Latest / Mortgage Marketing Radio / Ep #92: How to Fire Bad Agents, Rebuild and Become the #1 Purchase Lender in Illinois

Transcript

Ep #92: How to Fire Bad Agents, Rebuild and Become the #1 Purchase Lender in Illinois · Mortgage Marketing Radio

0:00
In today's highly competitive mortgage industry, building profitable relationships with
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the real estate agents is essential for success.
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However, finding effective ways to secure agent relationships can be a challenge.
0:11
With so many mortgage loan originators vying for the attention of real estate agents, it
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can be difficult to stand out and establish meaningful connections.
0:20
Our new case study featuring loan officer Chris Cogill is a must-read.
0:25
Chris has closed a remarkable 36 million in funded loans from agent referrals.
0:31
And in this case study, he shares his proven strategies for building strong relationships
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with real estate agents and leveraging those relationships to drive more business.
0:39
To get your hands on this resource, head over to LOKestudy.com and download your free copy
0:45
of the case study today.
0:47
You'll find actionable insights and practical tips that Chris used to close 36 million
0:52
in funded loans from agent referrals and how you can too.
0:56
Don't miss out.
0:57
Go check it out right now, visit LOKestudy.com and download your free copy today.
1:17
Hey listeners, Jeff Zimper, thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mortgage Marketing
1:37
Radio.
1:38
If I told you how much I appreciate you, if you're a loyal listener of the podcast, I just
1:44
want to say thank you, I appreciate you, and if you're new, well welcome.
1:49
We have got a bunch of great episodes lined up for you and remember you can always go back
1:54
into the podcast on the website on iTunes and dive into some of that content.
1:58
If you're getting value from the podcast, would you do me a favor?
2:02
Would you mind taking about, I don't know, 120 seconds out of your busy day and just leave
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us a quick little review online iTunes on our Facebook page?
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Or if you'd like to leave that review, it doesn't matter, wherever you're listening
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give us a quick shout out, a little five star ranking.
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Why?
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Because that helps us reach more people, more mortgage professionals to make a positive
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And of course, look, if you want to get noticed, you got to be top of mind and the more
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So I just want to take a moment and ask you if you get value, that's one way you can
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thank me for and give back to us.
2:45
Secondly, real quick, this podcast episode is brought to you by none other than the mortgage
2:49
marketing pro membership, what is mortgage marketing pro all about?
2:54
Well, hey, you can go check it out yourself at mortgagemarketing.pro.
2:59
But if you are looking for that single destination, that one place, that one stop shop, that
3:05
will help you get more agent referrals, grow your business and make more money.
3:09
Finally, everything you need to get maximum agent referrals, build your online brand and
3:13
capture consumer direct business, mortgage marketing pro is my baby, my brainchild, my
3:21
labor of love that's been in the works for a number of years, actually, to be honest
3:25
with you.
3:26
And what it'll help you do is succeed in today's market, how, by being more successful
3:31
and getting leads in referrals from real estate agents, purchase loans, by implementing systems
3:36
and processes that help you demonstrate your visible value with scripting and sales processes
3:41
that deliver a five-star client experience, a referral partner experience, help you increase
3:46
your conversion ratios and help you build a personal brand online because let's face
3:51
it, the currency of trust today is your online brand and building a personal brand that
3:56
demonstrates you as credible and authority and having an online presence.
4:01
I've got to tell you, many of you listening to this right now don't have a strong online
4:06
presence.
4:07
What are you waiting for, okay?
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Don't fall behind the times, right?
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Because people are Googling you, searching you, even when you get a referral from a real
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estate agent, they're going to check you out and see what you look like online.
4:16
We can help you with that over at the mortgage marketing pro membership.
4:20
So if you want to get more agent referrals and increase your sales and get consumer direct
4:23
business, check it out at mortgagemarketing.pro.
4:26
All right, so my special guest for this week is the legendary Sam Sharp, senior vice president
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of mortgage lending at guaranteed rate.
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Sam is just an all-around rock star stud.
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We've got an incredible story about how he's reinvented himself more than once as a mortgage
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loan originator and we've just unpacked, you know, just have a real honest, you know, transparent
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conversation about his number one source of business and, you know, Sam is somebody
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who's last month, so let's see, you're listening to this, where are we probably listening to
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this in October of 2018?
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So I believe it was probably August of 2018, could be September.
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But anyway, every single month Sam does over 50 closes over 50 transactions.
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I believe last month it was 59 transactions.
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He is the only originator on his team.
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He does have a support team, right?
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A staff to support him in that volume.
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And we'll talk a little bit about scaling to build a team.
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But what we're really going to unpack is how back in 2008, think about this, 2008, and
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if any of you were around then, you recall, wasn't the best time in the mortgage industry
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in 2008, right?
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The meltdown was just getting underway, yet Sam still did $82 million in production in 2008.
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But another thing he did was he fired a majority of agents that he worked with.
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Why?
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Because they didn't appreciate him and the value proposition that he was bringing to
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the table.
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So essentially, Sam set a goal.
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His goal was to meet, over the course of 12 months, have a face-to-face meeting with
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365 agents.
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And what you'll hear is Sam tells the story of the process that he put together to make
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that happen.
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When he got to number 248, he was already so busy he had to stop.
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He had to turn it off, because he had so much business coming in.
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And Sam's built up quite the strong foundation, quite their business for himself in terms
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of transactions, volume, as you can hear.
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His goal, by the way, is to get to 100 purchase close loans per month.
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So we're going to talk about agents being a primary source of his business.
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How does he promote market himself to agents?
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Guess what?
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He does educational events and classes.
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You know, that's near and dear to me.
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It's something we provide in the mortgage marketing program membership turnkey done for
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you classes.
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So here's the thing, guys, Sam and I just talk about, look, there's a lot of bright
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shiny objects and distractions out there, and you'll hear Sam kind of reveal his process
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for identifying where business comes from, how to know where to double down on your investment
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of time and efforts in terms of building your business and attracting referrals.
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So look, Sam's on a tear, man, the guys are rock star stud, okay?
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Over a billion dollars in loan origination.
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We talk about tracking.
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We talk about knowing your numbers.
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We talk about the future with digital marketing technology, what Sam's getting into in
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the future in terms of online platforms and so forth.
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But again, this is a, it's a coaching session on how to build a strong referral base, largely
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from real estate agents.
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And I know you're going to like this episode.
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And if you do, once again, please just let us know and give us a shout out.
7:32
Remember to go check out our Facebook page at mortgage marketing institute and enjoy
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this episode with Sam Sharp.
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Sam, welcome to the show.
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Thank you very much.
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Happy to be here.
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Happy to have you here.
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So, you know, it's funny when we last talked, listeners, this is a little inside look
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into how to prepare for a podcast.
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So Sam and I, you and I talked a couple of weeks ago and took some notes.
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And one of the things that really stands out for me was what you shared about when you first,
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you made a decision, you were going to meet with a certain amount of agents over the
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course of 12 months and then something happened.
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I want to start there.
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Tell me that story again.
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How did you come up with that goal?
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Why?
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And then what happened as you, you know, kind of got made way through?
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Sure.
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I mean, I basically, I figured that I would set my size on, you know, you have to set
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your goal somewhere, right?
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But I just picked a very easy number of 365 agents given the idea that that would be
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one a day for a full calendar year.
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And it didn't necessarily have to be once a day because obviously that would be difficult
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to give them holidays and things of that nature.
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But the idea was just to set my goal as what I felt to be a realistic number and something
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that was attainable and then any combination I could reach that goal.
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So if I met with 10 people on a day, that would obviously get me that much closer to the
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goal.
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I had moved from another organization I was with, I'm with Jared, Jared, to great
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town, and they're for about 10 years now.
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And I had run into some issues with another company that I was working with.
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They were having problems getting my deal close, basically, we were running high volume
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and they just weren't cutting it.
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So I had to make them move, unfortunately, or well, fortunately, now I stay, but at
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the time I wasn't too happy.
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And my business, as a lot of people will say right now, my business right now is
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primarily offered to business.
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It always has been, this is something that I focused on from the beginning.
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Well, when I had moved companies, part of the issue that I went into is that my business
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had been tarnished a little bit because there was, you know, our inability to close on
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some of these transactions in a timely manner or at all for that matter, really put the
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strain on some existing relationships and even ruins some other relationships, even long
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to long-standing relationships that I had previously established.
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So when I made the move over to the company I'm with now, that's where I felt the need
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to somewhat reinvent myself.
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I was motivated.
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I said, listen, I've got to get out there.
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I've got to rebuild.
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This is something that is important as far as looking to attain the level of success that
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I wanted to see.
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So I set that, you know, basically, it's an arbitrary number of 365 agents.
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And as I mentioned when we were talking before, I got up to 248 is the magic number.
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By the time I reached my 248th meeting, I had no more capacity.
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At that point in time, it worked, to rise and rise.
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It was funny.
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A lot of times people think there's some secret out there, but really it's all about putting
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it out there and hard work and it worked and generated a substantial amount of business
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to where I had to kind of band down the hatchet to make sure that we were prepared to handle
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that type of influx.
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So when you decided to do that, make that, that pivot, you know, you switch companies,
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went to a G-Rade where you're at now, this is about 10 years ago.
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If I'm correct, weren't you at that level already, like, over 50 million, like closer to
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80 million?
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Oh, yeah.
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When I had left, when I had left my company, I went to G-Rade in 2009, June of 2009.
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When I went to G-Rade, I had somebody, it was 70, my memory, was 72 or 79 million dollars
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purchase business already closed that year.
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It was not even halfway through the year.
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We were, I had relationships being destroyed and I was still establishing a fair amount
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and keep in mind, 2008, that the year that a lot of people got out of the business because
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it was very difficult.
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I did over 80 million dollars in purchase business in 2008, it was one of my better years
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and led to that momentum, that even though it was being limited from the company's performance
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that I was with at the time, there was still that momentum.
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So, yeah, I mean, I was accustomed to doing a lot of business.
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I just, you know, when I started at G-Rade, it was summer of 2009 and after my first
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month there, I was looking at the leader board.
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So to speak, and we had guys there that were closed in 90, 96, 100 units a month.
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And when I saw that, you know, it just, my mouth watered a little bit, the competitive
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appetite kicked up and said, cool, I see what I have to do here.
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So that was my motivation.
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So, how many years had you been originating by the time you got to that point where you
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shifted over to G-Rade, what year did you start?
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Let's see, so I've been about 10, that was started in going into the end of 2001, going
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to 2002.
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So I'd had been originating for seven years or so, six, seven years, seven years.
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Right, well, you know, I'm no good with numbers.
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I love it, love it, that's why we have software.
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What I'm trying to kind of unpack here for the listeners is that, you know, you did,
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I mean, you were on pace already to do, you know, 80 million roughly, let's say, in 2008,
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yeah, a tough year, very tough year.
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What stands out for me about that is it would seem to me that a lot of loan officers,
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when they get to a certain level of success or maybe they reach a certain amount of fatigue
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and working with agents or whatnot, right, they're looking for that alternate thing.
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And what you decided to do was say, no, no, I'm going to go double down and meet 365
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agents in 12 months. I'm curious why you went that route. I mean, what do you recognize about that
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as a channel, you know, in terms of a source of purchase business? And I don't know if you'd
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feel differently about that today if you had to do it differently, but I know there's a lot of info,
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a lot of stuff in that question, but if you want to try and answer that.
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There's definitely a couple of different elements to that. And, you know, the number one thing,
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I think that I look at, and I would feel exactly the same way about it today as I did then.
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And it's that, you know, you don't need to reinvent the wheel. There's a situation where so many
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people are looking for the quick fix, the secret to, you know, generating tons of business,
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and how do I do this? But I mean, this industry has, you know, before me, during me, and long after
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my, you know, what I do in this industry, there's so many people that will follow the same steps
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that we've taken to generate business. And that's those relationships, real estate agents tend
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to interact with a lot more empires than, you know, than we do with more officers. So I just knew
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there was no need to try and break the mold. I had to move quick. And because I did, I did see
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things starting to decline. And I had to, I didn't have this pressure to where I wanted to move quickly.
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So for me, it was a matter of, okay, well, where am I at now? What do I know works? And how do I,
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how do I push that? I knew that those agent meetings would yield results, and that they would also
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motivate me. Because I think that the one, you know, a body and motion stays in motion. Those
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wonderful little cliches you throw out there. I was motivated. I was out there, you know,
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you get dressed up, you go out, you have the meeting, you have a good meeting, your, your
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pants are ready. You can make that next sales call that much better. You're in a better position.
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And by continuing that forward momentum on a daily basis, it just makes things grow. And that's
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something that I've always seen in my career. And honestly, I'm doing that right now. I'm right,
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I just started, you and I talked a little bit about this not just going to change or nothing,
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but, you know, I went from that many agents to several years ago, firing almost all of my agents
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and working with about eight of them. And, and right now, I'm in a position where I'm actually
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ramping up and doing the exact, well, a different model, but basically the same thing. I'm starting
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a tremendous amount of interaction with new agents and other existing agents in the field and
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looking to go through because something that I saw, and this would be another facet to the,
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or kind of another variable behind the initial question. And that's something that I saw then
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that I expect to see coming up in the very not so distant future was that there were a lot of
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people struggling in our industry and they were getting out of the business. But the lending industry,
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the trillion dollar industry, you know, we do, there are my company alone that's $22 billion.
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So we're just one player in this big, you know, this industry. When you think about what's out there
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and to set your sights on what's attainable, I mean, it's really, it's not that difficult. If you
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want to say, I want to do, I want to do $500 million in business. You're not even scratching the
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surface on the amount of business that's out there, right? Well, when people get out of the business,
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yeah, there's a decline, but you're still talking about just so much business that those agents now,
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now they need someone. It's already, it's already starting. So like I said, that's starting to
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happen now. I'm starting to run into the agents who are coming around and saying, hey, you know,
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I'd like to talk to you about working together. I know you're good at what you do. We had a great
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transaction or whatnot, but you know, my guy got out of the business. There's already people exiting.
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And that's what I saw back in 2008, 2009, when I was going to 2009, I said, you know what?
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People are getting out of the business. I know that I know how to do this. And I know that I can
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be good at this. And if I can just get myself in front of more people that are still doing the business,
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then I know we'll see that increase. So that was that was my, really, that one of the biggest
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driving factors. Yeah, like Warren Buffett said, when there's blood in the streets, that's the time to
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invest. Yeah, I believe that as well as that much like we saw back in 2008 and 2009,
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everybody makes it into the old joke. They'll go back to selling cars or working at Sennabon or
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whatever. But I mean, it's true. There's going to be a void and people are going to be looking for
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right those the solid, reputable, professional, little knowledgeable mortgage loan professional.
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But you have to also not be a secret agent like, you know, we tell real estate agents,
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you've got to be out to people have to know you exist. So I'd like to maybe unpack that a little
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bit further on the agent topic for a moment and talk about how you are getting in front of agents.
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What do you do to do that? Are you making cold calls or what does that look like?
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You know, anything works for me. I'm fortunate to where I do have a big book of business. So I've
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got a lot of clothing every month and we average, even right now things are down in the industry,
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but I'm still, you know, averaging 55 to 60 clothing a month. And I capitalized, I mean,
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white cold call when you got to warm me right in front of you. When you, if you do your job,
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you start to finish on that transaction, you should have several individuals involved on that
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transaction that are going to be open to speaking. So I'll go through and I like to follow up with
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all my closed transactions and chances are you may have a really, maybe that came from a real estate
19:02
agent or you already had established relationships there. So that's great. You proved your work there,
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but now there should be someone else in the transaction that you've maybe you've worked before,
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but you've never actually approached for business. So I start there and I reach out to them,
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they listen, you know, I like to, I think that having successfully closed transactions is a great
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way to start a, you know, a relationship. Relationships are, you know, they're based out of transactions.
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That's how we, that's how we make relationships. So I'll talk to the agent very directly
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and just reach out and say, listen, we closed on 111 last street last week and went really well.
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I think we could work well together and I'd like to talk to you to see if there's an opportunity
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to see how our businesses might interact, which technically is a cold call, but at the same time,
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I've got a reason for calling them and they know who I am. So it works out really well. The,
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now for us, my biggest competitor in my marketplace has been my company where we're doing
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a lot of business. We've got a lot of guys, a lot of great guys out there doing a lot of business.
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So when I run into someone and like, well, I work with someone from our company, then for me,
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I always say great. I'm glad to hear you're well represented, you know, represented good luck.
20:09
And, you know, if anything changes, you have my contact information, you know, good luck out there.
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And, you know, so I was, I'm respectful and my colleagues and I even have some colleagues
20:18
that other companies that they'll tell me they're working with and I kind of back off. They're
20:21
friends, you know what I mean? We're, we're competitive, but this is a job. We're people too.
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So I have no problem putting that, I guess, human element in front of it, which is probably one of my
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downfall. But at the same time, you run into those people and they tell you, you know, I've got a guy
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and you tell him, you know, I would not doubt that you have a person. I hope you have someone
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who you like very much. But honestly, most people that I've worked with in the past have some
20:48
and they like working with as well. But they didn't see maybe some of the other things that are
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out there that they may like even more that can help their business increase. You know, I'm
20:59
starting to talk to them, try to appeal to them on a level of, you know, I'm looking here for a
21:03
partnership. I'm not looking to help you grow your business. I'm looking to figure out how we can
21:07
work together and we can both make more money. I guess, you know, very direct approach.
21:13
Right. So that's obviously a call to the listing agent. It sounds like correct on the transaction
21:17
cross-selling basically. Listing or sometimes the buyer's agent. Sometimes I've got a lot of
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business that comes from past clients and they're working with different agents. So it can be whoever,
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whoever I have not interacted with, if there's a buyer, I'll look at the buyer and the listing
21:30
agent and the buyer's agent. And if I haven't worked with either of them, then that's a call I'm going
21:35
to make. Do you do any, is there any evaluation you make of that agent during the transaction?
21:43
You know, I think we're what I've discovered is that you know, you're smart, any smart loan
21:47
officers making an assessment of who do I want to work with and partner with. Like you said,
21:51
you fired the bottom feeders. So are you somehow making an assessment on should I even go for that
21:59
relationship before you make that call or what does that process look like? So this is a great
22:05
do as I say not as I do. So unfortunately right now, no man, I just go for it. I have the list
22:17
put into my calendar every I have an assistant who puts it in every Tuesday and I just call,
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I just pick up and dial. It takes me back to my days of full calling when I forgot in the industry
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where you dial two phones at once and hang up on whichever one didn't answer. And I just go at it.
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Now what I will tell you is that when I when I establish that rapport with them and I find out
22:38
who is credible like who wants to meet and now we need to put more time into it, then I do a
22:43
little digging and say, okay, let me see what type of business they're doing. If they're only
22:47
closing a few transactions, I've got someone on my team I have to meet with who sells us and gets
22:51
in front of them. And for me, that's how my business works. I think for a lot of people out there,
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though, you can get, I'm closing a lot of business, you know, I mean, I close a tremendous amount
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of business in the industry. I'm doing a lot more than most people and I have the time to pick up
23:07
the phone. It takes me, it takes you less than an hour. So yeah, if you give you it up that way,
23:13
you can do it. Now I think people should make more of an informed decision on who they try to go
23:19
after in the industry. Honestly, I think that you should do your research. You should know who you're
23:24
working with. You should also understand how their business works. If you're going after a listing
23:28
agent and all they do are listings and they don't even work with buyers, you're going to fall flat
23:32
on your face when you try to talk to them about the great programs you can do to help their buyer
23:36
secure better financing. So I think that for most people, it's a better idea to do some research
23:41
so that you know what you're fighting with and what type of warrior fighting there or the battle
23:45
anyway. But for me, I'm really good at just calling someone up and basically saying what I just
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told you, like, just calling what and be like, let's talk about working together. Then from there,
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I do my research. Well, speaking of listing agents, let's hang out there for a moment.
23:58
When you recognize that somebody is a listing agent per se, right? What is your approach? Do
24:05
you still go after them? And like you said, in a different way? Yeah, absolutely, because you
24:10
have to think about it from a certain perspective. So I do like going after teens right now. I like
24:17
following up and a lot of times you've got your team lead who's going to be primarily focusing
24:20
on their listings. And then you've got the, you know, the how they're buyer agents, things of
24:24
that nature. When I go through and I talk to someone about their listings, then I pull out whatever
24:29
type of resources I have available to help them try to capture more business for their, you know,
24:36
for their listings. How do they capitalize on that business so that maybe they're generating
24:39
buyer leads for their team and things of that nature? So I will talk to a listing agent based on
24:45
what we're looking at. And they'll get the wonderful thing I find is that most people will tell you
24:49
what you need to ask them. You know, you can tell by their tone of voice that their answers to
24:52
the questions, what you're going to need to, how you're going to assess this. But when I talk to
24:56
someone who just wants to do listings and that's all they do, again, like I said, if they're on a
25:00
team, then I'll talk to them about using our open house app to try and capture more leads so that
25:04
we can get that to their team. So they're feeding their buyer agents and capitalizing on those
25:08
transactions. I talk to them about better incorporating automation into their CRM and, you know,
25:14
making sure they're using a CRM and trying to talk to them about resources that I have used
25:19
that I've used and used currently that are helping me maintain a high volume business without
25:25
sacrifice quality. So I just, I take the listing agent on their expertise and try to still
25:30
them exactly what I think is going to help them and, you know, help me find like-minded individuals
25:36
where they can find a benefit from my services. I mean, if I just try to call them and tell them
25:39
I can close loans from them and I've got great rates and that's not really going anywhere. So.
25:43
Yeah. Well, if you do get that meeting, that first meeting is really just all about discovery,
25:47
right? And just it's not about letting me tell you how great it, yeah, it's like it's like I
25:52
the old metaphor I use is find the pain, you're the doctor, where does it hurt and find out can
25:56
you help heal that pain, right? You got it. Yeah. What else are you doing differently in this market
26:03
to build your business? I want to make sure I'm not missing that. I mean, clearly you're doubling
26:08
down on agents and and what I love about that is is you've seen this as well, I think, and we kind
26:13
of alluded to this briefly, but you know, the bright, shiny object syndrome. I'm just, I'm seeing
26:18
so many loan officers and and I think a lot of the loan officers I'm seeing were in the business
26:23
back, you know, when it was tough, 2008 and all that in the meltdown. And a lot of people are
26:30
distracted by the lure of air quotes, easy business with, you know, Facebook etc and all that kind
26:37
of just and I'm just curious, right? Like you said, you're doing a hell of a lot of business,
26:40
I mean, 55 transactions, you know, in a month, I mean, you just rocket it, you know, I'd be curious
26:46
to hear what you're what you're looking at in the future here as as another pillar of your business
26:52
and what advice you might have for anybody who's, you know, wanting to leave the realtor behind.
26:57
I think the best thing that we that and what we all need to be doing is we have to focus on
27:04
tracking our business and where it comes from. I think that if you were to put it, you know,
27:11
most people's business under a microscope and ask them to do the same, a lot of people, especially,
27:15
but even a lot of top producers don't know how they do what they do. They don't understand what it
27:21
is that leads to a better conversion rate for them. They don't understand as much of where their
27:25
business comes from. It's kind of like I said, I'm calling on Tuesday, I'm just calling all
27:29
these agents, that's swinging blindly, not the best way to do it. Now, I do track what comes out of
27:35
those relationships. And right now, my focus has been on tracking where is my business coming from.
27:40
This way, when you have marketing expenses and business relationships,
27:44
a marketing, you know, still low, whatever you're doing with other people, you have a great way
27:48
of understanding what works and what doesn't work. I think that by tracking what works,
27:54
more importantly, which is not work. And by that, I mean, maybe something that some actions that
27:58
you're using that are costing you time, but not generating any business, you're able to understand
28:02
that, then you're able to eliminate those actions that are not yielding results and double down
28:08
to use your term on those that are. So you're able to figure out how to better utilize your time
28:15
so that in that timeframe, you can generate more business. Now, for me, that's a game changer,
28:21
because there's a lot of things we think will yield results. As I go through and I move through
28:26
the next quarter, and I'm tracking my calls on Tuesday. If I find I'm not getting any meetings out
28:31
of it, or it's not going anywhere, guess what I'm not doing anymore. You know, but then if I find out
28:36
that every Friday night, I was hanging out at the local pub for some reason, and I just magically
28:42
seem to generate a loan every time I go in there, I'm probably going to have another drink.
28:48
I mean, that's the way it goes. You've got to understand where your business is coming from,
28:55
and that's one of the best, I think, pieces of advice I wish someone would have shared with me
29:00
when I first got into the industry, because it wasn't something that I focused on, and it was a
29:04
missed opportunity. Outside of that, you know, as I already told you, I'm doubling down on the
29:08
agents. I'm working to get myself in front of those referral partners. I'm working to tighten up
29:14
my understanding where my business is coming from. I'm very big on educational events,
29:19
so I like to get in front of agents and talk to them about the update from what's going on.
29:24
You know, go through and get out there and get in front of people, and you can do this. There's
29:28
so many resources available right now through social media and through, you know, going through
29:33
and looking at like video outlets and platforms out there where you have an audience available,
29:38
if you can find them, where you can get that message out. If you can start to look to give without
29:43
asking, then you'll find yourself in a position where I think you'll start to see more benefits.
29:47
So I go out and I go to real estate agent offices, and I teach courses on, you know,
29:54
popular financing types, understanding, you know, I'll bring out the praise or let them talk to
29:58
them about what's going on or an inspector, and I'll set up these events because essentially,
30:03
what I'm doing, I'm establishing myself as an expert in the eyes of these agents and one of
30:06
these agents can be newer agents or even some of them are more seasoned. But either way, I'm getting
30:11
exposure to them. They're starting to keep, I'm staying top of mind. So we're, you know, we're
30:16
in a sales industry, the more you stay type of top of mind, stay in front of people and show them
30:20
value. The better you're going to, the better results you're going to see as far as getting those
30:24
referrals. Where are you typically doing those classes in the agent's office, your office,
30:30
neutral locations, all the above? All of the above. I love the agent's office. It's all
30:37
let me in. That's great because for me, what I like is I like to show up a little early,
30:41
like to hang out, maybe just do my business. And keep in mind, when I'm doing these trainings,
30:46
these trainings and these educational events, I don't go in and tell people why I'm great,
30:51
why guaranteed rate at the place and all this. I talk to them about the topic and I talk to them
30:56
and if they want more information, then you know, here's how you reach me. It's not about,
31:00
you know, trying to make it like a time share where, you know, you can have a free nights
31:04
day, but you got to wait the whole day talking to me. You know, you offer them this without,
31:10
that's what I mean by giving without asking. You'll do that, but what I really like is that you
31:14
get into their office and inevitably the, a lot of the larger producers, if they weren't part of
31:20
this, they may be there or someone other team may be there and they're not part of that training.
31:24
Maybe they're in a different part of the office. I've got a lot of better chance of interacting
31:28
with them in that case. So I'd like to go into their office so that if I see those people and they're
31:31
not part of it, I'm just going to go up and ask them why. Hey, I know she didn't come in and
31:36
you know, whatever, whatever the event topic is, maybe we're talking about Pondo, the new
31:41
changes in Pondo guidelines. I'll be like, hey, I know she didn't come on in. I'm sure you're just
31:45
busy, but are you interested in anything that has to do with, you know, the Pondo guideline
31:50
changes and how that might actually help you close some more deals. So I'm giving them a personal
31:54
approach. So if you can get in her office, do it, you can't get in her office, get a venue,
31:59
I like neutral ground, I like a venue where you can find somewhere where you can get people in
32:03
from different offices, you know, bigger audience that way. Exactly. What would you say if you can
32:11
attribute like a source of your business as a source for your ability to quickly get in front
32:19
of agents doing the educational events versus other approaches, how does that rank?
32:25
Well, they're looking for something of value and I'm helping to educate them instead of just
32:29
trying to ask them for business. So when I get out there and I approach it as this is a way
32:34
that I'm going to help them find more business. I'll say, look, this is where we're at, this is
32:38
what's going on, this is what's going on in our industry and this is how it affects you.
32:43
That tends to get a better turnout. People are like, okay, great. So for example, I'll do ones
32:47
to step by step guide on how to convert ventures into buyers. But like that, they like to step
32:54
by step. I think, oh, he's going to tell me exactly how to do this, you know, like just a way to
32:58
get in front of them and show them that there's some value. What's your post post event followup look
33:04
like? I mean, this is definitely it's it's in my wheelhouse to leverage events. So I'm curious
33:11
if you if you approach that in a formal way, you know, to capitalize on that, the people you've
33:17
been in front of. I'm glad you asked that because that is the most important aspect. I mean,
33:23
yes, I mean, I should say the important aspect is being viewed as an expert, but the opportunity
33:29
lies within that followup. So I capture everyone's information when they come in. I take it down
33:35
in my phone and I use my open health capture app, the one that I use for that I tell agents to use
33:39
so that I can just make sure that I have everything and I just go around and walk around the room
33:43
before we get started. I take everyone's information. Hey, give me your give me your let me
33:47
take down your name and number. I'm keeping a head count and I don't where I won't spam you any more
33:51
than you want me to, but you know, I want to go and get your info. And then from there followup
33:57
phone calls. So I think that and I try to I always try to have a so those initial step I try to
34:03
have a takeaway from the meeting something that I'm going to send them like, hey, you know, this is
34:07
something I use. This is helpful for my business. And I think this is something that could help you
34:11
that's relevant to today's topic. I took all your information down in the beginning. I'm going
34:16
to send you that information so that you have something. Now what I'm doing, I'm saying top of
34:20
mine the next day or two days later when I send that information out. I'm showing them like, hey,
34:24
I'm still here. I'm going to send it out. And then after I send that out, then I start calling
34:28
and I call the people and say, hey, I want to thanks for coming in. I wanted to touch base and see
34:32
if there might be an opportunity for us to talk further about how our business might interact.
34:37
You know, and then I just feel them out. Well, thanks, Dan. I appreciate it, but I've got a guy
34:42
that works at your company. Okay, cool. And I just go through and systematically check them off
34:46
the list. I make the list of these people have guaranteed rate people. These people do not.
34:50
And I'm not going to lie. I'll keep my list of people who say they work with guaranteed rate people.
34:54
And I'll circle back with them six months later. Hey, we talked. I know you were working with such
35:00
and such. Are you guys still are you still going through? Are you guys still working together a lot?
35:04
You know, and find out where they're at. So I'm not trying to I'm never trying to post business
35:07
from my co-workers. You never know when a deal went sour. And now that person's going to another
35:12
company. You know, you don't want that. You want him to stay with you want to show them. They
35:15
can't look. This is the way that we can try to build. So yeah, how much do you press for the
35:20
appointment when they tell you, yeah, I'm already working with somebody, but it's not at your
35:24
company. It's at a competitor. Full court. That's the idea. That's someone who just told you
35:32
I've got I'm the kind of person who would like to refer business to someone and I've got someone.
35:36
They just told me that they're the kind of person I want to get in front of. So I'm going to
35:40
absolutely say listen, I can all understand and I'd love to I'm not looking to necessarily replace
35:45
your your relationship with them. Although, let's be honest, that is my goal. But at the same time,
35:52
I'm just looking to see if maybe there's a way that if you know, you've got a guy in your
35:57
center of the company, well, let's talk about how I can be your guy at my company because we have
36:00
resources and some options that are available that other companies may not offer that you may help
36:06
you save that deal. So let's let's maybe if you know, if you got just a little bit of time,
36:10
let's get together and talk about that. How many agents are here? Yeah, no, I love that. So for those
36:16
listening, right? Just because I mean, no, it's just the first step, right? How many how many
36:20
knows does it usually take to get to a yes? Like my people and sales. How many of those educational
36:26
events do you do in a month on average? Educational deals, I do I as far as educational seminars,
36:32
I try to have one so one a week. One a week? I have. I'll tell you this. I started I started back
36:38
in June and I have one a week every week up until up until now in September and I finished my first
36:46
the first week of September. I finished off my last one and then I took the rest of this month off
36:50
and now I'm starting over again in October with the the series because I have the I'm lucky I
36:57
have our launch at several large real estate offices in Chicago. So I'm able to go in and do a
37:04
round-robin of topics amongst these offices. I don't even I don't even have to worry about like,
37:10
you know, who am I going to talk to and who am I going to invite they invite people they get
37:13
them out and and it keeps me top of mind with those agents. So I'm I'm farming a certain area.
37:20
I love that right now. I love that you said you're farming a certain area and think about that
37:25
in the concept of realtors farming geo. You're doing the same thing. Crawl doing the same thing.
37:31
We're all in the same business. It agents and lenders. You know what I'm saying. But but the thing
37:36
I love about the the the class is if you will that's what I'll call them you call workshops
37:41
whatever same thing you're getting in front of groups of people is you know we all know that
37:46
getting you know realtor relationships is a numbers game and you've got to right you need
37:50
the law of large numbers in your favor and you simmered me back when I first got started you know
37:56
my my first year was terrible but then all of a sudden I started getting in front of groups and
37:59
I just multiplied my results because as you said earlier the name of the game is getting in front
38:03
of people and if the more people you get in front of them the more at bats you'll have the more you'll
38:08
win so it sounds like for you if I'm correct them for you building your your brand your presence in
38:16
your area those workshops those events that's like top of the funnel stuff right absolutely yeah
38:24
that's where you're getting in front of them initially to get them to see how you can generate
38:29
better and one thing I'll point out when as I going back on the tracking aspect of it so now I'm
38:35
going out and I've got a really large I cast a pretty wide net so to speak for the people that I'm
38:41
looking to approach for business out of that now I'm looking to determine how many of those people
38:47
am I going to spend time with got to figure out like every if one of these agents is only doing a
38:52
deal a year and they have no interest in doing more than that then they're not someone who I'm
38:56
going to spend a hour you know a week with they're not someone who I'm going to spend a lot of
39:00
time with from that aspect so you know going through all figure out who's doing the business
39:05
also then measure that metric based on what their motivation is and one thing that I always
39:10
tell people that I work with and what not is that a good referral source you'll generally start
39:15
to see referrals from immediately if you're farming a group of agents and it's been 30 days and
39:24
you haven't got anything from them they're not going to be the best use of your time now if you
39:28
have the time you can put them on automated trip campaigns certain things keep them coming to your
39:32
events things of that nature but I find that the agents that are going to produce and do
39:38
be that are worth the time and want to work they generally they usually build results within 24
39:43
to 48 hours like you you know when you connect with someone when they say hey my brother's looking
39:48
to buy here you go or I've had this client he's been looking for three months we just I don't know
39:53
that I like his lender things of that nature so you start to look at what your agents if they're
39:58
treating it as a partnership or if they're just looking for a handout because a lot of times you run
40:02
into this and say oh I want to buy these on dillow we pay for it and by the way I know I think
40:07
you and I talked about that before you're answer to that if you get that pitch be curious to hear
40:12
how often you do from agents who come out saying yeah well I'd love to you know hey my current
40:16
lender spends X on Zillow I mean do you deal with that a lot I do I hear people all the time talk
40:23
about it I'll let them know I'll it'll I'll gauge it on the agent agents doing a lot of business
40:28
and they say well I've got lenders who sponsor me on dillow say I I greet them all with the same
40:33
thing absolutely that's a great idea let's talk a little bit about that so how much are you
40:37
spending on dillow right now okay how many leads did you generate from that you know since you
40:41
last signed up and how do those do you know how many you actually converted the sale and then
40:46
they're like oh I don't I don't know they don't know they have no idea you know they can tell you
40:50
like oh I closed five deals last year or whatever but they're not going to be able to tell you
40:53
their actual conversion rate so I'll press them and they look you know in order to spend money like
40:58
this I'm I'm absolutely up for a joint business venture I think we're in this together but I need
41:02
to understand more from a realistic perspective what we get and and how that business relationship
41:09
is going to work and then I'll go on and I'll explain to them how I'm compensated because the truth
41:14
is a lot of agents don't realize that we don't get paid the same way they do it thinks that you're
41:19
making two and a half percent every deal and then you're your percentage of it so I'll explain
41:22
them they look this is what I make this is where I'm at you want me to give you this much money
41:27
well let's look at it you closed 10 deals last year you want me to give you X amount that means I
41:32
would have to close 13 of your transactions just to break even you only close 10 not only are we
41:38
counting on your business increasing but you're accounting on me getting 100 percent of that
41:41
business that doesn't seem very realistic like you know so and if they press it they have
41:47
a major my loan officer is paying for it and they will I think that's great I think you guys
41:51
should continue that relationship and you know this is not a good fit so if you change your mind
41:55
and you decide that you want to focus on actually increasing and doing more business then we should
42:00
talk otherwise good luck I hope everything works out so you're trying to pivot and not have the
42:04
relationship be predicated upon that but but on the value you bring to the table yeah if you monetize
42:10
the relationship then it's only going to last as long as you know until someone else steps up
42:14
with a bigger checkbook and that's going to be a problem that's where you're throwing money away
42:19
I used to think that was a great way of doing business it is not no I know because then they just
42:24
look at you as a you know a slot machine it's spitting out money to help them cover their lead cost
42:29
and they don't see the value that you provide right and you also you have to keep in mind maybe you
42:34
and you know taking it further maybe you close some deals with them maybe you're spending some
42:38
money you're closing deals but how much time and frustration are they are they closing in your
42:42
business I even though I'm ramping up my business now I started before I just did this of course
42:48
last few weeks I fired a few of my long term agent I got rid of them I was like you know what
42:54
and actually I took the genius approach to ask my wife I said listen who do you hear me who do
43:00
you hear me complain about the most like who do you what names come to mind when you think about
43:05
people I work with then I'm not happy with give me a couple names I agree in a cut of immediate
43:09
and so listen I don't think that we're you know our partnership is really in a position where we
43:15
feel I don't think it's mutually beneficial at this point and I'm always happy to help if you have
43:18
clients that want to work together but for now you know because we have marketing spend I'm like
43:23
for now I'm gonna I'm gonna withdraw on this so I see how you because I know I was to be upfront
43:29
so that you can look for another partner if you're looking for someone to invest but otherwise
43:32
I'm gonna I'm gonna battle out you you mentioned marketing spend are the ones that you're just
43:38
you're talking about there typically where there is some marketing spend those are you letting go
43:42
yeah we co-host like client appreciation parties or anything of that nature does anything
43:47
where they're gonna expect me to try and at least share the cost with them farming a neighborhood
43:51
just listed just sold cars any of that things I just I let them to be honest so I let them know
43:56
what's from because even though they're poisoning the well I don't want to they can poison the
44:01
well on their want if I'm not giving them that power but then they tell me they have a client
44:05
that they need me to save the deal on I still want to be that guy because I have no problem pushing
44:08
that on it like going through talking to the client getting the deal done and closing and catching
44:12
the commission the frustration from these agents comes from their lack of respect and appreciation
44:17
for what we do I limit that by telling them not giving you anything you want to give me something
44:21
I'll help because then I don't really even maybe they can't reach me maybe they keep catching my
44:25
assistant you know what I mean so there's an approach there's an approach to not burning bridges
44:30
but also not again farming relationships that are just going to poison the well they're going to
44:35
get in the way of the other relationships and put you in a negative headspace right right exactly
44:40
okay speaking of your assistant let's transition briefly to kind of your business structure
44:45
because you mentioned you're you were closing I think 55 transactions in 30 days was the number
44:52
is that correct yeah 59 59 yeah that's a hell of a lot of transactions and so obviously when people
44:59
hear about that I know you've gotten this question before people are curious you know hey well
45:03
you know we got the juniors on his team how's he originating all that but even more importantly
45:09
the structure in the process because I know looking at my notes from our last conversation you
45:12
want to grow to 100 purchase transactions monthly is it yeah I find on closing going going
45:20
right now without what I'm fostering building and farming I'm looking to close the minimum of 1200
45:26
purchase transactions a year okay so then the question becomes how the heck do you do that without
45:31
going insane efficiency in timing it's understanding certain efficiencies and automations that we can
45:38
use so in the past it and I'll say I don't have a junior and I never have I'm not saying that I'm
45:45
never going to but right now that's not my plan I've got enough I've got a good plan and a well
45:52
a very efficient scripted approach that I use that helps me convert I have a high conversion rate
45:59
there I can tell you right now I close a lot of business I know a lot of loan officers who get
46:05
twice as many referrals as I do and I still close more business with them because I have a
46:09
high conversion rate because I pay attention to what works I've scripted my approach I pay attention
46:18
when certain things get a certain reaction and I've dialed that in from the three-step process
46:24
that I look at which is my initial introduction flash get someone to get my pre-approval in place
46:29
the follow-up on the pre-approval and then the follow-up once they're under contract and I've set
46:34
that up to a certain I use the same I hate to say but in certain cases I use the same jokes I use
46:40
the same approach the same questions I know how to control and direct that conversation so that I
46:45
can convert effectively the client gets everything they need from the relationship and they don't
46:50
generally don't go looking elsewhere and if they do they still fill a connection so because of
46:56
that high conversion rate for me it's a number of games of just increasing then the amount of
47:00
business that comes through and I'm I've mapped it out from an efficiency standpoint where I can
47:05
actually maintain enough calls to grow to the staff marker a hundred a month is a marker after
47:11
that I don't know that I can really I don't think I can have that many conversations in a day
47:16
just doesn't work that well let me interrupt for a second then I'm kind of curious how many
47:21
as you know your numbers clearly and that's again the hallmark of the top producer people listening
47:28
any sense of how many conversations with perspective borrowers you need to have to get to
47:33
let's just say 50 units a month 50 and that's a month you need to be having an average of eight
47:38
conversations a day based off my my conversion rate currently right and and results may vary
47:44
based on your success rate but eight conversations hey yeah I mean some LLs are lucky to have eight
47:49
conversations every two weeks keep in mind to that date conversations doesn't have to be eight new
47:54
clients everyone that are different stages but it should be eight different people
48:00
and I'm I'm pushing right now to grow that's 20 I've made my map out my timing to where I'm
48:04
looking to have a 20 efficient conversations on a daily basis five days a week and I can I can
48:11
spread it out a little bit where maybe I get a few in next right here or there maybe I use a
48:16
Saturday or Sunday although I'm trying not to ever work Saturday in Sundays and uh
48:21
and go through because for me I feel like I'm overshooting what it would take from from what I've
48:25
tracked for what I would need to hit the goal that I want I want to shoot higher um but for me it's
48:32
all about the structure of the team that I have so I don't have juniors but I've got a large team
48:40
I've got 13 people it's tremendously large it's it's a big group of people who support everything
48:47
I do um and none of them handle the sales but they handle everything else so so I know guys though
48:54
I know guys who have closed more business than me with less than half the people I have so it
48:58
depends on you your personal approach and your efficiency well yeah I think that the big takeaways
49:03
number one in order to grow you need a team period right yep okay so whether you're at yeah
49:10
whether you're wanting to go from you know five loans a month to 10 whatever it is you're
49:15
gonna need a team to support you so for those listening you know you hear somebody like Sam who's
49:20
doing 59 transactions right the don't judge I the thing I want to be cautious of is people
49:26
hear this and it sounds like so far out there like oh my god I mean to use 13 people as
49:30
team like that's way out of my league you know right it's not where you started look at technology
49:37
look at technologies you don't even need a team to reach to increase your business if you're
49:42
if you're spending all your time focusing on certain efforts start to look towards things you
49:46
may be able to automate and you know you can't delegate automate what you can and find ways to
49:52
personalize those automation so you don't suffer for quality and a lot of people don't realize
49:57
you can automate yourself I automate I use the same you know I've said it earlier and I say it
50:03
again I use scripts I don't write them out they're memorized and they were memorized because I was
50:07
talking to so many people I just started saying the same thing over because it worked you find what
50:11
works and you repeat it and I automate myself by saying those same scripts every time I go through
50:17
and talk to the client and what I mean by that is that I don't have to think about what I'm
50:22
going to say I don't have to think about what I'm going to do when I get off that call I don't
50:25
have to think about the follow up I already haven't mapped out I know everything's going to go
50:30
we only have so much time to think in a day before it burns out if you automate yourself you use
50:35
those same scripts you're going to get sick of saying them but at the same time your actual brain
50:40
power and what you need to think about can be then focused on other tasks which is generating more
50:43
business what's your number one objective when you're on that initial call with a borrower perspective
50:50
borrower and you're using your script what are you really trying to accomplish because you've
50:54
obviously tested the language and you've listed and reacted and adjusted but what's the ultimate
51:00
objective with that first conversation to complete the pre-approval I use an online application
51:06
from my pre-approvals and my sole objective is to complete that pre-approval is and it's to gain
51:13
an understanding through that it's basically because there's three steps for me it's complete the
51:17
pre-approval go over the pre-approval and options and convert that contract when it comes in so
51:23
my number one goal for the initial call or when that's that up is to get someone to agree
51:29
to give me their information and I'm and they do they owe it I can tell you I have a I right now
51:34
I'm running 99 percent on my on my scheduled calls for people who want to get pre-approved 99
51:39
percent of them complete my online application how long is that conversation generally between
51:44
eight to ten minutes it's interesting how are you establishing trust then in differentiation
51:51
one thing to keep in mind if these clients are referred to me from a past client or an agent
51:55
referral there's already a certain level of trust that's coming into it because you were you were
52:00
referred to business from someone else let's say it's not start any conversation by developing
52:07
some report you've got to you know and people will tell you what you want to hear when you call
52:12
them and they pick up the phone and they go hello like what did they just tell you they don't
52:16
have time to talk so you don't have 20 minutes you know what I mean or oh yeah man I just put my baby
52:22
down I got hour and a half I'm good that person not only are they relaxed but they have time
52:28
I have a baby I'm going to talk to them about the baby real quick you know what I mean like
52:31
they're telling you what to say so you just got to listen listen to the from listen from hello
52:37
and control by how you say hello and you go through and you set the tone of the conversation
52:43
to leave someone conversationaly through your script the important part about people don't like to
52:47
use scripts because they don't want to sound like they're reading from something and you should
52:51
it should be a conversational manner so I go through and I talk to people in initial conversation
52:56
I work and I'm fortunate I'm pretty good at making people feel comfortable within a few minutes
53:02
and but I control the conversation by talking to them at the end of the day they came to you for
53:07
a reason they came to you to get pretty approved right that's why they're calling you they didn't
53:10
call you to have a new best friend they didn't call you to talk about last night's game
53:16
they did that's okay start that conversation but direct it because otherwise that person is
53:20
keeping you on the phone for half a hour and you may not get that deal and you just wasted your
53:24
efficiencies your timing's more important than that so you got to show them that but respectfully
53:28
to talk to them and yeah great no problem yeah the game works good I know you and I talked
53:32
when we started started the podcast how about the bear versus the patriot right bears are doing
53:36
better than the Patriots not you're not going to say that ever again or often whatever I mean
53:42
you laugh I laugh and I say listen so not to say the obvious but it looks like you think it about
53:47
buying a home and then not too distant future yeah I say that every single time and every person
53:53
tells me what I want to hear yeah you know I'm moving or doing this I'll talk let's say great
53:58
have you ever been through the pre-approval process so what I'm doing is I'm directing them towards
54:02
art I'm controlling them towards my directives doing it conversationally and I'm giving them what
54:07
they want by the end of that they feel so well informed that that trust is there and I think that's
54:11
why my conversion rate I'm getting that pre-approval it's so high no it's a great point you have to
54:17
be in charge of the conversation 100% while that's what they're calling you for you're the expert
54:23
you're the one who's supposed to tell them what they need to know most people don't know what they
54:26
don't know most people don't know what they don't know and then I can go on forever oh no I know
54:31
so I'm like thinking of all these additional questions but we just don't have time for that
54:35
but I think the big takeaway from this segment is scripting you've got it and I think
54:40
that's more important today than ever considering what's going on in the market with compressions
54:45
and you know people being conditioned to shop and just ask what's your rate you've got to take
54:51
control of the transaction or you're dead in the water absolutely from start to finish yeah yeah
54:58
all right cool so in closing it out here what do you what do you look in that I know you mentioned
55:03
technology a couple of times I'm wondering are you going to diversify your business at all
55:10
or you're going to stay you know placing all bets on agents I'm now I'm diversifying my business
55:15
I'm like everyone else always looking towards avenues using social media video outlets I'm looking to
55:24
cast a wider net without having to spend more time doing it so I do look at some of those funnels
55:29
and and I'm currently investigating looking at target marketing through outlets that'll allow me
55:35
to get in front of a wider audience and then within that looking to create efficiencies to get
55:41
in front as many people with my directives as possible so I can try to generate some leads and
55:46
some business I know a lot of the focus right now it's to generate leads so we can take the power
55:50
back from agents I like that yeah everyone likes that idea it sounds amazing and I think it exists
55:57
so that's that's I'm focusing time and effort on that as well I'm looking at trying to make sure
56:02
that I can trade a better I guess a wider playing field I always they cast the wider net when
56:09
you're looking for where you want to get your business so I'm looking through social media outlets
56:15
I'm looking through efficiencies through technology through using CRM and video outlets that'll
56:21
allow me again in front of these people with pre-recorded preset types of messaging things that I can
56:27
use that are effective and again just like anything you find what works and repeat it so I'm
56:33
focusing my strategies on that but in terms of percentage of time you're focused on that as
56:39
compared to the bread and butter of real estate agents can you assign a number to that so I can
56:47
because I can tell you this in 2016 and 2017 68 69 and 68 percent of my business came from
56:54
past clients whether they referred me out or they referred they bought another home or why not
57:00
I worked with a very small pool of real estate agents and again I mentioned it for about eight
57:05
some of those were teams because some of them had like six people on their team just varying
57:09
degrees of production but the lies here in my business came from all that past clients when
57:14
I realized this year is that unfortunately people can only buy so many homes they can only
57:17
refer you to so many people those clients will maintain great sources maybe five years from now
57:23
I'll start to see another uptake from from that source but I also realized from paying attention
57:28
where my business was coming from this year and what was going on in a marketplace that I had
57:32
to expand that net to get more business from real estate agents financial advisors as well
57:39
talton I started branching out towards who I was asking for business because the people that I
57:44
had been asking for business had probably given me the lion's share of what they could give at this
57:48
point in time so yes a lot of my focus is going back towards agents because I think it's a great
57:53
way to do it secondarily I also have come up with a pretty good strategy that I'm using that I
57:58
think helps me solidify strong relationships with agents that will yield results so I've set my
58:04
size on that target and that's why I'm pursuing with the majority of my full force but then at the
58:08
same time I dedicate time to developing these other opportunities through technology and through
58:13
social media so one last quick question on the agent thing I'm curious you're taking on this do
58:19
agree or feel that in terms of if you're wanting to get a quick jump start in your business
58:24
of purchase money referrals as compared to the other options out there if done right agents
58:29
is the quickest path to that yeah okay I was just going to clarify about assuming you like you
58:36
don't have a huge pass client database or whatnot yeah if you don't have a database agents are
58:43
going to be your bread and butter for starting out and getting a good reputation proper marketing
58:47
and you know what that's also because I'm only developing my property my marketing strategy
58:51
through target marketing and social media outlets um there are some guys out there that are far
58:56
better at that than I am that don't do any agent targeting and they do all their business through
59:01
social media platforms and things of that nature they're different types of business though you
59:05
have to keep in mind when you have business that's coming from a certain type of lead you're going
59:09
to have to change your scripts on how you approach that business you're asking me about how I gain
59:13
the trust well all my business is coming from these other sources where I already have a bit of
59:17
trust established okay calling the lowly's all day you better change your scripts because those
59:21
people don't trust you and you have to reestablish you have to find a better way to come across so it's
59:27
understanding your audience than what you're working at for newer people get out there get the
59:31
agents get them get them get some get some rapport build and you know because they're your partners
59:37
out there and start partnering up with them yeah and find out what do you bring back right get
59:42
clear on your value prop for sure 100 percent awesome we'll look at I know you're busy uh you've
59:46
got the stuff to do and you know what's funny is I wanted to mention this at the beginning but I
59:51
had overlooked it but it all makes sense now as to why you're so wildly crazy successfuls because
59:56
you're a drummer this is true you know they say a band only is good at their drummer I think uh
1:00:03
a lot of originators only as good as he is if you'd actually a drummer you've got a great story
1:00:07
about start you know being a professional drummer the starving artist story so uh you know I think
1:00:13
that helped you uh build some thick skin maybe for succeeding as a loan officer I think so
1:00:18
take it don't do the hard work and then the necessary component stamps of for those who might want
1:00:22
to reach out to you just to connect and say hi what do you recommend where should they connect with
1:00:26
you they can give me a call shoot me an email um you can find me through my uh my Facebook platform
1:00:33
as well I operate under sharp solutions um I also you can you can mess me through a training
1:00:40
company that I've started called top professional mortgage training which is to help teach
1:00:43
originators how to do exactly what I do um that's that's a whole another topic we can talk about
1:00:48
another day but uh outside of that you know you can email me at f sharp that's as in Sam
1:00:55
at rake.com or shoot me a call at any time at seven seven three two nine zero zero four five five
1:01:02
all right man that sounds awesome we'll put links to that in the show notes and I just want to
1:01:06
say thank you for your time for being here man learned a lot and um thank you I appreciate
1:01:12
thank you very much you bet listers uh once again thank you for tuning in if you like today's
1:01:17
episode please let us know give us a shout out a little love there on in the inner webs
1:01:21
little review to the podcast and uh as always appreciate you tuning in go ahead and make it a
1:01:27
great day we will see you on the next one bye for now thanks for listening to mortgage marketing radio
1:01:33
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