If you’re a loan officer grinding through this market, you know the struggle. You’re closing deals, working your pipeline, and chasing new business—but what about the clients you’ve already helped? How do you keep them coming back to you instead of wandering off to the competition?
That’s exactly what we tackled with Alex Hernandez, a loan officer who’s not just in the trenches but also building tech to help LOs win in the long game. Alex has been in the industry for seven years, and after realizing he was only retaining 4-6% of his past clients for future business, he had an “aha” moment that changed everything.
Let’s break down the strategies Alex is using to stay top of mind, build relationships with real estate agents, and close more deals—without constantly chasing new leads.
Why Loan Officers Lose More Business Than They Gain
Here’s a hard truth: Most of us lose way more business than we realize.
Alex sat down one day, mapped out his business, and saw a glaring issue—his past clients weren’t coming back. Not because they had bad experiences. Not because they found a better deal.
They simply forgot about him.
- They didn’t know he could help them refinance.
- They didn’t realize he offered investment loans.
- They assumed he was “too busy” to bother.
Think about that for a second. You spend hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars acquiring a customer, you do an amazing job, get a five-star review… and then they go somewhere else next time because you never stayed in touch.
Alex’s takeaway? Staying top of mind isn’t optional—it’s survival.
How Alex Fixed His Client Retention Problem
After realizing his clients were slipping through the cracks, Alex built Rate Update—a tool that automatically sends past clients and referral partners a “rate digest.” It’s simple, but powerful:
🔹 It keeps him in front of his database.
🔹 It gives people useful market info, not just sales pitches.
🔹 It helps him track who’s engaging, so he knows who’s likely to need his services soon.
The key here isn’t just that he built software. The key is he created a system to consistently add value without being annoying. He’s no longer just sending out spammy “Hey, rates are great, call me!” messages. He’s giving clients something they actually care about.
That’s the game-changer.
