Latest / Mortgage Marketing Radio / Stop Chasing Agents? [Voice Note]

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Stop Chasing Agents? [Voice Note] · Mortgage Marketing Radio

• 0:00
  Hey, my friend. Thanks for tuning in to the mortgage marketing radio podcast. Coming back
• 0:15
  at you with another voice notes episode. So if you're not familiar, I think it was towards
• 0:21
  the end of 2024. Really, 25, I started recording these kind of one-off voice notes when I'm
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  calling them. These are simply what I'm thinking about, what I'm working on, what's kind of top of
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  mind for me. And so what I do is try and I try and post these consistently every Friday. So you've
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  got something perhaps to carry you through the weekend in addition to our regular podcast episode
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  that is usually posted previously during the week. So this week is actually a combination of
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  something I've been thinking about for quite a long time. And the reason being is because I'm
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  getting a little tired of the narrative, a little tired of the narrative that you may have seen
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  in your social media feeds, whether it's ads, whether it's posts. And this is pretty much anywhere
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  I go. And the narrative is this is something around the effect of you know stop chasing real estate
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  agents. Real estate agents are not a high ROI source. And it usually paints a lot of loan officers
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  in a negative light, right? Which is something around that of desperation, right? And trying to create
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  this negative narrative, you know, regarding having realtors as a source of business. And I wanted
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  it just kind of, I guess, give you my opinion on that because you can agree or disagree with my
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  opinion, right? But look, there's a lot of this narrative around chasing referrals like it's,
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  you know, 1999. One loan officer prays their agents don't leave, right? Another loan officer brings
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  desperation to the table. And I'm just tired of the narrative. I'm tired of the narrative that
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  it's one or the other. I'm tired of the narrative that building a solid base of referral partners
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  is not a good thing. I disagree. And I just don't just disagree because it's my opinion. I disagree
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  because it's based on fact. So the real question is, why does it have to be one or the other? Why
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  can't it be both? You know, a few years ago, I was using this term called hybrid loan officer.
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  And a hybrid loan officer to me means one who is both actively engaged in the, quote, traditional,
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  right? Foundational sources of business in this industry, which is going to be
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  referrals, past clients, database, things like that, sphere of influence. But also somebody
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  who is actively engaged in the, right, more modern methods and sources of business,
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  such as social media, right, direct marketing activities, perhaps running some ads, right?
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  Creating marketing funnels, lead generation, things like that. So it's that you're not so reliant
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  exclusively on referrals. And so here's the thing, right? I don't disagree with the premise that
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  loan officers should diversify their sources of business because the worst number in marketing is
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  one. And when that one source becomes disrupted or goes away, therefore, so is your business and
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  you're impacted by that. What I disagree with and take issue with is the narrative that's being built
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  to make the perception is, is that if you're alone with these people posting and running ads,
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  the perception is, is that if you're a loan officer and you are, you are, quote, all in or you
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  spend a significant amount of time on referral strategies from realtors, financial advisors,
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  others that you are a dying breed, that you are fading away, that the purely referral loan officer
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  is dying. And once again, I'll take a look at the conversations now of over 300 plus that I've
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  had with some of the most successful originators in the country. And what I'm seeing is is that when
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  I ask them what their number one source of business today, it still is going to be largely
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  referral partners, specifically real estate agents, past client database. And then further
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  down the list is other activities, right? Whether that's social media leads, whatever. But the
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  percentage of people that are actually consistently building their pipeline from just organic social
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  media in my personal experience is quite low. Now, is that to say that it's not relevant that
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  people shouldn't be pursuing it that it doesn't have its place and its purpose? No, that's not saying
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  that at all. Here's what I know. It takes time. It takes a whole new level of skills, you know,
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  mastering content and video and posting and showing up consistently there. And I would say that
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  the reason why there's this lag between results showing up from those methods, right,
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  digital modern type methods, then the traditional methods is because of the turn time and the runway,
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  the lag time that it takes for those results to actually show up. Versus, if you need now business
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  today business, you know, the quickest, shortest path to obtaining a high quality, high converting
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  buyer in today's market is still going to be from a referral source such as a real estate agent,
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  financial advisor, etc. That's what I'm focused on. I'm focused on the now business. I'm focused on
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  where can I fill my pipeline with deals that are going to close in the next 30 to 90 days. Yes,
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  sometimes longer. And then the other pillar, of course, to pursue still is the, I would say,
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  more modern types of activities, thus the hybrid loan officer situation. So don't be misled,
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  don't be led to feel like you're quote missing out falling behind the times. If you're spending,
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  right, a certain percentage of your activities and attention on pursuing referral partners.
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  Look, real estate agents are still the alpha referral partner. If you need now business,
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  if you want to build your pipeline, right, 30, 60, 90 days from now, a healthy amount of attention
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  and focus on the right real estate agents, right, who are active and performing will pay off for
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  you if you're approaching it in the right way, which is what we talk about on the podcast,
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  and it's what we do in our community over at my agent classes, which you can learn more about,
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  as a matter of fact, the podcast that was dropped earlier this week, you should have listened to by
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  now with Nate out of Florida talks about how Nate gets 30% of his business. So roughly 10 million
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  dollars, I believe, of his business comes from teaching agent classes. He's not chasing. He's not
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  co-calling. He's not running to coffee. He's not begging, right? He's leading from a position of
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  strength and he's attracting. And if that's something of interest to you, then check the link
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  in the show notes for my agent classes. But more importantly, listen to the podcast discussion I
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  have with Nate, where he breaks down diversification of sources. And I think it's a really great lesson
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  in what I'm talking about here today. So with that said, I hope this gave you something to think about.
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  I'd love your feedback and thoughts on this. If you're listening on Spotify, you can leave me a
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  question or comment on Spotify because they show the questions there. Otherwise, you can follow me
• 7:50
  on Instagram DM me. Let me know what your question is there. And I look forward to connecting with you
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  soon until the next one. Bye for now. Okay, that's it for today's episode. Before we wrap up,
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  I just wanted to remind you about my agent classes. You're proven system to double your agent
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  referrals in just 90 days. Imagine never having to co-call again, instead building real lasting
• 8:11
  relationships with top-producing agents who want to send you business with done for you presentations,
• 8:16
  marketing automation, weekly coaching. It's all designed to make growing your business easier
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  and fun. So if you're ready to take control of your agent referrals and grow your income, visit
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  mortgagemarketing.pro or check the link in the show notes. And while you're there, don't forget to
• 8:31
  check out the success stories from other mortgage bros who've already seen incredible results.
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  Thanks for listening and I'll see you on the next episode.