One of a commercial loan broker’s key skills is the ability to connect with their clients and lenders. The relationships they establish are one of their greatest assets and often determine their long-term success in the industry. But loan brokers are often independent types who have built their businesses on bootstrapping and caffeine. We’ve seen folks operating on paper, navigating customer spreadsheets and navigating browser folders filled with lenders. Brokers can max out with this kind of system, unable to track which Business Development Officer or referral is working with which borrower, or lose track of document collection, loan progress, or to-dos. Because of this, having a quality customer relationship management system that simplifies tracking and provides detail in a single touchpoint is essential to the long-term health of brokerages.
Customer Relationship Management: The Big Picture
Loan brokers can significantly benefit from using a CRM by streamlining their processes and centralizing all critical information in one place. Without a CRM, it becomes challenging to track where clients are in their loan processes, as data often becomes scattered across spreadsheets, online tools, emails, and notes. This disorganized approach forces brokers to rely on memory instead of maintaining a clear and detailed history of client interactions. A CRM eliminates these issues by providing a unified platform where brokers can track vital information such as client notes, call logs, lender contacts, loan placements, lender specifications, and follow-up tasks.
By unifying this data, a CRM enables brokers to focus on their work rather than wasting time sorting through fragmented information. Brokers can manage to-dos and next steps with ease, ensuring no detail slips through the cracks. The benefits are numerous—improved efficiency by working within a single system, reduced stress and friction in daily operations, and enhanced service quality with features like pipeline tracking, click-to-call, and click-to-email functionalities. When used effectively, a CRM becomes a powerful tool that supports brokers in delivering exceptional service while maintaining better organization and workflow management.
What is a CRM
Customer Relationship Management refers to practices, strategies, and technologies that companies use to manage, monitor, analyze, and conduct customer interactions. A CRM system is a software or technology which companies use to track their customers and clients.
A strong CRM for loan brokers allows for better targeting of communication, more streamlined conversations, and better goal conversion. A CRM should focus on maintaining and tracking when a client is spoken to, how the conversation went, what the results were, and most importantly, next steps for further interaction.
Loan broker CRM strategies can be fluid, changing based on how the market is acting, the current size of the pipeline, and business goals. This means that as a brokerage advances in finding clients and closing deals, its CRM strategy will evolve.
Why do you need a CRM?
As humans, we only have so much memory available to us. A CRM ensures that a loan broker doesn’t miss important information on their clients and deals. By keeping all data in a centralized location, a CRM makes it easier to track and manage clients. This allows for improved communication across a team, as well as between a broker and their clients. All of this helps to make a broker’s life and job easier.
What are the benefits for you and your clients?
There are two key benefits to using a CRM. The first is the improvement it offers to broker/client relations. Proper management of client interactions and resources allows for a loan broker to make sure their client is happier. Clients receive regular communication but are not inundated to the point of feeling trapped. By setting reminders and keeping track of what each contact was like, a broker is able to ensure that they are always up to date with their clients. If a broker is trying to attract a new client, or close a deal, a happier client will be more likely to work with the broker.
The second benefit is an increase in speed and accuracy. With better communication comes more information. When trying to close a deal or find lenders to provide a loan, accurate and timely information is vital. The more a client is willing to connect and share, the easier it is for a broker to collect all the information needed to connect their clients with the right lenders.
A CRM is just one part of establishing a successful brokerage. That’s why we work with our students to connect the skills they learn in our courses with practical tools and real-world experience. For more information, check out our loan broker CRM system, our commercial loan broker training, or how they are both combined in our full loan broker business startup program.
What are the options?
Many brokers look for a CRM and settle on something like Lendingwise or File Invite. These tools are great at collecting applications, but they don’t allow brokers any of the marketing, communications, or tracking features surrounding the deal.
One reason so many brokers we talk with are still working with spreadsheets and their everyday systems is that the other real option in the market is a big, unstructured system like Salesforce, Zoho, or another major CRM provider. These systems aren’t customized for individual industries, and they don’t natively track deal flow or categorize borrowers and lenders efficiently. In short, adopting them means taking time off from deal management to learn a system and to customize it to the industry.
The CLBI CRM has taken an existing CRM model and customized it over 10 years to meet our expectations for tracking. It allows brokerages to add team members, track everyone’s to-do list, organize contacts by individual, securely collect documents, and track everything from pipeline to closed production all in a single system.
In addition, with a custom install structured for your brokerage, it has marketing automation tied in. Brokers can run newsletters, email marketing, and more all from within the same family of software with a single login.
And with our training in CRM, brokers who have completed the program are able to better connect with their clients. To learn more take a look at our upcoming sessions.