appointment at least twice. First, after you've explored what they want from the appointment and you've asked the right questions, pause and recap. So, before you get into your fact find, you should need to be asking them.

Speaker 1: 5:43

So, from what we've shared so far, it sounds like your main goals are this, this and this, and your concerns are this, this and this. Have I got that right? Then, at the end of the appointment, after you've done your fact find. Summarize the entire session. So okay, today we've covered this, this and this. We've agreed. I'm going to be doing this now and you're going to be provided. So from what you've shared so far, it sounds like your main goals are this, this and this, and your concerns are this and this. Have I got it right? Then, at the end of the appointment, just summarise the entire session. So okay, we've covered this, this and this. We've agreed. I'm going to be doing this, this and this, moving forward, and you're going to be providing this, this and this Before we wrap up.

Speaker 1: 6:26

Is there anything else with Miss that's important to you? Doing that this is a huge step for two reasons. The first thing is it shows professionalism and that you're genuinely interested and you're genuinely invested in their needs. And then, secondly, it avoids that awful feeling when the client leaves thinking, oh, we should ask this or we should ask that. That takes those things away. So, just to summarise, before the appointment, consider using AI and automation tools to gather as much factual information as possible. Before the appointment, consider using AI or automation to gather as much factual information as possible. Pre-appointment questionnaires or secure online forms can get the basics out of the way.

Speaker 1: 7:10

So the actual appointment is focused on conversation, building rapport and not just data entry. You need to start every single appointment with that simple, powerful question what do you want to get out of today? And then make sure you listen actively, stop worrying about what you need to say next and focus on understanding. And you need to summarise regularly, check in after key discussions and, at the end of the appointment, make it clear that you've understood and addressed everything and make the appointment. Make the experience seamless. The smoother and more client focused the appointment feels, the more likely they are to trust you, work with you and recommend you. So, just to wrap up this week's episode, remember that the first appointment is all about the client. It's their appointment, their goals, their concerns, their dreams. Lead with curiosity and listen actively, use tools to make the process smooth and, most importantly, build a relationship based on trust, not just ticking boxes. So that's it.

Speaker 1: 8:09

That's this week's the Mortgage Broker broadcast. Next week, we're getting into why helping your clients buy their new home is absolutely crucial to your long-term success, and we're going to explore multiple benefits it brings, not just for your business growth and retention, but also for building long-lasting client relationships too. If you've enjoyed this podcast, make sure you hit subscribe, leave a review, share it with fellow brokers. Let's just keep that conversation growing. And if you are thinking about becoming a self-employed mortgage broker or launching your own brand and business, or you're just ready to take your existing business to the next level, go to my website, craigskeltoncouk, book a discovery call or just simply get in touch and let's have a chat about how I can help you achieve your goals. And remember, as always, don't forget to run your own race.