LO's: Closings Stay Low Until You Fix This One Thing

Most loan officers are hustling hard but still closing fewer loans than they want. They try every new tool, every lead system, every coaching program. But nothing seems to work the way it should.

Here's the truth: the problem usually isn't the tool. It's the lack of consistent, meaningful outreach, and I can prove it.

The Harsh Truth I Learned The Hard Way

When I first got into sales in the 90s, I went to all the usual conventions, signed up for the coaching programs both cheap and expensive, and one message was drummed into my brain over and over and over again: "If you're spending more time on a day to day basis doing anything other than speaking to prospects, then you're not a professional, you're just 'dabbling'."

It might sound harsh, but over time I learned that for the most part, it's true. Sales is conversations and relationships. No conversations, no relationships, no closings.

Sure you can try (Like I did at first) all the other loopholes that others will sell you as shortcuts and substitutes to the above, but at the end of the day it's all just an expensive lesson in what doesn't work. Reality denial won't pay the bills.

The Modern Loan Officer Problem

Fast forward to today. Loan officers have more tools than ever. CRM systems, social media, drip campaigns, automation, and of course, AI.

And yet, after 22 years of surveys, one-on-one coaching, and reviewing form fills, the data tells me the following:

No wonder traction is so hard to come by. With numbers that small, the law of averages is working against you instead of exponentially in your favor as it could and should be.

My "10 a Day" Rule

When I left the world of refinance and telemarketing leads to build my own office and team, I created a personal rule:

I would not leave the office until I had 10 conversations per day.

Some conversations were short, some were long, some had nothing to do with a loan. That wasn't the point. The point was consistency. Human relationships grow when you show up, not when you treat people like a line in a spreadsheet.

Within weeks, those conversations turned into referral relationships. Within months, we had more Realtor partners sending us business than we could handle.

The Law of 3% (and Why Audience Size Matters)

Here's another concept I learned early: the Law of 3%.

In any sizable group, roughly 3% of people need the services of a loan officer. This could be a purchase, refi, debt consolidation, etc. Over the years, this number continues to hold true, but until you hit the larger numbers, it's not going to play out well for you:

See the difference? The bigger your audience, the more opportunities you get to snag a loan without ads and without "hustling". Problem is as I mentioned earlier, most loan officers have very small audiences that simply aren't large enough to tap into the power of the law of averages yet.

My "100 People Per Day" Rule

That's why I created my second rule: Get in front of at least 100 people per day with your message.

At first, that meant database emails, social posts, or group updates. As my reach grew, that daily number grew to 1,000+. That's 30,000+ people seeing my name, my offers, and my value every single month.

Apply the law of 3%, and you realize how powerful this can be. Consistent exposure + a big audience = predictable pipelines. Over the years I've had the privilege of working with some of the top producing LO's in the country.

For all their differences in approach and messaging, there's one simply truth that remains consistent across every last one of them… Large databases. Every single loan officer and team on the top 100 list that I've worked with has built and works a very large database.

Any attempt to skip this part of the process will result in making your attempts to grow far more difficult than it needs to be, if not impossible. Why not give some thought into the methods of reaching 100 people per day with your message? What would your message be? What channels of outreach would you use? How would you scale it to 250 per day? 500? 1,000?

Why Most Loan Officers Stay Stuck

Here's the unavoidable truth. Without an audience, every month you're reinventing your pipeline. You're replacing whatever you closed the month before. It's survival mode, not growth mode, as every last one of us can and will hit burnout mode if we stay in that zone forever.

That's why buying leads feels like such a waste for most loan officers, is they know they could be getting their closings from a far more reliable source had they built up the audience and worked it properly.

It's not that buying leads never works. Some can and do make it work, and even find ways to leverage them with the proper processes in place. But consider this… If your business relies on leads coming from an external source that could shut down, or close up shop tomorrow, what do you really have?

All your eggs in one basket is bad enough - But having all your eggs in someone else's basket is even worse! You're not in the driver's seat if your business is at the mercy of someone else developing the leads and sending them. You're far more stable when you hold the keys to your own success and closings instead of waiting for someone else to let you through the figurative door.

The Fix: Daily Touch Points + Larger Audiences

If you want consistent closings, stop chasing "magic bullets." Focus on the basics that work every time:

With enough reach and enough conversations, the numbers tilt in your favor. You stop "hustling" for survival and start building a machine that brings business in reliably.

Final Words and Recap

The reason most loan officers struggle isn't lack of tools, leads, or training. It's lack of consistent outreach and a small audience.

Fix those two things, and everything else starts working. Leave them broken, and no amount of AI, ad spend, or coaching program will save you.

The good news? Even an average LO can build a 40,000+ audience in today's market. That's when the game changes. That's when the phone starts ringing predictably.

The question is simple: are you having enough conversations and growing your audience every day? If not, that's why your closings are low.

How can you build a huge audience of 25k - 40k or more quickly? Well, that's a conversation for another time. Keep an eye out, as I'll be covering this topic/step quite soon!