EP #60: How to Overcome "What's Your Rate" and Build A Superstar Team

Stacia Weishaar walks through the exact philosophy and process she rebuilt her purchase-focused mortgage business around after a decade away — including how she handles rate questions, a required one-hour 'springboard' client meeting, Friday update calls to listing agents, and a weekly team process-improvement system. LOs who want to move away from rate competition and build a values-driven, agent-referral business should listen.

Takeaways you can run this week

• When a prospect emails 'what's your rate?', reply: 'It's really lovely to meet you. I'd love to jump on a call for 10 minutes to understand more about your homeownership goals. Do you have 10 minutes?' Then redirect to emotional discovery questions like 'What is it about purchasing a home that's so important to you right now?' — repeat the question until you reach the real emotional driver.
• Refuse to quote rates over the phone. If they push back, say: 'Has anybody explained to you how interest rates work? They change every single business day — sometimes multiple times. Would you like to learn how that affects you?' Use education as the hook to shift the conversation.
• Require a one-hour 'springboard conversation' before issuing any pre-approval letter. In that meeting cover: a detailed fee worksheet, how the secondary market works, tax benefits of homeownership, and the client's specific scenario. If they say they don't have an hour, use the car dealership comparison: 'You spent two hours at a dealership financing a car — this is the most financially impactful purchase of your life.'
• Never hand out a standing pre-approval letter. Instead, issue a customized letter each time the client makes an offer, and call the listing agent yourself before that offer is submitted. Introduce yourself, explain your process, and position yourself as a resource for the listing agent's sellers too.
• Run Friday update calls every week — call both the buyer's agent and the listing agent on every active transaction. Open with 'Happy Friday, how was your week?' — no rate pitches, no ask for business. Track which listing agents respond well and follow up post-closing with: 'I love how you work. I'd love to sit down and learn more about your business.'
• Hold a weekly team meeting where every team member — including yourself — must bring at least one item from their process-improvement journal. Pull specific examples from recent files (e.g., 'On the Smith file, this happened — here's the process fix'). Decide together whether it's file-specific or a systemic change to add to the written workflow.

The playbook

1. Step 1 — Initial inquiry: Respond to any rate or pre-approval request with a request for a 10-minute phone call focused on homeownership goals.
2. Step 2 — Discovery call: Ask 'What is it about [buying/investing] that's so important to you right now?' repeatedly to surface the emotional driver. Take notes.
3. Step 3 — Application: Direct them to complete the online app in 10 minutes, or complete it together on the phone.
4. Step 4 — Pre-underwrite: Team fully pre-underwrites the file before the springboard conversation.
5. Step 5 — Springboard conversation (1 hour, in person or phone): Walk through fee worksheet, explain secondary market and rate movement, cover tax benefits, review their specific scenario at a target price point. End by 'pushing them off the springboard' to go shopping — no pre-approval letter issued yet.
6. Step 6 — Offer stage: Client notifies LO when making an offer. Issue a customized pre-approval letter for that specific property. LO calls the listing agent before the offer is submitted to build rapport and credibility.
7. Step 7 — Under contract: Operations team takes over day-to-day file management. LO re-engages only if there is a significant issue ('root canal' escalation).
8. Step 8 — Post-close: LO calls client to ask 'What could we have done better?' Log feedback in the process-improvement journal for the next team meeting.
9. Step 9 — Listing agent cultivation: Evaluate listing agent fit during the transaction via Friday calls. If a strong fit, request a post-closing meeting to learn about their business and offer yourself as a resource for financing questions on future deals.

Worth quoting

“I don't quote rates over the phone. You're not even in contract — why does it matter?”

“I don't need to be your number one. I want to be your number three — call me when things go wrong.”

Best for

LOs who keep losing deals to rate shoppers and want a repeatable process that converts price-focused prospects into loyal clients through education and a defined meeting structure.