Latest / Mortgage Marketing Radio / Ep. 136 - 3 Words to Focus on to Win More Deals

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Ep. 136 - 3 Words to Focus on to Win More Deals · Mortgage Marketing Radio

0:00
In today's highly competitive mortgage industry, building profitable relationships with
0:04
real estate agents is essential for success.
0:06
However, finding effective ways to secure agent relationships can be a challenge.
0:11
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Our new case study featuring loan officer Chris Cogill is a must-read.
0:25
This has closed a remarkable 36 million in funded loans from agent referrals.
0:31
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0:35
with real estate agents and leveraging those relationships to drive more business.
0:39
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of the case study today.
0:47
You'll find actionable insights and practical tips that Chris used to close 36 million
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Don't miss out.
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Go check it out right now, visit LOKestudy.com and download your free copy today.
1:17
Welcome to Mortgage Marketing Radio.
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Brought to you by the Mortgage Marketing Institute, your number one source for truth
1:24
in Mortgage Marketing.
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Hey, what's up listeners, Jeff Zimfer, your humble host of the Mortgage Marketing Radio
1:30
podcast.
1:31
Hey, I am back.
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And why do I say that?
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It's not like I haven't done an episode.
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Here's this week's episode, right?
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But here's what I mean.
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I wanted to share with you just a quick little insight into the crazy schedule I've had
1:43
lately in my life, which has made it extra challenging to stay really engaged and connected
1:48
with you.
1:49
You know that we bought a house here in Vegas about a month ago and have been spent the
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last month pretty much rehabbing it.
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And we have affectionately referred to it as the money pit.
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If you've seen that movie, you know what I'm talking about, or War of the Roses, both
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excellent movies you guys should see.
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So anyway, here's the thing, right?
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We just moved in on Labor Day weekend.
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And as you would expect with any move in, there's always contingencies you didn't factor
2:15
in.
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It's a 20-year-old house.
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So, hey, we don't have plumbing yet in our master bedroom, and then we need to have like,
2:21
you know, a hole punched in the wall to do some plumbing retrofits.
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We got issues with some things with the pool, you know, I mean, just things on and on.
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Welcome back to home ownership, right?
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It is what it is.
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But taking it on and loving it.
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Plus, I've been really challenged personally, work-wise lately in terms of available band
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with there.
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You guys may or may not know.
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I am a sales coach at Movement Mortgage.
2:44
And so, those are my full-time activities and, you know, dedication to that.
2:48
And if anybody ever has questions about what it's like to work at Movement Mortgage
2:51
to be a loan officer, you can always reach out to me.
2:53
If you have any questions about anything, you can always email me podcast at mortgagingmarkeradyo.com
2:59
or hit me up on Facebook.
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So I just wanted to let you guys know where I've been personally, and look, we all have
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various struggles in our lives.
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I know it's, I feel the pressure to kind of be online consistently, as I'm sure you guys
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can relate to that to some degree.
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And so it hasn't been easy, and I just want to let you know I'm aware of it.
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But look out, baby, because I'm back at my home office, getting set up here and ready
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to rock and roll.
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So what we're doing this week is, every Tuesday, I typically go live on our page, two pages,
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the Mortgage Marketing Institute page on Facebook, and our private group just for
3:31
our podcast listeners, that's you, the Mortgage Marketing Radio podcast on Facebook.
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If you haven't been over to either of those, just come over to the Mortgage to Facebook,
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right?
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Mortgage Marketing Institute or Mortgage Marketing Radio podcast.
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Type in, join us, like us, and that's where you're going to get access to these lives.
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Now, this is a replay of that live, and we are going to get back to our regular schedule
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of awesome special guests coming back up.
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I've got people that helped me schedule my podcast guests now, and so we're going to
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diversify as well and bring you more, not only top producing mortgage originators and
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stay on the thread of our content there, bringing you what's really working in today's
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market, but we're also going to diversify and bring you some unique and different special
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guests.
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People have given me great feedback on some previous guests we've had that are speakers,
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authors, trainers, coaches, and people like that.
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So if it's appropriate for the audience for the group, then we're going to bring those
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to you.
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So with that said, let me give you a quick, another shout out to one of our podcast listeners.
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This is from all the way back in July of 2018.
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Let's see, it's HSC baseball four, right?
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That's his handle on leaving this review, he says, best mortgage podcast period.
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I want to start by saying thank you to the mortgage market radio for all the useful info
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from the top producers that come on the show.
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I've enabled incorporate many ideas from top producers into my own arsenal, major kudos.
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Major kudos, dear.
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I hope I'm not repeating these reviews.
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I usually try and dig pretty deep.
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We've got over 160 of those reviews now.
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So guys, keep them coming.
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I appreciate it.
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That's how we stay up in the rankings on iTunes and other places.
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And by the way, as a thank you, I'm going to get you a free podcast swag box, t-shirt,
5:09
sticker, some other stuff that we're putting in the swag boxes that thank you.
5:12
So if you've left us a review or you're going to leave us a review, hit me up on Facebook,
5:17
send me your mailing address that you did leave a review, and your t-shirt size will send
5:21
you off some swag.
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All right.
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Let's get into this week's episode.
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Today I'm talking about the three C's that we need to focus on as we head into 2020.
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Three C words are at play and they are customer, clarity, and communication.
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I'm going to unpack on the replay of this Facebook live on how all three of these play into
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your business.
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And so this is just something that I think is relevant to keep top of mind for you when
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you're evaluating your business plan, your strategy, coming up against potential disruptors
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and competitors in the market, focusing on, obviously you've guys have heard it before,
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quote, focus on the customer, but I'm also talking about focusing on your referral partners
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as well.
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Bottom line is this, most of us don't spend enough time thinking about the mindset of
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our clients and referral partners.
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Number two, clarity.
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Right?
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Clarity is power.
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I'm going to talk a little bit about what can you eliminate?
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What can we say better?
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How can you build smarter instructions and interactions in process with your clients,
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right?
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Communication, right?
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How you say what you say is everything and some other cool nuggets in there.
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So guys, hope you're like this week's episode and look for some more great guests to becoming
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real soon.
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I appreciate you and let's get into this week's show.
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So I want to start off by just saying I apologize.
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I have been off the grid for a little bit.
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Multiple things happening as, you know, life can sometimes be like a series of waves.
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I remember Lou Holtz at a quote once that said, life is like a series of waves.
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If one's not hitting you now, one's on its way.
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So I just recently got through a wave that was a multiple things was this house.
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It was stuff related to work and so forth.
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So many of you know that, you know, I'm a national sales coach and trainer with movement
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mortgage.
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And what I wanted to share with you is what we're seeing across the country, you know,
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and working with the law officers that we do there and convey and share this kind of
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message with you today.
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As always, I'm trying to tell you the truth about what's working today in today's market.
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So let's get into it.
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All right.
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I want to talk about the three C words that you need to be focused on in your business.
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You know, in the world we live in today, there's, there's lots of impending, depending on
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how you look at it, you could call them threats, disruptors, noise, competition, right?
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Choices for the consumer and expectations that are oftentimes being set for the consumer
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and what it should be like to purchase and transact a home, buying a home, getting
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a financing and all that kind of stuff.
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So today, I want to talk about are the three C words, okay?
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And they are customer clarity and communication and I'm going to briefly break all of these
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down real quickly for you, okay?
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So the first one in the three customer is where the focus needs to be.
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Now before you two now and say, you know what, hey, I've heard this before, all customer
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first and all that kind of just, I would venture to say that most of you, myself included,
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have not spent a lot of time thinking about the mindset of your clients, customers, your
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referral partners, right?
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Anybody who you consider a customer, anybody who's transacting to do business with you,
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so this could be online, right?
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Social media, this could be in person, face to face, this could be your clients when
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you talk to them on the phone, referral partners, customer, right?
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It's the first of the three words that we've got to focus on if we intend to win and survive
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and thrive coming through the rest of this year and well into next year as these other
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players come in and compete for our customers' attention.
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Because make no mistake about it guys, that's what the game is today, first and foremost,
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the game is getting customer attention.
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So if you don't spend lots of time working on thinking through the mindset of your clients
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and referral partners, right, those who engage with you, then how do you know if you're
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designing an experience that they want, okay?
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And I want you to start by asking yourself and asking your clients and referral partners
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questions, right?
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Describe for me, I'm going to give you a couple of different questions, use them in the
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order that you want, but in one case you could be described for me, right?
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Your ideal experience in obtaining a mortgage.
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Or if they've got one in the past, would you do me a favor and take a moment to describe
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for me what that experience was like?
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Now that's an interesting question because what that will give you, if they've gotten
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a mortgage before, they've gone through the home buying process before, what that will
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give you is context into what they liked and perhaps reveal some things that they didn't
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like that they felt were frustrated.
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So there'll be some lessons in there, right?
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But also, when thinking about creating or designing a customer experience or referral partner
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experience, you've got to look at who your competition is.
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Look at how high is the bar being set?
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Who are you being measured against?
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And well, let's face it, right?
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One of the obvious example that people tend to use a lot is Amazon, right?
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Amazon has set the bar high for customer experience, generally speaking.
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Millions of customers buying and returning millions of things every single day, every single
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month, right?
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And most people would rank the customer experience in Amazon pretty high.
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Why?
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Because it's efficient.
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It's typically pain less or less painful than buying from another vendor online.
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It's transparent.
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It's clear, it's easy, it's familiar, it's laid out, right?
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People understand it, people trust it, okay?
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So I want you to start considering and evaluating your customer experience, right?
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What's it like?
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What's it like from the first moment of somebody engages with you, whether it's online,
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whether it's through a phone call, whether it's face to face, I don't care what it is.
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You've got to really consciously architect and think about the customer experience and
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your referral partner experience so you can deliver what it is they want.
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What's up?
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What's up, cowboy Craig Johnson?
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I know you're designing your customer experience to rock.
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So look at a hotel, right?
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If you go to the Ritz Carlton, what does somebody want at the Ritz Carlton, right?
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They want pampering, right?
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They want everything handled for them, okay?
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They want to be free from having to deal with the usual frustrations of their world.
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So what do your people want when they come to you?
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What do your clients want?
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When they're obtaining a mortgage, when they're learning about their financing options?
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And how can you deliver an experience for them that not only meets their expectation,
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but exceeds them?
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Oftentimes, it comes back to asking questions, like I said, if you weren't here in the
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beginning, Craig, I know you joined us late, those of you watching, you got to ask your
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customer's experience.
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Have you ever gotten a mortgage before, right?
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Great.
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Can you tell me a little bit about that experience?
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What was that like for you?
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Right?
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And then they're going to reveal all these things to you, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
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Make notes, take learnings, ask people that multiple times, you'll start to see patterns
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and then you can also ask your clients and referral partners.
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If you could architect the ideal mortgage experience, the ideal process in obtaining financing
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for this home.
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Tell me some of the things you would want to absolutely have as a must.
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What is your communication preferences, weekly, channel, do you prefer text over email and
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so forth?
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And what you need to do is build an attorney, build a case.
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Build a case for your customer, your client, a referral partner so you can have the data
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to architect that ideal solution for them.
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Notice patterns.
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Notice when you start to hear the same thing, two, three, four times in a row, those are
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key indicators.
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But how are you going to know if you ask the question, right?
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How are you going to know and let's just spend some time thinking about it, okay?
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And obviously you've got more than one customer, more than one client, right?
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You've got the husband and wife.
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You've got the realtor, you've got other people involved in the transaction, your underwriter,
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your processor.
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Bottom line is this is you 100% control the experience, your clients and your referral partners have.
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Are you taking ownership of that and designing the ideal experience for them?
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So that's number one of the three C words, customer, number two, clarity, right?
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Think about this, how can you do more with less?
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How can you provide a clearer path forward, a clearer path to choosing you as the mortgage
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professional of choice with less?
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What I mean by that, can you build a more intelligent, more intuitive path or process?
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Do you have an easy user-friendly online app?
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I don't know.
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Do you have a wonderful intake process that clearly articulates to your clients what the process
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is going to be like?
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You think about a captain.
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So this is an old metaphor from years ago by Joe Stump who originally made this popular
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where Joe had some awesome scripting around, you are the captain of the ship as the mortgage
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loan professional.
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And you've got a bunch of passengers on your plane, I said ship, I mean plane, you're
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the captain of your plane, right?
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And what you need to do is inform your guests, right?
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Much like they do before you take off, people let you know, okay, the type of aircraft you're
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on, right?
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We've got a completely full flight today, here's what you can expect for today, our
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time of flight duration is going to be, right?
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You're captain and your co-pilot are, your staff and support people are, right, Billy and
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Wendy, et cetera, et cetera, right?
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You're getting a clear path of what to expect, right?
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Instructions, right, are you sitting in an exit route?
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This is what you need to know, right, should we lose oxygen?
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This is what's going to happen, right, et cetera, et cetera, right?
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So how can you create a path of clarity and minimize the fluff, minimize the noise, right?
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Because too many people got too much information being thrown at people with no context around
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it and how to use it, okay?
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So think about how you can design clarity in the process, because it goes back to, right,
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starting with the client and the customer, clarity, who the heck doesn't want clarity?
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How many people want more confusion?
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Do you want more confusion?
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Anybody raising your hands?
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I'm walking around a restaurant, want to fill your coffee cup with confusion?
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No, I don't think so, right?
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I'll take a heavy dose of clarity, please, right?
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So provide clarity for both your clients and your referral partners on what your process
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is.
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That's why you've got to start with number one, consciously thinking about it and asking
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your consumers.
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All right, let's move on to step three, communication.
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How you say what you say is everything, right?
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How you say what you say is everything.
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You ever heard the old saying that it's not what you say, it's how you're saying it,
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that makes me feel the certain way?
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Mm-hmm.
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Yeah, see, words have meanings, tones have meanings.
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Sequence in order has meanings, right?
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How about telling stories?
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Where can you integrate more stories at the start of your customer journey, start of your
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customer process, right?
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Can you articulate a story of somebody you've had as a client who's been on a similar
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journey as the client you're dealing with right now, the first time home buyer process?
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Oh, you know what?
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That's so fantastic.
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I love working with first-time home buyers.
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As a matter of fact, we had a recent story of the Smith family who came to us as first
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time home buyers as well, and they had this concern in that, and they had some questions
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around here, and what we're able to do for them is this, right?
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Guys, makes, does this make sense here?
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Okay.
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So with communication, sometimes again, less is more, brevity is power, right?
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And selling with a story really helps make it real for people.
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So, how do you deliver what you say, scripting, the law of the dress rehearsal, right?
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Let's bring scripting back, as a matter of fact, on the podcast just last week, I interviewed
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Chris Smith, co-founder of Curator, who's got a brand new book out, right?
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What to say and when to say it, we'll put only in the show notes for that.
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But Chris is excellent at crafting a digital online process, right?
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A consumer experience process that's clear, that's friction-free, that provides a journey
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for people, but also he's excellent at asking, knowing what to say when, because the worst
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time to figure out what you need to say is when you need to say it.
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That's not the time to figure out, you know, quick split second, oh, they said this,
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like I wrote, I said, come up with that, no, crafted out, structured, like that, the
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airline, right?
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Airplane metaphor, I talked about knowing your destination and your journey, and you
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are the captain, hey, we may run into some turbulence along the way, but just remember,
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I am your captain, and I'll, at times, request that everybody remain in their seats so that
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I can get us to our destination safely, right?
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So that's an example of scripting, example of scripting might be when you get on the phone
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with somebody and they say, hey, what's your rate?
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You say, well, that's a great question, Mr. Mrs. Custimer, it's obviously an important
18:29
part of your overall decision, but would you mind if I take a moment and just ask you
18:33
a couple of questions so I can accurately provide a rate quote for you?
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Absolutely.
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Great, are you interested in a 30 year fix, a five year interest only, an FHA, right?
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Are you interested in, you start asking them questions, controlling the conversation,
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scripting.
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Todd Duncan calls it the law of the dress rehearsal, right?
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You've got to practice your craft if you're going to be good, okay?
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Johnson, what do you say?
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You got a long, long-winded thing there, Mr. Johnson, we all need to remember as no matter
19:04
what's going on at any industry that's always a pivot, and the question becomes, are you
19:08
or are you going to not pivot before everyone else does?
19:11
Play offense, not defense.
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That's right.
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You've got to always got to be prepared, be on your game, be aware, right?
19:15
And always be working on your skills, yourself, right?
19:19
Jim Rohn says, right, formal education will make you a living, self-education, will make
19:23
you a fortune.
19:25
Are you working on yourself?
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Are you so caught up in your business that you're not working on yourself?
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Yes, we've got to work on our business, but don't forget to work on yourself.
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So what are we talking about here today, right?
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We're talking about the three C words, customer, right?
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Spend time thinking about the mindset of your customers and your referral partners, right?
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I use customers and clients interchangeably, right?
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Get in their head.
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And what are their expectations?
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What are they comparing you against?
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How would you design and create the ultimate experience for them, which leads to the second
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C word, which is clarity, right?
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Thinking about clarity, removing the fluff, brevity, and being very clarifying, very clear
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with your instructions on what it's like to work with you, what the process is going
20:12
to be, how's it going to be different?
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And then lastly, the final C word is communication, which the key here is how you say what you
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say.
20:19
Right?
20:20
Most people just show up and throw up.
20:21
Most people just wing it.
20:22
Most people just kind of do what they've been doing for the last 20, 30 years and look
20:25
at.
20:26
I'm guilty as this as well.
20:27
This life is a constant like process of fine refinement and improvement, right?
20:33
And the work on yourself is never ultimately done, right?
20:36
We're always a work in progress.
20:38
So the number one sin here is to get complacent, to get casual, right?
20:43
Jim Ron, again, casualness leads to casualties.
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Do not take your customer communication, your clarity, your process, your experience.
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Do not take that lightly.
20:52
You are being evaluated.
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Today, especially if you're working with first-time home buyers, millennials, they are
20:58
double-appling you more than anybody else ever in history.
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So you better have your A game on, right?
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And just know that what you're up against is this.
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People that you're trying to get attention from clients, referral partners, they're paying
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less attention than ever before, okay?
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These tools that we have Facebook, live, Twitter, Instagram, digital tools and all that,
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they only take you so far, right?
21:26
What you need is a strong customer client referral partner focus.
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You need absolute clarity on what people want and you need to be able to articulate how
21:36
you fulfill that and you need expert communication skills to help your clients and your referral
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partners see themselves being well served by choosing you.
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That makes sense?
21:53
Those are the three C's, people.
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Just wanted to bring the truth here to you today.
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Hope you enjoyed it.
21:58
Love to get your comments or feedback.
22:00
Next topic you want to talk about here on the podcast.
22:03
Look for more cool things coming your way by way of the podcast.
22:06
It's been a little tough with the move and all the rehab and all that kind of stuff going
22:10
on, taken off the game for a while, behind the eight ball, complete honesty in terms of
22:14
lining up podcast guests, but we're getting back on track and more good content coming
22:19
for you.
22:20
But hope you're enjoying these sessions as well, these live sessions.
22:23
So if you're not yet a member of our mortgage marketing radio podcast community on Facebook,
22:28
make sure you get in there and you can always email me podcast at mortgagemarketingradio.com.
22:34
Mr. Craig Johnson, thanks for being here riding along with me.
22:37
And remember, those are the three C's to look at as we head into 2020.
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We need to get there now, not later.
22:43
Hey guys, hope you enjoyed this one.
22:46
Peace out.
22:47
See you on the next one.
22:48
Bye for now.
22:49
Thanks for listening to Mortgage Marketing Radio.
22:52
For more truth in mortgage marketing, get more free training and resources at mortgagemarketinginstitute.com.
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Hey guys, what's up real quick?
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You've heard about the mortgage marketing pro membership before and I just want to quickly
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remind you of that you're in a place in your business where you simply need more purchased
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loans.
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You need to fill your pipeline with purchased business.
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Just face it, agents are still a solid pillar of business and sources of purchase business
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for you.
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Well, good news.
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Our mortgage marketing pro membership helps loan officers like you close more loans without
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the hassle of chasing agents or cold calling done for you agent classes, expert training
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videos, a marketing automation platform that automates the entire process for you, everything
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you need to build your personal brand in your local market, attract and convert agents
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into referral partners.
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Plus done for you proven marketing materials and plug and play content to make promoting
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your class, getting agents, butts and seeds, partnering with affiliates, real easy.
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But that's not all.
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You'll also get access to our weekly mastermind calls with top L.O.'s authors, speakers and
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coaches to learn the best strategies to grow your business right now in today's market.
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And as an extra bonus for limited time, for all new members, you'll get access to a database
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of 200 agents in your local market that have closed anywhere from eight to 50 transactions
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in the last 12 months.
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And we'll provide that list uploaded into our platform for you so you can get off to a
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fast start in reaching actually productive agents.
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So what are you waiting for?
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You can check out more at mortgagemarketing.pro, see more of the success stories there.
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And if you feel compelled to do so, book a call, we'll have a chat.
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We'll see if it's a fit.
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Don't miss out on this opportunity to take your mortgage business to the next level right
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now.
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Head over to mortgagemarketing.pro.