Latest / Mortgage Marketing Radio / Ep# 46: How Susan Meitner Originated $40M and Became CEO
Transcript
- 0:00In today's highly competitive mortgage industry, building profitable relationships with
- 0:04the real estate agents is essential for success.
- 0:06However, finding effective ways to secure agent relationships can be a challenge.
- 0:11With so many mortgage loan originators vying for the attention of real estate agents, it
- 0:15can be difficult to stand out and establish meaningful connections.
- 0:20Our new case study featuring loan officer Chris Cogill is a must-read.
- 0:25Chris has closed a remarkable 36 million in funded loans from agent referrals.
- 0:31And in this case study, he shares his proven strategies for building strong relationships
- 0:34with real estate agents and leveraging those relationships to drive more business.
- 0:39To get your hands on this resource, head over to LOKestudy.com and download your free copy
- 0:45of the case study today.
- 0:47You'll find actionable insights and practical tips that Chris used to close 36 million
- 0:52in funded loans from agent referrals and how you can too.
- 0:56Don't miss out.
- 0:57Go check it out right now, visit LOKestudy.com and download your free copy today.
- 1:17Hey listeners, Jeff Zinfur, welcome to episode 46 of Mortgage Marketing Radio.
- 1:40So glad you're here as usual.
- 1:42We're going to get right to it this week, my special guest, Crazy Lucky Girl, Susan
- 1:47Meitner.
- 1:48Yes, that's the title of her book, Crazy Lucky Girl.
- 1:51Do you have the keys to success?
- 1:52You know, I love her story.
- 1:54I love the energy and the enthusiasm and the get it done attitude that Susan brings to
- 1:59this call.
- 2:00I wanted to have her on because not only is she a proven successful originator who's had
- 2:05well over 20 years in the business.
- 2:08She's got great stories, great lessons from the road, from the trenches, if you will,
- 2:13to help all of us break through any potential perceived self-imposed limitations.
- 2:20We might be putting on ourselves how to break through to get real estate agents to give
- 2:24us attention, how to build my business, how to build a team, how to focus on the few
- 2:29that really matter versus the many that don't.
- 2:32And her book is just awesome.
- 2:33I encourage you to get it.
- 2:34She'll be show notes, links for you to get her book to go check her out on our website,
- 2:38but she is a dynamo of a lady, built her business through just sheer hard work and consistency
- 2:45and just slugging it out in the streets every day, over $40 million in production.
- 2:51She has since gone to build her own successful, Inc. 5000 ranked mortgage company and is
- 2:57consistently a top ranked mortgage employer in the Philadelphia area and she's been acknowledged
- 3:02by people such as Barbara Cochran from the Shark Tank, who highly endorses Susan in
- 3:07her book and the Mortgage Bankers Association and other notables.
- 3:12So Susan and I get into really the key tenants to being a successful mortgage professional
- 3:18in any market, in any industry and the core beliefs that you need to have, the habits,
- 3:24daily actions that require you to be successful in today's market, as well as some funny stories
- 3:32that I think we can all relate to.
- 3:33So hope you enjoyed this week's podcast episode.
- 3:36As always, if you haven't subscribed yet, please do so via the interwebs and leave us a
- 3:41review if you're liking what you're hearing.
- 3:43So without further ado, let's get into the show.
- 3:49Susan, welcome to the show.
- 3:50Thanks for having me.
- 3:51It is a pleasure.
- 3:52And gosh, what, over a month or two now that we've been kind of on each other's radars
- 3:56and we finally able to connect both very busy and I'm excited to have you.
- 4:01You have a unique perspective that you bring to our listeners today, which of course is
- 4:05mostly loan officers, some realtors, but largely loan officers and why they listen to this
- 4:09podcast Susan just so you know is because they're looking for those ideas, tips, you know,
- 4:16lessons, if you will shortcuts, even perhaps dare I say to, to success.
- 4:23So that's why I wanted to have you here because you are that rare person who has a mortgage
- 4:28loan professional company owner of Centennial Lending Group who wrote a book called Crazy
- 4:33Lucky Girl and we'll talk about that.
- 4:35But if you would, just for those listeners, give us the quick, you know, kind of bio on
- 4:40how you got in the business, how long and, you know, what do you love about this business?
- 4:44Right. So I am one of those people who went to college and got out of college and didn't
- 4:50know really what I was going to do with my life as lots of people don't.
- 4:56And I was introduced to the mortgage industry and I started on the inside and very quickly
- 5:03decided that I wanted to be able to make whatever I wanted to make and not really have
- 5:09any hours to that I had to work or didn't have to work.
- 5:14And I, at 23 years old, a hundred years ago, probably, so you went out into the mortgage
- 5:22world and started selling mortgages and as luck and hard work had it, I was able to find
- 5:29great success being one of the top originators at the many different companies that I worked
- 5:35for, went on to manage a couple different teams.
- 5:40And then in 2010, really 2009, I decided to open up Centennial Lending Group and it took
- 5:48me about a year to do that.
- 5:50And then in July of 2010, we opened up Centennial Lending and right now we have mostly, we're
- 5:57mostly licensed on the East Coast and California.
- 6:02And we do business, so just the regular correspondent lender with our originators doing business
- 6:08were all head and quartered outside Philadelphia and we love what we do.
- 6:14And I have a passion for it.
- 6:15I went to a closing yesterday to substitute for someone who couldn't be there and the
- 6:22borrowers gave me a card and it said on the front of it, one kindness makes a heart full
- 6:28of gratitude.
- 6:30And they thanked us for getting them into their house, their first house.
- 6:34And it was just priceless.
- 6:36The buyers gave you that card?
- 6:38The buyers gave me that card.
- 6:39You don't see that every day, huh?
- 6:41I know they were first time home buyers and I had done their parents mortgage and their
- 6:48one of their parents have five children and this is one of the five children that I've
- 6:53given mortgages to.
- 6:55So it's just building your legacy and building up your relationships and not just being one
- 7:02and done type of originator, but actually keeping in touch with people and knowing what's
- 7:08going on with them.
- 7:10Okay, so before we get real backwards into your journey as a loan officer before having
- 7:16the company, but real quickly while we're on the topic of Centennial Lending, give us
- 7:20a sense of the size and scope of Centennial Lending.
- 7:23You know, number of L.O.s, you said your correspondence, so you know, volume, whatever you want
- 7:26to disclose.
- 7:27Right.
- 7:28So we have about almost 50 loan originators and as I said, we're up and down the East Coast.
- 7:37We have 75 employees right now.
- 7:41So and we're in a building, we're building a lot right now.
- 7:45So we're in that building phase, trying to hire as many originators as we can.
- 7:52But we also really stay true to the culture of Centennial and the way that we do things
- 7:59at Centennial.
- 8:00So that's pretty much what we do over a correspondent lender.
- 8:06We process, close, fund everything in-house and then we sell it after the fact.
- 8:12But we do a lot of marketing and social media campaigns and drip campaigns and that's
- 8:19what we're all about is building the relationship with the borrower and the realtor.
- 8:25So you mentioned culture.
- 8:27It sounds like you, you know, in terms of when you bring somebody on, look at evaluating
- 8:31somebody for your company.
- 8:33Being the right fit for culture of Centennial Lending is important, right?
- 8:37Vital, it's absolutely vital.
- 8:38And we're going to get into the L.O. thing in a minute, but you mentioned that word culture
- 8:42because I think that's incredibly relevant, especially as I, you know, coach a bunch of
- 8:46L.O.s across the country and, you know, help them build teams and they're looking at
- 8:50loan officer assistance and whatnot and the right person is the right fit.
- 8:53So I'd be curious to know how you, what, what qualifications, right?
- 8:57How do you make sure you've got the right person due, you know, because like here where I
- 9:01work, we do like the disc profile, things like that.
- 9:03But what do you do to make sure you got the right person on the bus?
- 9:06There's not an exact science to it.
- 9:08So you can hire the, the, the, who you think is going to be a rock star and they don't
- 9:12end up being a rock star and especially if it's not a good cultural fit that will, you
- 9:17know, you'll know pretty, pretty quickly if that's the case.
- 9:21And I think that making the, the, the right hire and of course you, you can have sometimes
- 9:26you just don't make the right hire, but making the right hire is, is vital and it's really
- 9:31the people who are hiring for you because obviously I don't talk to every single person
- 9:36really having an understanding of the type of culture that you're trying to have at
- 9:42your company.
- 9:43Um, we, we started talking about culture seven years ago when we built it, when nobody
- 9:48was really talking about culture and, and the right fit, we're very fast paced at Centennial.
- 9:55And if you're not fast paced and you don't have the personality for that, it's not, it's
- 9:59really not going to work for you.
- 10:01We process and do everything within a certain period of time, which is always less than 30
- 10:05days usually.
- 10:07So internally you have to be the right person to be very fast paced and sales wise you
- 10:13have to be the right, the right fit.
- 10:16And so my team of people who are recruiting and interviewing people do a great job of, of
- 10:23weeding those people out.
- 10:24We don't, per se, do a task, sometimes we do if we're, if we're, if you're on somebody,
- 10:30but it's really a feel we Skype interview people, we bring them, we fly them in, we spend
- 10:37a whole entire day with them, saying, you know, what they did before, what their, what
- 10:42their goals are in the future, that's really important to know where the, what direction
- 10:47that they want to go in so that we put them in the right position.
- 10:50So that's, that's what we do.
- 10:53It's a lot of vetting.
- 10:54Yeah.
- 10:55Yeah.
- 10:56No, that's definitely important.
- 10:57So thank you for sharing that.
- 10:58All right.
- 10:59Let's roll the clock back.
- 11:00Okay.
- 11:01Take us back.
- 11:02How many years is it?
- 11:0320 or so, right?
- 11:04It originated.
- 11:05Not into the mortgage business in 1992.
- 11:07Wow.
- 11:08And it came an originator in 1993, but I'm way younger.
- 11:13I mean, like, I literally was like 16 years old.
- 11:16Well, no, that's funny.
- 11:17You say that because that, that there's a story in your book about how you rolled up to
- 11:23a house to, yeah, you want to tell that story?
- 11:28The one that when I, well, back in the day, when originators actually went to people's
- 11:32homes to take the mortgage application on pen and paper with the carbon copies of good
- 11:39faith estimates, I drove up into the person's driveway and I got out of my car and they
- 11:46said, are you even old enough to give a mortgage?
- 11:49So is that the story that you're talking about?
- 11:52Yeah.
- 11:53Yeah.
- 11:54Yeah.
- 11:55So I'm in my mid 40s now and I believe that I look pretty young.
- 12:00And so you can only imagine in my 20s, look like a baby, do you even graduate from high
- 12:07school?
- 12:08But that, and that's funny because that gentleman, I've done multiple mortgages for they actually
- 12:14bought that house from, did their mortgage for me out for that house and then refinanced
- 12:20and then bought another house and then refinanced.
- 12:22So, and he's referred tons of people to me.
- 12:26So even that little joke that we spent in my book and that we laugh about, we still
- 12:33to this day talk about and that was what 20 plus years ago?
- 12:36Yeah.
- 12:37Okay.
- 12:38So that is a great topic for us to dive in on a little bit and because, you know, in your
- 12:43book and obviously anybody relating to this when they first started as an alone officer
- 12:46and you maybe knew listening to this as well, you of course started out and probably had
- 12:50some reservations, some trepidation, I don't know if you were, you know, fear for or what.
- 12:56As a matter of fact, your book and chapter two, you talk about face, your fears and you
- 12:59find your strength.
- 13:00So for those listening, right, you've obviously broken through a lot of challenges.
- 13:03You've, you know, produced a lot.
- 13:05We'll get into production levels as an originator.
- 13:07But I think if I read correctly, it was like upwards of 40 million, you were producing,
- 13:11right?
- 13:12Correct.
- 13:13Yeah.
- 13:14So for those listening, how did you, and how would you advise, like when you bring
- 13:16on new allows today, how do you advise people to break through some of that self perceived
- 13:22limitation?
- 13:23Yeah.
- 13:24Well, pretty much no one knows everything.
- 13:26And as long as you're okay with understanding that asking questions and that's, that's pretty
- 13:31much the basics of what every originator, the more questions you can ask, the better
- 13:36originator you are.
- 13:38And you shall allow your borrowers to ask just as many questions and it's okay if you
- 13:43don't have the answer.
- 13:45Every loan is different.
- 13:47So which is why we love being originators because we like that everything being different
- 13:51that is being a challenge every day.
- 13:54So I would say that you really need to know that you can say to a borrower, you know what,
- 13:59I don't know the answer to that question and that takes nothing away from you, but that
- 14:05gives you a reason to call that person back and to follow up and to make sure that you
- 14:10get them the right answer.
- 14:12They appreciate that so much more.
- 14:14I think somewhere in my book I talk about value and it wasn't until I just found out that
- 14:19I didn't have to have all the answers that I, it brought more value to me when I was
- 14:24able to tell a borrower, you know what, I don't know that and I'm going to get back to
- 14:27on that.
- 14:28I was still an expert in mortgages.
- 14:30To this day, I don't know all the answers, but it also brought value to my realtors and
- 14:35thought they really knew I was going to get the right answer for them when I was dealing
- 14:40with the purchase or when they had a question about something that I could say, you know
- 14:44what, I don't know that, but I'm going to find out for you and then it's that constant
- 14:48interaction.
- 14:49They start to develop the trust and they know that you're going to call them back.
- 14:53As long as you call them back when you tell them that you're going to call them back,
- 14:56that's really the key too.
- 14:59So how do you deal then with rejection, you mentioned that, that's actually a chapter
- 15:03in your book, rejection, you faced a lot of rejection.
- 15:05This is a rejection filled job to some degree, particularly if you're prospecting real estate
- 15:10agents and you have been doing this since back in the day as they say when there are open
- 15:15offices, you can go in there and call call agents in person.
- 15:18But today, right, we still face rejection as a loan officer.
- 15:21So what's your advice on how to deal with that part of the business?
- 15:24I face rejection every day, I think, either in, you know, you're never going to have the
- 15:29best rate or you're never going to have the lowest fees or you're, you're, you're never
- 15:33going to have the best product, you're, you're never going to have the, you're to pay
- 15:37the most in basis points when you're recruiting.
- 15:39So I would, I would say that you have to be okay with the answer, no, you, you, you have
- 15:44to also understand that when, as many knows that there are, when you get the yes, it makes
- 15:51it that much sweeter, you know, that you get the brass ring.
- 15:55And that's, somebody soon or later, when you ask enough questions and meet enough people,
- 16:01they're going to say, yes, you're going to get it, yes.
- 16:05So you have to make that connection.
- 16:08And just like it might not be the right cultural fit, it might be better for a borrower or
- 16:12a realtor not to use you.
- 16:14And when one, you know, door closes, another one opens and you might get way more business
- 16:20because you went after that additional business.
- 16:22So have you said, have you turned down realtor business because the, the, it wasn't the
- 16:26right fit personality wise or they were just too difficult?
- 16:29Oh, totally.
- 16:30I did, I used to do a chart or back in the day when we were doing everything by hand.
- 16:35So when I got, when I would get loans, I would have a colored folder for every month.
- 16:43And on it, I write with a Sharpie pen and on it, I would write the borrower's name, the
- 16:48loan amount, and where I got the referral.
- 16:51And at the end of the year, I would go back and I would add up who gave me all the referrals.
- 16:56And it was always shocking to me that the low maintenance realtors always gave me so
- 17:04many more referrals than the high maintenance realtors that were just not producing as much
- 17:10either.
- 17:11Yeah.
- 17:12Right.
- 17:13They were taking so much of my time and I wasn't making anything on them and I wasn't,
- 17:18it was, there was, there wasn't any point to it sometimes.
- 17:21And so I would either go, I would go tell them that this is a partnership like they
- 17:25need to either use me or not use me, but they couldn't take up all my time.
- 17:31Or I would tend to not go to them for as much business and then the business that was
- 17:37driving everything in those realtors, I would, I would really cultivate that relationship
- 17:44more.
- 17:45So I would get even more business from them.
- 17:47So it's really a knowing where your business comes from, it always boggles my mind when
- 17:52an originator is when I say where do you get your business and they say I have absolutely
- 17:55no idea.
- 17:56Yeah.
- 17:57And I also love the one where a loan office meets with a realtor and you know afterwards
- 18:02they're like, gosh, you know, they still haven't sent me any business.
- 18:05I'm like, well, did you ask them how much business they do?
- 18:08No.
- 18:09Yeah.
- 18:10It's, it's asking all those questions.
- 18:12It's really, when you're talking to a realtor, it's asking them just as many questions
- 18:17as you take on a mortgage application.
- 18:18Right.
- 18:19Exactly.
- 18:20Yeah.
- 18:22You need to know all that stuff.
- 18:23If you have, or if you're talking to somebody and you're, and you're spending your time
- 18:27with them and they only do six deals a year and you might get one of them, it's not worth
- 18:32your time.
- 18:33I always went after the realtors with the corner offices.
- 18:36So I did a lot of business and remax and I really felt that if they had a corner office
- 18:41and they were paying for that space, they had business to get.
- 18:45Mm-hmm.
- 18:46Well, and I want to talk about how you coach your loan officers today to generate business
- 18:52considering, right, the lay of the lands a little bit different.
- 18:54But I love some of the stories in your book because it really, I think, relates to some
- 18:59of the frustrations that I feel from loan officers every day.
- 19:04And like we talked about earlier, rejection and being resilient and you clearly are a resilient
- 19:07person.
- 19:08I love this story.
- 19:09You want to tell it about how you, you walked, yeah, this was your first few months
- 19:13as an engineer, the rate sheets and he's like, the guy goes, oh, we need 11 of your
- 19:18rate sheets.
- 19:19Yeah.
- 19:20Yeah.
- 19:21That was like my first day out on the street as an originator.
- 19:25So you know, you go out back in the day again, we're talking about lots of back in the
- 19:29day.
- 19:30Right.
- 19:31And this again, I was walking into a real estate office that had an in-house mortgage company.
- 19:36So and we're going back to the mid 90s.
- 19:39So and we had your stack of rate sheets and I said, hi, my name's Sumitner.
- 19:43And I'm here for from this company that we don't service this area very much and I, but
- 19:49I'm here to service you with regards to mortgages.
- 19:52So if you could just let me know what your policy is on rate sheets and he said, I, you know,
- 19:57I'll give them to any said we have 11 realtors in this office and we're so excited that
- 20:01you're going to be calling on us.
- 20:03And I said, that's great.
- 20:05Here's the 11.
- 20:06Just tell me, do I put them in mailboxes, where do they go?
- 20:08And he picked, he took them from me and he said, I'll show you where they go and he crumpled
- 20:12them up and threw them in the trash.
- 20:15Welcome.
- 20:16And that's not, that was, that was in the day that you can go to like your car phone and
- 20:22like call your, you know, your boyfriend or your mom or somebody and say, I can't tell
- 20:27your husband, I can't tell you what just happened to me.
- 20:30So, and all I needed and all I did was I was like, yeah, that guy totally doesn't want
- 20:37me to ever come back in his office.
- 20:39So I'm going to now go to my next stop and I walked in and they were really nice and
- 20:44very kind to me and it was well and, and I had, you know, that, that was good.
- 20:50But I have to say that it did deter me from going in again and again and again because,
- 20:56you know, I didn't want him to be that way.
- 20:58So I just made sure his car wasn't there when I would go drop off my rate sheets anymore.
- 21:02Well, okay.
- 21:03And so, so there's lessons in there, right?
- 21:04No, number one, it's being tenacious and be resilient.
- 21:08You definitely need that in this business.
- 21:09And so you, you clearly were.
- 21:11Um, so how do you handle, you know, the typical, oh, we already have a lender.
- 21:16Like if you are calling on a real estate office, for example, right?
- 21:19How did you circumvent that and how would you advise it today as well?
- 21:23I would think that that was perfectly fine.
- 21:25I actually would embrace it.
- 21:27I would say, well, that's great that you're using ABC mortgage company.
- 21:30And I definitely, definitely don't want to take any of that business away from them.
- 21:34But I think that I would be able to help you grow your business.
- 21:37So if you want to grow your business, then why don't you give me a telephone call and
- 21:41we can set up a time that maybe we can work together so that, you know, we can help you
- 21:46grow your business.
- 21:48And they're like, wait, how are, how come, you know, Mr. Smith at ABC mortgage company
- 21:53isn't helping me grow my business?
- 21:55And you have to have a way of growing the people's business, obviously, so you can't just
- 21:59go in there.
- 22:00So you have to figure out how am I going to help these realtors grow their business.
- 22:04So one of the things we do at Centennial is we offer our marketing department works with
- 22:09them on doing Facebook pages or doing marketing, co branded marketing with realtors, home
- 22:18bank seminars, just anything to get their name out and our name out at the same time together.
- 22:24And while you're doing those things with the realtors, you are helping them grow their
- 22:29business.
- 22:30You're helping them with things that they might feel uncomfortable doing, but you feel comfortable
- 22:34doing.
- 22:35And that develops a teamwork and a bond between the two of you.
- 22:38Right.
- 22:39Okay.
- 22:40So you're your marketing department at Centennial, like what helps them create their social
- 22:43media presence.
- 22:44Yeah.
- 22:45So we create their social media presence and we work with them on that and we use their
- 22:51Facebook platform so that if they like and they want to offer to their borrowers to find
- 23:00out how much they're qualified for applying, it has a direct link to Centennial.
- 23:04Oh, I see.
- 23:05Okay.
- 23:06Are you helping them come up with content on what to post and what to share?
- 23:09Yes.
- 23:10We help them with content, how to do the content, what to share, all of that.
- 23:15We help our marketing do.
- 23:17So from day one at Centennial, I've always had a very robust marketing and marketing department.
- 23:24I always thought that it was very, very, very important for the way that I did my business.
- 23:29Even if it was delivering holiday gifts at were jelly beans in the spring time, I always
- 23:37thought that if you market yourself differently and that's exactly what we do with our marketing
- 23:43department.
- 23:44So looking back then, and I don't know if it's changed today, did most of your business
- 23:48come from realtors?
- 23:49Yeah.
- 23:50Most of my business did come from realtors and my past customers.
- 23:54So it came from my past customers and my realtors and today we do mostly purchase business
- 24:01at Centennial.
- 24:02Okay.
- 24:03Great.
- 24:04And so you've got a new loan officer listening.
- 24:06I'm going to sit down.
- 24:07I'm across the desk from you and you're going to tell me, okay, here's what it takes to succeed
- 24:12in business today.
- 24:13How would you summarize that in about a minute or so?
- 24:16What it takes to succeed in business today is developing long lasting relationships and
- 24:20building a trust with your sphere of influence, your realtors and your borrowers so that they're
- 24:26calling you for the business, that you make brand yourself as the expert in your community
- 24:32as the mortgage person so that they say, you know what, Sue is a great mortgage person
- 24:39and you need to call her.
- 24:40And even if she can't do it, she's going to tell you who can do it for you.
- 24:44I've done that often.
- 24:45I've said, well, I don't have that product, but you know, let me refer you to somebody
- 24:49who can help you with that.
- 24:51So and that makes even more doors open for you.
- 24:55So be the be the expert in your community and know that if you ask people, you know,
- 25:02what are they looking for and what are they doing and who are they?
- 25:06People love to talk about themselves and you learn a lot when you are open-minded.
- 25:12And that's another really important thing is being open-minded.
- 25:16I wasn't looking to write a book.
- 25:18I happened to be at a conference and a publisher came up to me and asked me if I was interested.
- 25:22I said, no three times.
- 25:23So because I'm not a writer, I'm a mortgage person.
- 25:30And it wasn't supposed to be the way it ended up.
- 25:33You know, it wasn't supposed to be Sue's story of my keys to success.
- 25:38So but I was open-minded and I listened to him at, you know, and I thought, you know,
- 25:44what, if people are, you know, interested or want to learn and have the keys to success
- 25:51or see how I was successful, then maybe they can learn too.
- 25:55And then so we put it down on paper and it worked out.
- 25:58What impact has the book had on your origin, are you still originating or are you pretty
- 26:03much just running the company now?
- 26:04I run the company, but I have to say that my favorite thing to do is originate.
- 26:09Sure.
- 26:10So much to my staff's dismay at times.
- 26:15I do, I do originate loads.
- 26:17So people still call Susan, don't they?
- 26:20Yeah.
- 26:21But I do like to see how the CLG flow goes because we do a pre-underright before it goes
- 26:30to processing.
- 26:31So I like to make sure everything's working well.
- 26:34And as I said, I love to go to, and I love to go to settlements.
- 26:37So I do originate now and again, the thing I guess the book brought is really a true
- 26:44understanding that I can go out and help other originators, especially women originators
- 26:51know that that's the sky's the limit.
- 26:54They can do anything that they want as long as they set their mind to it.
- 26:58And I love that.
- 26:59I agree.
- 27:00Okay, so let's go back to something you said about use the word branding, which is near
- 27:03dear to my heart.
- 27:04I actually did three branding classes last year or this week.
- 27:08And I'm a big believer that today, right, because the old school methods have changed,
- 27:13the whole door knocking, getting into closed offices is a bit tougher.
- 27:16That's why I'm a big believer in teaching classes because it gets agents out in front
- 27:20of you.
- 27:21Yes.
- 27:22But you talked about branding and positioning.
- 27:23So you know who Gary Vaynerchuk is?
- 27:25Yes.
- 27:26I love him.
- 27:27Yeah.
- 27:28So he talks a lot about today, and I show this with agents as well, about how today, this
- 27:31is true for loan officers, I'll be curious, your feedback.
- 27:33Today, you need to think of yourself not as a mortgage originator, but as a media company
- 27:38and your back end is originating loans.
- 27:40So to your point about brand, a building, a platform in your local community, to your
- 27:45point, what you said about become known, right, as the go to person in your local area
- 27:49amongst realtors and consumers for mortgages, right, young, same page there.
- 27:53Perfect.
- 27:54I'm totally on the same page for the old.
- 27:55So then today, how do you advise loan officers do that if let's say they don't want to make
- 27:59cold calls and any comment you want to make around that as well as fine?
- 28:03You can do what I do.
- 28:04I'm on the board of trustees of a local university.
- 28:09I'm on a finance committee of a private girl school in our area.
- 28:14My children's schools, I place ads in that in anything that they do.
- 28:22I tell people all the time what I do, and I tell people if I'm not the originator, then
- 28:27I have other people that can help them.
- 28:29I'm not shy about branding myself.
- 28:32I am Centennial Lending, Centennial Lending is me.
- 28:35I were one in the same.
- 28:37So I take it very personally.
- 28:39So when people say, oh, I don't want a personal Facebook page or a business Facebook page,
- 28:46it's all in the, it's the same.
- 28:48It is you.
- 28:49It is for someone to be successful.
- 28:52They have to live, breathe, and eat sales and mortgages and brand themselves.
- 28:57So I think that's vitally important.
- 29:00I put on my Facebook page when things great happen at the office.
- 29:04I do, when we have our sales meetings, I'm going to have a surprise for my whole entire
- 29:09office next week, and I will be on Facebook what we do.
- 29:14And I think that that's really, you know, I think that's really important.
- 29:17And when I walk around my neighborhood, people say, oh, Sue, what's the rate?
- 29:20Or, oh, Sue, how's things going at your office?
- 29:24And when we're moving offices in a year, everybody will know that we move offices.
- 29:28So it's just even the little things, you know, having surveys of your past customers
- 29:35or the ones that you have settlements with, that having that third party validation and
- 29:40then throwing it out onto social media is great.
- 29:44I mean, there are so many platforms that people, even though the cold calling and the knocking
- 29:50on doors isn't as readily available.
- 29:54You have to think outside the box.
- 29:56You have to say, you know, there's a, you know, car dealership.
- 30:00Maybe I need to go go in there and ask them if they have any needs for, you know, helping
- 30:05people with their mortgages.
- 30:06It's, you know, being at a grocery store and putting in asking if you can do a home buying
- 30:11seminar there, you know, there's a lot, lots of different things.
- 30:16It's thinking outside the box.
- 30:17If everyone's going after the people the same way, how can you go after it differently
- 30:22and be successful at it?
- 30:24Right.
- 30:25And I talk a lot about inserting yourself in the activities that are already happening
- 30:28in your local community, such as, you know, you've got your boat parade, your fourth
- 30:32of July parade, you've got your, you know, charitable related events.
- 30:36I've got people involved in pet rescue and people, you know, realtors and lenders teaming
- 30:40up to do a shredding day, like bring your financial documents for a shredding day, you
- 30:44know, all that kind of stuff, which I think, you know, you're alluding to there is, is
- 30:49about becoming, you know, being top of mind in your local community, but don't always
- 30:54be banging the, hey, it's a great day to buy, right?
- 30:57Or re-fi.
- 30:58Right.
- 30:59Right.
- 31:00Talk about anything else.
- 31:01You can talk about everything else.
- 31:02The way you want them to do, you never want to give out your card, you want them to ask
- 31:05for your card.
- 31:06Yeah.
- 31:07So you want them to want it, you want them to want to do business with you, you want them
- 31:11to be your friend.
- 31:12Yes.
- 31:13Yeah.
- 31:14And you've just got to become, you know, like it's with agents, it's like, hey, you can't
- 31:16be a secret agent and survive.
- 31:18And the same is true with loan officers, right?
- 31:19You need to be that person who's like on the top three names, amongst your realtor community
- 31:24and your local community, right?
- 31:26Right.
- 31:27And you don't need to be, I, there was plenty of times I was not the number one, but I
- 31:31got plenty of business by being the number two.
- 31:34And I have to say that in the early 2000s, I got tons of business by being the number
- 31:39two because the number one went screwed up.
- 31:42Mm-hmm.
- 31:43Speaking of that, by the way, do you have a response, you know, when you hear the three
- 31:47card thing from agents, it's like, oh, yeah, you know, so I hand out three cards.
- 31:50So yeah, I made a vital mistake since you learned so much from your mistakes.
- 31:58And I had one of my top five agents tell me that he was going to be starting to give out
- 32:03another mortgage person's card.
- 32:05So he's going to be giving out two people's cards.
- 32:08And I said, well, you don't actually need to give two people's cards out.
- 32:13Well, you, we'll say the guy's name was Tom.
- 32:15You don't need to give two people's cards out, Tom, you just don't need to give my card
- 32:19out anymore.
- 32:20Oh, wow.
- 32:21That is pretty strong.
- 32:23Yeah, yeah.
- 32:24This is a UK and I held and I held to that and I lost a lot of business because of
- 32:32it.
- 32:33And what I learned, what I learned, it take the two and three cards, let them give the
- 32:39two and three cards out because that, you know, Tom took me at my word and he never gave
- 32:46out my card again.
- 32:48That relationship ended.
- 32:49It ended.
- 32:50And I cut off my nose despite my face and you know, 20 years later, I remember it.
- 32:58And I had a great relationship with him.
- 33:00I built that relationship with him and then I ripped it down in a second.
- 33:05Yeah.
- 33:06So it's okay.
- 33:07And I think, you know, what you're saying behind that as well, that's, it's okay.
- 33:10So give me the opportunity to compete and let me win that business.
- 33:13Right.
- 33:14Give me the opportunity to compete and let me win that business.
- 33:16And I never said it again, by the way, and anytime I wanted to say it, I just bit my
- 33:20tongue.
- 33:21So, um, so I learned from that and I think that lots of people have to learn from those
- 33:25mistakes or learn from others mistakes because you don't need to reinvent the wheel.
- 33:29You just need to have it, um, be faster and stronger and better.
- 33:34I love the competition of it.
- 33:35I think somewhere in my book, it says, I'll take the competition any day of the week.
- 33:39Sure.
- 33:40As I will today.
- 33:41Oh, I'm certain you will.
- 33:43I can tell, um, you know, looking back on agents, you know, just focus on, on them for
- 33:47this for a moment.
- 33:48Um, is there one or two types of activities that you found resulted in the, the, you know,
- 33:55most amount of relationships for you when it comes to agents?
- 33:57Well, what I found for the most amount of relationships at Centennial lending is doing
- 34:03social media marketing classes.
- 34:06I can tell you that I've never had so many agents coming into my mortgage company office
- 34:11then, then with anything else.
- 34:14The thing that worked for me in getting business as an originator was having an open door
- 34:20policy and I have an open door policy where, where I am now, um, as the CEO here.
- 34:26So pretty much, I would ever, I would tell my realtors they could call me anytime.
- 34:30They could, you know, when, when technology went towards texting any time and I would get
- 34:35back to them and they knew morning, noon or night for the most part within my timeframe,
- 34:41you know, if I was on a soccer field with one of my children, I would, you know, text
- 34:45or call and say, I'm on a soccer field with, you know, one of the children and I'll call
- 34:50you back as soon as I finish, but they always knew sooner or later they were going to get
- 34:54a response for me by the end of business.
- 34:57And that got me so much business.
- 35:00Okay.
- 35:01So I want to talk about that for a second because I talk to L.O.'s and I try and coach
- 35:04around time-blocking and the question always comes up, well, you know, what if a realtor
- 35:09calls?
- 35:10I have to take their call and I try and provide to them that you can do some scripting
- 35:14around that on your voicemail, et cetera, you know, so that people do understand, but
- 35:17how do you, because it sounds like you did something similar to that.
- 35:21Yeah, I would, I would always answer the call because I was always good in the moment
- 35:25of answering.
- 35:26If you leave me a voicemail even today, I'm not good at listening to my voicemail.
- 35:30So I would, I like to answer as they're coming and I might not be able to be on the phone
- 35:35for 10, 15 minutes, but I can be on the phone for a minute unless I'm in a meeting.
- 35:39So I would say, you know what, Bob, I really want to talk to you right now and I, and can
- 35:45I call you in a half an hour, but I would make sure that I call them within a half an hour.
- 35:50And one of the, the great things is that I, I love what I do.
- 35:55So it was never add to me and it was never painful for me to do it because I love what I do.
- 36:03So I love my family and my children, but I love my work too.
- 36:08So I never was choosing, I wasn't choosing what I was doing.
- 36:12Did you ever have off hours though or you wouldn't take a call after a certain time?
- 36:15So I put my children to bed every night while they were younger, they're 14 and 16 now.
- 36:21So I'm not putting them to bed anymore, but let's go.
- 36:26So I would come home from work.
- 36:28I would have dinner with everyone, clean everything up and then I would put the children to
- 36:32bed and during that time frame was my, my, my off time.
- 36:37I, that was my time that I was with them.
- 36:40I would, we'll say that my children were all, also knew that once they're 30 minute
- 36:46a lot of time of, of me lying in bed with them or reading them a story or doing talking
- 36:51to them was over that they would turn over and I would get my cell phone out and I would
- 36:57start answering all my, all my stuff.
- 37:00So they knew that when I picked up my phone that it meant that mom was done and they were
- 37:05going to go to sleep.
- 37:07So, and then, you know, I would go to, then I would start to answer my text until that
- 37:11one went to sleep and then I would go into the next one.
- 37:13So I did have some off time, but I would say nine times out of ten I'm on.
- 37:19But did you ever like, you know, have the conversation with realtors that says, look, if
- 37:22you ever get a voicemail, you know, my, my commitment to call back time to you is, you
- 37:26know, 30 minutes, 60 minutes, whatever.
- 37:28I never placed an exact time on it on my voicemail because that was, that's really making
- 37:33it, you know, accountable to it.
- 37:36So I probably, they, they knew that I would call back and, and, and, and if I didn't
- 37:41in this speech, because I really couldn't.
- 37:43And that also gives you a little bit of a, when, when they know Sue or, or you, that you're
- 37:49going to call back, when you don't call back, that's okay.
- 37:54What do you mean?
- 37:55You know, if you accidentally say, you know what, I'm going to, if you're, if you call
- 37:59back nine times out of ten and that, that 10th time, you forget something.
- 38:04When you say, I'm sorry, I missed that or I'm sorry, I got caught up with something else,
- 38:08that's okay.
- 38:09They forgive you for that because you, you all are always there for that.
- 38:12What about the belief though that some L.O.s have that if I don't take this call, they're
- 38:15going to call someone else and they're going to get the deal.
- 38:17That has happened and when that had, when I earlier in my career and, and then I just lost
- 38:22the deal, then I had to be okay with that.
- 38:25I, I chose, you know, I chose not, you know, I made it, I made a choice.
- 38:30Yeah.
- 38:31You know, they used to, they used to do that all the time.
- 38:33They said, I'd call three people and whoever got back to me first wins, that you, when
- 38:38they say that, you need to know there's something wrong with that relationship and you need
- 38:42to either not have, teach them that it's a partnership and, you know, and develop the
- 38:49relationship with them so they don't feel that way.
- 38:52You know, you don't say to your friend, I want to go out on Saturday night, so I'm going
- 38:56to call three friends and whoever gets back to me first, I'm going to go out with them
- 38:59on Saturday night.
- 39:00Yeah.
- 39:01You know, you choose who you, who you go out with and you're going to choose who you
- 39:06do business with.
- 39:07That person just didn't realize, didn't realize the value you bring.
- 39:11So you have to illustrate to them the value you bring so they don't want to call anybody
- 39:14else.
- 39:15Yeah.
- 39:16And then you have to have a little, you know, you're pushing yourself worth and, and standards.
- 39:18I remember I had an agent who would call me and you would say, you'd leave me a voicemail,
- 39:22hey, I have a buyer and if you don't call me back within an hour, I'm calling somebody
- 39:25else.
- 39:26And we had done some transactions together, et cetera.
- 39:28But at one point, yeah, I had to sit down and say, hey, you know what, Dave, guess what?
- 39:32That's not the way I operate.
- 39:33And if you feel you can get a better deal, better service somewhere else, you know, by
- 39:36all means, dude, go for it.
- 39:38But, you know, you calling up with like playing that game, sorry, you know, yeah, the same
- 39:43thing holds true with you're only as good as your last deal.
- 39:46Yeah.
- 39:47In this mortgage industry, so many things happen.
- 39:51Yes.
- 39:52And sometimes you can't foresee that the guy loses their job two days before closing.
- 39:58And that's not the mortgage persons fall.
- 40:00You know, we as originators get paid to solve problems.
- 40:04That's why we get paid what we get paid.
- 40:07So we need to be able to communicate the problem and say why it might not be our fault.
- 40:15And that's where we bring value in calming the situation and not, you know, making it
- 40:20be more drama than it really is.
- 40:23Okay, well, we weren't able to settle in this house.
- 40:26They lost their job.
- 40:27Let's get them another job and let's figure this out.
- 40:30You know, where can we put a co-borrow on it or how can we, you know, how can we do this?
- 40:35So it's being calm at the same time.
- 40:39And that's where you drive your value so that they're not giving the other cards and that
- 40:43you're not only as good as your last deal.
- 40:44And sometimes you have to remind them of all the rabbits you pulled out of your hat.
- 40:48Yeah.
- 40:49So what is your, was your kind of communication plan or system as you're in a transaction
- 40:56with a realtor, you know, did you have kind of a set cadence and write boxes you check
- 41:01and so forth?
- 41:02I think that I didn't have a set system of boxes that I checked because I was so, I communicated
- 41:08so much with the realtors that I did business with.
- 41:11So you're overcommunicated, which is.
- 41:12I overcommunicated on a daily basis, like they knew when the appraisal was being done.
- 41:17They knew when the file went into underwriting.
- 41:19They knew how long it was going to take.
- 41:21They knew when we got it commitment.
- 41:23I was constantly telling them everything that was going on in the process.
- 41:28And one of the originators that I have now, they, they call all their realtors whether
- 41:34they're doing business with them or not on Mondays.
- 41:38They have a, they just go down a checklist and if they have a deal, they tell them what
- 41:41the status of the deal is and if they don't have a deal, they ask for the business or see
- 41:44if they can help them in any other way.
- 41:46Okay, right?
- 41:47Just a top of mine, yep.
- 41:48And, you know, they're killing it and it's just by that Monday, they block off Mondays
- 41:53for that.
- 41:54Yeah, and it's the phone call.
- 41:55It's not an email.
- 41:56It's the phone, yeah, it's totally the phone call.
- 41:58I had one realtor one time tell me and she was a really big realtor of mine and she
- 42:04said, she pulled me aside and she said, Sue, I get great emails from you with your, your
- 42:10drip campaigns and I get great realtors from a great emails from lots of loan officers.
- 42:17The difference is that you stop by the office or you follow it up with a phone call and
- 42:22that, that means a lot.
- 42:23Keep it up.
- 42:24Keep it up.
- 42:25And I was like, wow, she really did, did me a favor by telling me that because I maybe
- 42:31I could have gotten lazy and just started emailing and I say the same thing to, to my processors
- 42:36today, you can't just send the email, they have to pick up the phone and introduce yourself,
- 42:41tell them what loan officer you're working with and, you know, get their information that
- 42:46we need.
- 42:47It's that, it's that personal communication that is the extra, it's the wow factor.
- 42:53And that wow factor buys you raving fans.
- 42:56Yeah.
- 42:57And that's just one way to set yourself apart is if you're giving that personal touch.
- 43:01It's funny.
- 43:02I get a great, actually, example of that.
- 43:04I've got to fly up to Bellingham, Washington on Monday and, you know, we, both, we,
- 43:08you and I have stayed in tons of hotels.
- 43:10People stay in hotels all the time.
- 43:12But this, this hotel actually called me yesterday and said, hey, Mr. Zimper, this is such
- 43:17a hotel.
- 43:18We just want to let you know that we're preparing for your visit and, you know, should
- 43:20you have any special requests?
- 43:21And I'm like, listening to this voicemail going, what a hotel calling me like three days
- 43:26before I come.
- 43:27I've never heard that before.
- 43:29And that's a wow.
- 43:30Yeah, that's a wow.
- 43:31Now I'm like looking forward to going to the hotel.
- 43:34Yeah, hopefully it says, good as you wanted to say, right?
- 43:38But they've already set the expectation, right?
- 43:40Yeah.
- 43:41Which is cool.
- 43:42It's, it's really cool.
- 43:44And if everyone stepping up their game that way in today to a person that won on one
- 43:50personal communication and contact, even though everyone thinks it's going away from
- 43:54that, it's not.
- 43:55People crave it more because so much of it is the automated online digital stuff.
- 44:00Right.
- 44:01Right.
- 44:03We have a receptionist that answers the phones here because I cannot stand that voicemail
- 44:08of push this, push that, push this.
- 44:10So we have someone who answers our phones and we will never give that up.
- 44:14Yeah.
- 44:15Yeah.
- 44:16Let's not forget.
- 44:17It's a relationship business.
- 44:18It is a relationship business.
- 44:19And trust is built, you know, repeatedly over and over again.
- 44:22Not just once.
- 44:23Right.
- 44:24Exactly.
- 44:25Which leads me to talking about in person, you mentioned classes and that's near and
- 44:27dear to my heart, your social media classes.
- 44:29So tell me a little bit about that.
- 44:32Who does those?
- 44:33Your loan officers?
- 44:34How do you have a marketing team that produces the content, et cetera?
- 44:36Well, our loan officers can do it, but we send our marketing people out into the field
- 44:42to do those or we have them in our office and the realtors come to us.
- 44:46I see.
- 44:47So when they talk about how they can build their platform, why it's different than everything
- 44:51else and that it's not hard.
- 44:55Mm-hmm.
- 44:56Okay.
- 44:57So you provide, you know, some tips and strategies, right?
- 44:59Yes.
- 45:00All of that stuff.
- 45:01And I don't personally do it.
- 45:04And the whole team of marketing people do it that we have here.
- 45:07And I think that it really sets us apart and our originators apart in that it's something
- 45:12else that we can sell.
- 45:13And it doesn't cost the realtors anything except for developing a partnership with us.
- 45:19And develop, you know, and developing that trust and that relationship.
- 45:22And if they get one deal from it, well, gosh, that's amazing.
- 45:26That's fantastic.
- 45:27So what I find with classes is that it's a great top of the funnel activity to create
- 45:31those warm relationships just so L.O.s can follow up on, right?
- 45:34Absolutely.
- 45:35But you're getting agents who come to your office, bets in the seats that you might not otherwise
- 45:38be able to get in front of or they've been on the radar for so long and they finally
- 45:41come to your class.
- 45:42Yes.
- 45:43And as I said, how many mortgage companies have realtors coming into their office?
- 45:48Right.
- 45:49Right.
- 45:50By the way, did you find that to be an issue early on with a, oh, I don't want to go to
- 45:52a mortgage office because I'm just going to get, you know, a mortgage pitch.
- 45:56No.
- 45:57No, I actually didn't, I didn't, we didn't see that happen.
- 46:00Okay.
- 46:01Well, in the last couple of minutes, what I want to do is touch briefly on as you, as
- 46:05you, you know, came up, speak to ranks and started generating more and more volume, you
- 46:11needed to build a team around yourself, right?
- 46:13Yes.
- 46:14So if you can talk, because I talk to L.O.s often about, you know, how do I build that team
- 46:19where they are like the rain maker and they're not caught in the file all day long, et cetera.
- 46:24Do you have any quick tips or advice on those listening that want to, you know, do less
- 46:30ops, less processing, if you will, and more rain making.
- 46:34How would you advise?
- 46:35Well, find the right culture that works with you so that you don't, that you don't get
- 46:39into the weeds, but in the right, in the right company that, that understands that you
- 46:44want to, that you want to build your, build your business.
- 46:48And I have to say that I, as the CEO of Centennial like to work on my, on Centennial ending more
- 46:54than in Centennial ending sometimes, but I do get sucked back into the pipeline.
- 47:00But I would say that what you really need to do is you need to know what volume works
- 47:05for you that doesn't make you be in the weeds.
- 47:08And then you have to find someone that you can connect with and become partners with and
- 47:14develop a relationship with, but whether that's a seasoned loan officer or a new loan officer,
- 47:20who you can funnel business to and then get an override on, but you have to be willing
- 47:26to take less on those deals.
- 47:28Lots of originators sometimes say, well, I want, want it all, well, if you want it all,
- 47:33then you shouldn't be hiring someone because you, you need to have them grow.
- 47:40And the more that you can feed and water those originators, the more your, your team grows.
- 47:49Right.
- 47:50And sometimes you have to take less to get more.
- 47:52Yes.
- 47:53Good.
- 47:54And that's hard, that's hard to understand sometimes because, I mean, originators are, you
- 47:59know, hunting all the time, as they should be, but wouldn't it be great when you're hunting
- 48:04if you can spread, spread it around, you know, more so that you can go out and hunt more.
- 48:11If you know how to sell and you sell, well, you can sell a lot.
- 48:16If you have someone who, you know, can, can finish off the sale, when we're doing this
- 48:21with some of our teams here and finding the right person is difficult at times, but as
- 48:26soon as you find that right person, you're really able to grow your team and grow your
- 48:31business.
- 48:32And so it's really like little mini entrepreneurial areas of that alone originator can be and,
- 48:40and then the sky's the limit.
- 48:42So I always felt that my own personal production could be, I mean, granted it was 10 years
- 48:49ago, anywhere from, it was like around 40 million.
- 48:54My team was $120 million team.
- 48:57So I also had two other people who would also do business that came from my referral sources.
- 49:04So that allowed me to make more money, obviously, but it allowed me to also have time because
- 49:11not one person can do $120 million worth of business.
- 49:15So, and then you have, and then then you can grow it.
- 49:18So we are doing at Centennial is we're looking to place the right people and I do think
- 49:23right now with the average age of a loan officer being, I think at last time, I looked
- 49:27it was 50, six years old, the 57 now.
- 49:31So I do think that if you have the patience to pave the way for 20 year olds to come
- 49:41on and that you can help grow your business while helping someone else grow their career,
- 49:48that would be really cool.
- 49:51And I think you probably didn't mention it, but I'm sure you had a clearly divine system
- 49:57or process for who handled what during the transaction.
- 50:00If you're the rain maker, then yeah, so it's all about, and that's one of the things
- 50:06that we put into place at Centennial, it's all about systems and processes, and everyone
- 50:12had to do it.
- 50:13I mean, I hear the people saying it now, well, I want it done the way I do it.
- 50:17Well, if you put the system in process into place, the people who are working for you
- 50:21are doing it the way you do it.
- 50:23They talk like you, they act like you, they know what that they, I hate to interrupt,
- 50:29but what about, because I know you've had this happen, you get people on quote, the system
- 50:33and then they veer off and they start, they don't follow it.
- 50:36So how do you get people back on, so you tell them, you have a sit down, you have a little
- 50:41come to Susan talk.
- 50:42Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, come to Susan talk, and so you tell them, I had one, one person
- 50:49that would always say, you need to bring 10,000 bucks to settlement.
- 50:56You need to bring 10,000 bucks to settlement.
- 50:57You need to bring 12,000 bucks to settlement, and I would cringe in my chair when I heard
- 51:03the person saying how many bucks, you need to bring to settlement, and finally they hung
- 51:08up the phone and I said, how are they going to fit 10,000 deer into that closing office?
- 51:13That's your real, that's good.
- 51:16And they were like, what are you talking about?
- 51:18I was like, I swear, if you say bucks one more time, I'm going to, I'm going to go
- 51:24herd the deer, add from outside, into the, into a conference room, and we'll see how
- 51:29many, how many finnets.
- 51:32And let me tell you, I made a joke out, it was very lighthearted, but that person never
- 51:37said bucks again.
- 51:38That's a wonderful way to position that though, I love that, it's much better than like slam
- 51:43in your head, your hand down on the desk saying, bucks, what the hell are you talking about?
- 51:48No, I made a joke out of it, and they thought that they were being kind of ridiculous, and
- 51:54I was me, I was somewhat making fun of them a little bit, but it was with the humility
- 51:58and humor that I was making a point, and not everybody can get away with that type of
- 52:08thing, but I, it works.
- 52:10And sometimes I, or telling a story, works too.
- 52:14So there's always a reason that you have the system and process in place, and if people
- 52:18can understand why that system and process is in place, then they're, they easily, more
- 52:24easily adapt to it.
- 52:25Yeah, and I think the point you're trying to make there is, like you said, they have to
- 52:30follow your lead, they have to, if you're trying to create a customer experience, you
- 52:34dictate what that is, you, you know, it's the scripting itself.
- 52:37It's just the process around that, and down to even the verbiage, we don't use words
- 52:41like bucks when we're working with our clients, right?
- 52:44We don't talk on the telephone in Chugam at the same time, like that was another thing
- 52:49that, that would bother me, and I sometimes I like, we just pull the trash can out from
- 52:53underneath the desk and be like, spit it out.
- 52:55Yeah, put it behind your ear till the phone calls down.
- 52:58Yeah, just, you know, it's just the little things and, and that make a huge difference.
- 53:04Yeah, no, that's a big point.
- 53:06And have, and have that in place, and I, I would say, listen to those people, if everyone's
- 53:11working from remote offices, you need to have that, you need to put in the time with those
- 53:16people so that you hear what they're saying, and they hear how you sell.
- 53:21Right.
- 53:22They need to develop a raft that sounds like you.
- 53:24Mm-hmm.
- 53:25Hey, okay, so last question.
- 53:26Then do you believe that if you want to be a quote top producer, you know, for these
- 53:30L.O.'s that want to, you know, build their $100 million team or whatever the case is,
- 53:35as I know, you went to a lot of your closings.
- 53:38I still would, if somebody, if I could learn officers, can't go to a closing, the, the
- 53:43president of the, the president of the company will show up if it's in this area.
- 53:46But if you're advising an L.O. that says, you know what, here's, I just want to be the
- 53:49rainmaker, right?
- 53:50I just want to tee it up.
- 53:51I'll have the first, like, L.O. consult, right, the loan consulting, and then I flip it
- 53:54over to my team and then boom, I'm off to another one, and I don't go to close.
- 53:58Any reaction to that?
- 53:59Is that?
- 54:00Yeah, so I believe if you're going to tee it up, you need to finish it off.
- 54:04Oh, okay.
- 54:05And, and whether it went good, it went bad or went indifferent, you need to go to that
- 54:09closing.
- 54:10Well, so, but, but how can somebody be a mega, right, mega producer, if they're going
- 54:14to other closings?
- 54:15They, they, you have a representative at your closing.
- 54:18If it's not you, it's somebody else, because you're, if that you have to ask for that,
- 54:23the listing agent, you have to ask for the business, you have to ask the listing agent
- 54:27for more business.
- 54:28You have to ask the selling agent for more business, and you have to ask the buyers for
- 54:31more business.
- 54:32And actually, at my settlement yesterday, the people were moving to Los Angeles, and I
- 54:37said, you know what, if you would need any help with regards to your mortgage at all,
- 54:41don't hesitate to give me a telephone call.
- 54:44I mean, you could be missing out on more than a handful of deals that every one of those
- 54:49people at that settlement table could give you, because you were too busy.
- 54:52Yep.
- 54:53Nope.
- 54:54I got, I got, I mean, I like the fact that you did say, you know, or send a representative,
- 54:57because I mean, there are, as you know, teams, I mean, you yourself, you're, you're a company
- 55:00a sizable company with people.
- 55:02There are, for sure, there is, I'm interviewing a loan officer next week, 19 people on us
- 55:07team, 400 million, I know he doesn't go to his closings, but, yes, but he has a representative
- 55:12one.
- 55:13And remember, the majority of this call has been talked about talking about how you become
- 55:16that part, that, that mega, that mega star.
- 55:20If you're beginning, you have to go to all your closings, right, right, until you're only
- 55:25going to some of your closings.
- 55:27And really, a closing should only take 15 minutes.
- 55:29Yeah, take care of all the problems up front if they're going to be any.
- 55:32Yeah.
- 55:33There should never be any.
- 55:34Your, your, your time to shine is at that closing.
- 55:37Yeah.
- 55:38Pop the champagne.
- 55:39Yeah.
- 55:40Like, take a picture, put it on social media, Instagram, put it on everything.
- 55:45That is your time to say, get your testimonials, say our team.
- 55:49The team did it.
- 55:50Right.
- 55:51And, and I say, and, and you put it on, you put it on Twitter, you put it on Facebook,
- 55:55you put it on LinkedIn, and then I, I, as the president, comment on every one of my
- 56:01loan officers surveys that get put up all over the place, or I comment on, on their,
- 56:07on, you know, great job, see, Team CLG.
- 56:09And I know you guys use, if I, if I read correctly, social survey for your online reviews.
- 56:13We do use social survey for online reviews that one of my favorite vendors.
- 56:21Yeah.
- 56:22I, part of a co-op called the mortgage collaborative and they're part of, they're part of that.
- 56:28And I would say that, that the value in social survey is huge for, for the company and for
- 56:36the originators.
- 56:38And the value of being in a co-op such as the mortgage collaborative is, is priceless.
- 56:46Yeah.
- 56:47Yeah.
- 56:48Absolutely.
- 56:49So, we'll also put links to that in the show notes for social survey as well, our mutual
- 57:05friends over there.
- 57:06For those listening, social survey is a way for you to make it easy for your clients to
- 57:10leave online reviews for you, which is today's currency of trust online.
- 57:14So, definitely do that if you're not doing it.
- 57:17Awesome.
- 57:18So, we are at the top of the hour.
- 57:20We are done, but I just want to say thank you so much, your book, Crazy Lucky Girl.
- 57:24Do you have the keys to success?
- 57:26I love this book because it's a fun read.
- 57:28It's got lots of cool stories in it.
- 57:29And as we shared some of them from today, definitely ones we all can relate to as loan officers.
- 57:35But I like it because you also take us on a journey and show us how, you know, your journey,
- 57:38right?
- 57:39You started from ground zero and then you get the 40 million and then you have your own
- 57:42like awesome mortgage company that's just kicking ass and taking names.
- 57:46So, that's all.
- 57:47We're trying.
- 57:48We're trying.
- 57:49And I appreciate being on, so thank you so much for having me.
- 57:52Yeah.
- 57:53For those listening, please go get her book.
- 57:54There'll be links in the show notes to Amazon, to her own homepage, Crazy Lucky Girl, to
- 57:59her company page at Centennial Lending.
- 58:00And if you're in the areas that she serves in the States and you're looking, you know,
- 58:04considering a possible change, we'll check her out, right?
- 58:09Right.
- 58:10What's a CLG-LLC.com.
- 58:13You got it.
- 58:14So, once again, listeners, thanks so much for tuning in.
- 58:16If you like today's episode, please leave us a review.
- 58:19And as always, we appreciate you and we look forward to seeing you on the next one, bye
- 58:23for now.
- 58:24Thanks for listening to Mortgage Marketing Radio.
- 58:27One more truth in mortgage marketing, get more free training and resources at MortgageMarketingInstitute.com.
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