Latest / Mortgage Marketing Radio / Ep #91: How Pop-By's and Big Events Help This Top Loan Officer Close 206 Loans Special Guest: Michelle Oddo

Transcript

Ep #91: How Pop-By's and Big Events Help This Top Loan Officer Close 206 Loans Special Guest: Michelle Oddo · Mortgage Marketing Radio

0:00
In today's highly competitive mortgage industry, building profitable relationships with
0:04
the real estate agents is essential for success.
0:06
However, finding effective ways to secure agent relationships can be a challenge.
0:11
With so many mortgage loan originators vying for the attention of real estate agents, it
0:15
can be difficult to stand out and establish meaningful connections.
0:20
Our new case study featuring loan officer Chris Cogill is a must-read.
0:25
Chris has closed a remarkable 36 million in funded loans from agent referrals.
0:31
And in this case study, he shares his proven strategies for building strong relationships
0:34
with real estate agents and leveraging those relationships to drive more business.
0:39
To get your hands on this resource, head over to LOKestudy.com and download your free copy
0:45
of the case study today.
0:47
You'll find actionable insights and practical tips that Chris used to close 36 million
0:52
in funded loans from agent referrals and how you can too.
0:56
Don't miss out.
0:57
Go check it out right now, visit LOKestudy.com and download your free copy today.
1:17
Hey listeners, Jeff Zimper, welcome to this episode of Mortgage Marketing Radio.
1:38
And as you may have heard on a previous episode, we've got a brand new sponsor for this
1:42
show, proudly brought to you and sponsored by Mortgage Marketing Pro Membership.
1:49
Who is Mortgage Marketing Pro Membership?
1:51
What is Mortgage Marketing Pro Membership all about?
1:54
Well, it's about you.
1:57
If you're tired of all the hype, tired of all the fluff, if you want to cut through the
2:02
noise about how to succeed, how to survive and thrive in the current and coming market,
2:08
I've taken my years of experience since being in the Mortgage Business of 2003, me being
2:14
a national sales coach and trainer for a top 10 national lender across the country, whose
2:20
name you would recognize.
2:23
And a collection of the best strategies, solutions from the top producers and people that I interview
2:30
on this podcast that you listen to.
2:31
And I've combined them all into a single place, a single source, over 10,000 people
2:36
a month can't be wrong.
2:39
And for a limited time, I'm inviting you, the listener, to take advantage of a very special
2:43
introductory offer in becoming a Mortgage Marketing Pro member.
2:47
I'm not going to give you a long winded commercial about what it's all about here.
2:51
Just know that you should check it out, mortgagemarketing.pro.
2:55
If you're looking to go the next level, if you want to dive deeper, and be careful,
3:01
become a modern originator, be more successful in capturing and converting real estate agents
3:06
without chasing, pay to play, begging.
3:09
If you want to have more reliability and consistency in your income, that's what I put mortgage
3:14
marketing.pro together for you.
3:17
Let me be your guide.
3:18
Let me help you along the way.
3:19
Check it out.
3:20
Check out the resources.
3:21
They'll be, I think, in the show notes as well.
3:24
So without further ado, let's talk about my special guest, the one, the only, the five
3:28
star mortgage professional, seven years in a row, Michelle Auto, with Nova Home lending
3:33
out of Denver, Colorado.
3:35
Michelle is definitely under the category of rock star, superstar, top 1% mortgage
3:40
originator in the country, 2017, she funded 206 units, her main source of business is
3:47
real estate agents.
3:48
And what we unpack on this episode is the unique things she does to stay top of mind,
3:54
to work with only those agents that she enjoys working with and how she puts together
3:59
different strategies to activate those relationships.
4:03
You hear about guess what's back in fashion, you're going to hear about direct mail.
4:07
That's right, what she calls 100 cheesy gifts, things that she sends to realtors and other
4:12
referral partners, even clients, to drive business, to drive engagement, to get meetings,
4:17
get appointments, and to build loyalty.
4:20
Really funny, cool ideas in here.
4:22
We also unpacked this idea, which I used to hear about years ago, but people have gotten
4:26
away from it.
4:27
I think it's coming back in fashion today more than ever, people are craving connection
4:31
because they're not getting real connection online, they're craving face to face connection.
4:34
So Michelle is going to dive into how she leverages big events, what do I mean by big events?
4:40
Rending out a movie theater, and she'll tell you a story about how she did it with two
4:43
different movies and how she has really become not only a celebrity in her local market,
4:49
but again, what's this all about?
4:50
It's about accelerating your personal brand, rising above the noise, creating connection
4:57
and driving business your way.
4:58
And so we're going to unpack a lot about this concept on how Michelle does that.
5:01
And why also, she's noticing, she's been testing, asking people to come into her office
5:07
for face to face meetings, to finish the loan application loan process, and what she's
5:12
noticed is that when people come into the office, I know surprise, the rate shopping
5:17
goes down, the conversion goes up.
5:20
And to her surprise and probably to yours, you think people are, you know, the deep, the
5:24
knee jerk reaction is, I'm too busy to come into the office, which she's finding it's
5:28
refreshing that people do want to come into the office.
5:31
So we talk about that and a lot more on today's episode.
5:34
We'll put things in the show notes to Michelle's website.
5:36
Once again, to the mortgage marketing.pro, limited open doors, we're shutting that down
5:41
in a couple of weeks.
5:42
So by the time you're listening to this, the doors might be shut already, again, it's
5:45
the preliminary soft introduction for you, my VIP listeners, to get in and get after
5:51
that while you can while you're getting good prices are definitely going to go up.
5:55
So without further ado, let's get into this week's show.
5:58
And Michelle, welcome to the show.
6:00
Thank you.
6:01
Happy to be here.
6:02
Happy to have you.
6:03
Always appreciate it when a busy, productive, successful mortgage originator makes time
6:08
to come and share what's working for them and their business.
6:12
So I do, you know, the formal interview was separate in apart from, you know, our conversation.
6:18
But I always like to get your take for the listeners because nobody wakes up and says,
6:21
dog, gone it.
6:22
I want to be a mortgage loaner, a regenerator.
6:24
So how did you get into this business?
6:25
What keeps you going?
6:26
Oh gosh.
6:27
Okay.
6:28
Well, I got into this business in the 80s.
6:32
It was 85.
6:33
My dad was a mortgage broker and I lived in Florida.
6:36
I graduated high school with attending college and working for dad part time, knowing I would
6:42
never, ever do what he did for a living.
6:46
And so many, many years later, still doing this, I just fell in love with the business.
6:51
I really did.
6:52
I was on the processing side originally.
6:55
Left dad's business went and worked for several brokers, worked for several lenders and
7:00
then kind of got into the underwriting side of the business.
7:03
I was an underwriter and a rep, et cetera.
7:06
And anyway, here we are, you know, many, many years later and I just really love what I
7:11
do.
7:12
Well, thank you for sharing that.
7:13
So what about it?
7:14
Do you love?
7:15
You've been in it for a long time now and, you know, I'm sure you've had those moments.
7:20
I'm scratching you.
7:22
But what keeps going through all that?
7:24
What do you really love about the business?
7:26
You know, I like the complexity of it.
7:29
I love that there's a creative side in that, you know, every situation is very different.
7:34
I think I learned something new every day still.
7:37
And I really love helping people realize their dreams because I think a lot of borrowers
7:42
feel like this is going to be a complicated, stressful process, which it can be.
7:47
I think if you're in the wrong hands, obviously.
7:50
So I just enjoy, you know, wrapping my arms around.
7:53
Your situation, helping them have clarity, give direction and coming up with solutions
7:59
to maybe difficult, more difficult situations that I enjoy fixing problems and fixing, you
8:07
know, difficult, loan situations, I kind of, I'm weird like that.
8:11
I like really hard loans.
8:13
Do you also enjoy doing, learning and constantly being challenged?
8:18
Exactly.
8:19
Do you enjoy doing like crosswood puzzles and all that too?
8:22
Yeah.
8:23
That's okay.
8:24
Different kind of stuff.
8:25
Yeah.
8:26
You're a problem solver.
8:27
That's awesome.
8:28
You like to solve problems for people.
8:29
And getting in a house, financing a home, using the right mortgage, the right mortgage company
8:34
in person, right?
8:36
People need help.
8:37
Navigating that decision.
8:38
Yeah.
8:39
I think a lot.
8:40
One of my clients said to me, a young client, one time he gives a shout, I don't even
8:43
know how to shop for a mortgage.
8:45
I don't know how.
8:46
So I need to know about mortgages, but first I need you to tell me how to shop for
8:49
a mortgage.
8:50
I know that I'm doing it correctly.
8:51
And I thought, wow, that's a great way to just really verbalize what people are feeling
8:55
and they don't know how to even verbalize that.
8:58
Interesting.
8:59
Was that a first-time home buyer?
9:00
He was.
9:01
Yes.
9:02
I don't know how to shop for a mortgage.
9:03
You know, it's funny.
9:04
I hear that.
9:05
And part of me finds that surprising, considering the prevalence of commercials that are trying
9:12
to teach people how to shop for a mortgage is to push a button.
9:15
Right.
9:17
Which is the best way to shop for a mortgage?
9:19
Well, it's funny, you know, a discussion around that is what rocket mortgage, quick and
9:24
loans has done as has probably raised the bar in terms of the expectations of the consumer
9:30
experience and how, quote, easy or easier it should be.
9:34
And I think, you know, those of us that are in the business are kind of trying to pivot
9:38
for that.
9:39
And there's more pressure in the market today.
9:40
I mean, you're seeing it as well.
9:42
The competitiveness, what's your visible value, how do you stand out, right?
9:47
What's the value prop above just rate?
9:50
Correct.
9:51
Yeah.
9:52
I mean, I think people do expect they would like it to be simple.
9:57
And even if it is complicated, you know, we try to maybe take care of some of those things
10:02
behind the scenes so that the borrower doesn't feel all of the pain of the mortgage process
10:09
and just really try to do a lot for them.
10:11
So they're just having to supply the very minimal, you know, required documents, if that
10:18
makes sense.
10:19
You know, and actually read what we get and make sure we understand it.
10:21
So we're not just asking crazy questions.
10:24
I think a lot of these, you know, like rocket mortgage, you know, they pose like it's
10:29
going to be easy.
10:30
But once the borrower gets entrenched in the loan process, they realize it's not always
10:34
as easy as they thought it was going to be up front.
10:37
You know, especially when you have an inexperienced person on the phone on the other end that
10:41
doesn't understand what they're looking at in terms of documentation, et cetera.
10:45
Sure.
10:46
Well, people want it to be easy.
10:47
That's for sure.
10:48
You know, they've struck a great chord with the consumer marketplace out there about wanting
10:53
to make the mortgage process simpler and easier.
10:56
So that's a good thing for, you know, all of us need to raise our game, continuing, moving
10:59
forward.
11:00
I don't know.
11:01
You've done that consistently throughout the years.
11:03
Matter of fact, quick shout out to you.
11:05
I see it on your Facebook page, just in the past couple of weeks.
11:08
Once again, what is this 12, 13, 15, 16, 7 years in a row, five star mortgage professional
11:14
award?
11:15
Yeah.
11:16
So now it's pretty, I'm pretty humbling and just something to, it's that thing you've
11:22
got to keep striving to get better and just try to beat your stats, your customer satisfaction
11:31
everything from year to year and just always trying to be better and get better.
11:37
So I feel pretty blessed to have had such great clients and great market and good team, good
11:43
company, all that.
11:44
Yeah.
11:45
That's really the key.
11:46
Yeah, all that's important, but the reality is you've done the work put in the work.
11:50
So let's roll up our sleeves then and let's get specific for the listeners who want to
11:53
know.
11:54
All right.
11:55
So what makes Michelle tick?
11:56
She conducts her business, where does it come from?
11:59
How does she demonstrate visible value?
12:03
And based on our last conversation, I've got some notes here.
12:07
So real quickly, let's, for the listeners, tell us what your number one source of business
12:10
is.
12:11
Well, my number one source of business is realtors.
12:14
So I definitely, you know, get the lion's share of my business through realtors.
12:19
But right next to that, just kind of almost just right underneath in terms of gracious is
12:26
just referral and repeat client.
12:29
So huge, huge piece of my business is just my, my client, their friend, their family.
12:34
Yeah.
12:35
Okay.
12:36
So I'm going to do a little surgery here.
12:40
Okay.
12:41
I got my tools out.
12:42
I'm going to start to do a little, a little cutting and stitching and peeling open the
12:45
layers.
12:46
How many, how many core realtors would you say?
12:49
Oh, an anesthesia.
12:50
First, please.
12:52
We'll recall from that bottle of something on your end.
12:55
Yeah.
12:56
How many core realtors do you have that send you the bulk of the business?
13:01
I would say my core is about, you know, kind of averages 20 to 25 are my core.
13:08
And then there's this peripheral number, you know, probably another 20 or so that I get
13:13
maybe random stuff from, you know.
13:15
Right.
13:16
So the 20 to 25, what does that represent roughly 70, 80% of your business?
13:21
Yeah.
13:22
I would say so.
13:23
Depends on it.
13:24
Right now, you know, we're doing more re-fi, honestly.
13:27
So it kind of fluctuates, but I try to, I would say around 60 to 70 somewhere in there.
13:33
All right.
13:34
60 to 70.
13:35
And I don't have a rain front of me.
13:36
But what your total, your units last year for 2017, 206, 206, okay, great.
13:43
So that's a pretty strong healthy base of realtors.
13:46
How do you find the management of that to be meaning, you know, you've got to service,
13:51
service those partners, not only with delivering on closing alone on time and all that, but
13:56
the other things that go into building that relationship.
13:58
Do you find that to be a challenge?
14:00
You know, I think it can be, depending on how you approach it, what I try to do is, I
14:07
mean, what I've done strategically is build a core group of realtors that I actually
14:11
really like and enjoy being with.
14:13
I really found a long time ago to work with people you'd like.
14:16
It's just so much more fun and it's a better business.
14:21
So it's almost like my realtors are my friends as well.
14:25
So it's not like I had this whole other separate piece of life that I have to also manage.
14:30
It's all kind of intertwines and blends together.
14:33
But yeah, for me, stuff to manage it and there are touches that go out to these realtors
14:38
and all different methods, whether it's some social media, some just, you know, we call
14:45
it breaking bread or, you know, seeing the whites of the eyes, just having lunch together
14:48
or having coffees, things like that.
14:51
Some of it's done through mail.
14:53
You know, I do a lot of postcards and little gifts.
14:57
They're not gifts, let's, from the rest of the standpoint, not gifts.
15:02
You call them cheesy gifts.
15:04
They're cheesy gifts.
15:05
Yeah, just fun little things to keep us in front of the realtors, you know, and they
15:09
could be bubbles and it says, you know, we're going to blow you away with our service or
15:14
it could be, you know, a compass or this point you in the right direction to getting your
15:19
loans put, you know, quickly just to give you little things that kind of tie back to us
15:26
and just stay in front of the realtors.
15:28
So we have a lot of different things I'm doing, different places we're spinning and I have
15:32
help with some of those things with my team.
15:34
Sure.
15:35
I want to ask that.
15:36
Well, let's hang out on the cheesy gifts for a moment because when we talk, you know,
15:39
you mentioned you do direct mail, which I love because, you know, I think one of the
15:44
keys to marketing is if you could be, go where it's not as noisy, not as crowded and
15:50
let's face it, there's so much noises online.
15:52
So how do you get more notice, get notice more offline, both in person and through direct
15:57
mail.
15:58
But I love what you said, the 100 cheesy gifts, you wrote down, I wrote down a couple
16:00
of the things from our last chat, pop rocks, right, our service rocks, an elephant whistle,
16:06
we're all ears, right, for your needs or whatever.
16:09
What I'm curious about is are those used in marketing yourself to agents or are those
16:14
used once you're in a relationship with agents to stay top of mind or both?
16:18
Combination.
16:19
So as tap 2025, we talked about, they're definitely in that list, maybe the 20 or so peripheral
16:26
that we're getting business from, throw them in the list as well.
16:30
And then in the agent that we've had a great experience with on the list side, or someone
16:34
that introduced me to, or just somebody that I really want to work with, I will include
16:39
in that list because I want to stay in front of that real tour in terms of just being
16:46
top of mind and being clever and doing something different.
16:51
So is that then part of, if you're trying to go deeper, let's say with an agent, maybe
16:55
get an audience with them, you'll put them on that kind of outbound direct mail, cheesy
16:59
gift drop, and follow that up with a call to try and get face to face?
17:04
Yes, correct.
17:05
I do that.
17:06
And sometimes if it's a real tour, we really want to work with who maybe does a lot of business
17:12
and they're hard to get in front of, you know, I need to do something more than that, drop
17:17
something by their office, that's a little bit more, you know, more of a splash.
17:23
More impactful.
17:24
And do you find that that works to be able to get you appointments?
17:26
Yeah, I do.
17:27
Not always.
17:28
Sometimes you have to do it for a long time and then sometimes it never works and you
17:32
just give up, essentially after a couple of years.
17:35
Just not the right person.
17:36
You know, I spent so much money and time courting someone, you know, but I mean, at least
17:41
you get, you know what, it creates, if nothing else, it helps build your brand.
17:45
You may put a lender letter out there for a buyer and that agent, in fact, I'm under contract
17:50
right now with a client of ours, who the listing agent is on the, is a recipient of
17:55
my gift.
17:56
And so, you know, you could, they get your lender letter and it's just, you're creating
17:59
a brand.
18:00
So it gives you a little more notoriety, you know, no, that's interesting, you say that.
18:05
I would think that'd be an interesting thing to test out with the listing agents on the
18:09
opposite side of that transaction as a way is to get an appointment once you close it.
18:13
Yeah, if you like them and you want to work with them, definitely a way to try to get in
18:18
front of them, for sure.
18:19
Yeah.
18:20
I mean, that's a great point, by the way, which a lot of people overlook, you know, A, if
18:22
you like them, I'm tired of hearing loan officers say they're, you know, they're meeting
18:26
with agents and they don't like the agents or they're cheesy, they're lousy, well, then
18:29
don't meet with them, right?
18:30
I mean, that's the whole, this is, this is a, it's, it's marketing, like you said, mailing
18:35
your stuff.
18:36
Does it work 100% of the time?
18:37
No.
18:38
I mean, what marketing does work 100% of the time, right?
18:40
Not.
18:41
So you got to understand you're in a business and it's a numbers game.
18:45
Um, right.
18:47
You have to, you know, it's like, you have to be present to win or you have to play
18:50
to win all that you have to put yourself out there and take a chance and spend some
18:55
money.
18:56
Um, and just, and you have to pursue it.
18:59
You can't do it once or twice.
19:00
I mean, you have to stick with it and have a long-term game plan.
19:03
And eventually you might decide this just isn't, you know, if somebody that wants to work
19:08
with me or they have other, but then you might put them on a quarterly, you know, or just
19:12
touch them now and then, right?
19:13
Just stay in front of them.
19:14
Well, there's an old saying from, uh, Tommy Hopkins, you know, your, your market till they
19:19
buy or die, or they ask you to be taken off the list.
19:22
So I mean, if it's a worthwhile, you know, I think about stories for you.
19:25
And you know this, I bet you have a story, like all top producers do of an agent that
19:30
you marketed to for, let's say, three, six, 12 months, uh, but the relationship really
19:36
didn't convert and kick in until, you know, six months in, let's say, I mean, you got
19:41
stories like that where it took that long to land an elephant agent.
19:45
Oh, yeah.
19:46
In fact, um, I'm, I'm just starting to work with one now that I met, um, through the chamber
19:55
and they have it, they have a, uh, a lender that they know and love and all that and I
20:00
get that.
20:01
But just organically, we've become friends and Facebook friends and, um, so not sending
20:06
them gifts because I knew, I already knew that wasn't, I wasn't trying to approach them
20:11
from, you know, it was a different kind of relationship.
20:14
But just staying in front of them, staying in front of them and creating a real friendship
20:18
to a point where I got a call and they said, hey, we're going to send you a deal.
20:22
We really want to try to give you a shot.
20:23
So, you know, something, you have to deal out the person and it has to be authentic.
20:28
I think that's the big thing, um, you know, and I always tell other, you know, loan
20:33
officers at mentoring or whatever that it's mainly it has to be authentic and you really
20:38
have to want to work with them because you like them and you know, it's going to be
20:41
a good relationship not just because you want to make a lot of money because that's just
20:45
though transparent, people don't want to work with people that just want their dollars.
20:50
Exactly.
20:51
And it's transparent and you're right on both ends too, like, for instance, if the agents
20:54
are hitting you up to pay for Zillow leads, for example, yeah, I just did a talk at one
21:00
of our offices and one of the L.O.'s asked me, do you, how many people ask you to pay
21:04
for Zillow and do you do it?
21:06
You know, and my answer was, and I have a theory on this and there are certain realtors
21:12
that I've paid for Zillow.
21:14
But if I made a new rilter and they're asking me to pay for Zillow, that's like me asking
21:18
someone to marry me that doesn't even know me.
21:20
Why do you want to be connected with me, tied to me, you don't even know me, you don't
21:25
know how I work.
21:26
Like, let's make sure we like each other, we work well together, the relationship is a
21:30
good relationship, then we'll talk about going deeper with those things.
21:33
Yeah, exactly.
21:34
I love the response to that.
21:37
Okay, cool.
21:38
Let's stay on this track for a moment in terms of real estate agents because you do some
21:42
other things, kind of the more big splash events throughout the year.
21:46
We talked about like running a movie theater out, want to tell me briefly about that.
21:50
Sure, yeah, we try to do, my team and I try to do a couple of things a year.
21:56
For the purpose, well, you know, there's a multipurpose, you know, multiple reasons
22:01
for doing this.
22:02
One, there'll be a whole slew of people that cannot come to your event, but they still
22:08
see, they get to see that you're doing it, you're still in front of them and you're marketing
22:14
it.
22:15
That's a benefit more than they go or not.
22:17
I always invite my clients and my, and my real church.
22:21
So it's a client's, slash realtor appreciation and I try to do events where they can bring
22:26
their family because I think people really enjoy that.
22:29
So we do a movie theater, we did a finding Dory, we did a Star Wars right around Christmas
22:33
time and then we did something one year, actually when you're at Christmas, we did a Hudson
22:39
Gardens where you view the lights and get a picture of Santa, hot chocolate, cookies,
22:44
you know, so just any kind of an event where we get to just think our clients, get in front
22:50
of them, see them face to face and, you know, just that, again, just keeping that relationship
22:56
with our clients and our realtor's both.
22:58
Okay, so let's dive in on the theater idea for a moment.
23:02
That's one of those classic timeline, timely ideas that have been out there for a long
23:06
time.
23:07
And a bit away from that, unfortunately, you know, again, with this whole influx of online
23:12
and digital, it's like, man, we need to get back face to face.
23:15
This is, and everybody, what are you seeing?
23:17
Let me just sidetracked for a moment.
23:18
What the hell?
23:19
I'm seeing people, well, I'm not, I'm seeing people try to outsource and automate relationships
23:29
and connect with people as a loan officer.
23:31
Are you seeing that at all?
23:32
Like, hey, let me just, can I just run a Facebook ad?
23:34
I'd never want to have to be with realtor's again, do you see that?
23:38
Yeah.
23:39
I mean, I think it's okay to mix some of that in there because you can't do everything
23:43
and be, you know, be, because we do loans.
23:46
Like I don't do, I'm not a marketing guru, I'm a mortgage lender.
23:50
That's what I'm really good at, but we have to market to be relevant and to get business.
23:56
So I think it's okay to outsource some of it and I think we all do that, but you're
24:02
right.
24:03
But, you know, that's like trying to date somebody on text, right?
24:07
Like, you have to, you know, like, like my son, you know, they want to do everything
24:11
on text, it's like, listen, you have to have, that's fine for a hook, that's fine to
24:17
get someone's attention, but you have to be a real person.
24:21
You can't just, you know, there's a wizard behind that curtain, right?
24:23
Like, they have to know who the real person is.
24:25
They have to get to know you and like you for that to be a real relationship.
24:30
And so, you know, yeah, you can outsource a little bit of Facebook stuff, but I think
24:34
it looks really cheesy and it's not authentic when you're not doing it.
24:38
So if you want to mix some of that in with your own stuff, I think that works okay.
24:43
Absolutely.
24:44
Well said.
24:45
Okay, thank you.
24:46
We're back on track now.
24:47
So a couple more details about the movie theater situation.
24:52
And these are questions coming to me, coming to you from real loan officers asking this
24:57
from this idea in the past.
24:58
But one, what day and time of the week, you typically book that, you know, because the
25:02
big question is like, oh my God, how are they going to like rent that whole theater
25:05
of me?
25:06
Yeah.
25:07
So both of the, the two times I've done it most recently that were the most successful.
25:13
We did a Saturday morning.
25:16
And actually, finding Dory, the theater we use, let us do like their, Matt and A. So it
25:20
was like the 10, 30, 11-ish, I think, so we even got a little bit just count price.
25:25
The Star Wars theater, when we did that one, we didn't get the Matt and A. Price, but
25:28
I want to say it was like 11, 30.
25:30
So it was kind of a morning, Saturday morning, that was your question, right?
25:34
Yeah.
25:35
Saturday morning.
25:36
Well, I'm wondering.
25:37
So when you make that call to the theater, I mean, you know, you're basically guaranteeing
25:41
they're going to fill the theater, right?
25:43
Yeah, you do, you have to commit.
25:45
So the very first time I did this, I was nervous to commit to the whole theater.
25:49
So I did it with another loan officer at my company.
25:53
And that way we shared the cost and plus it's sometimes fun just to do something like
25:57
that with someone.
25:58
You know, you don't feel like you're out there by yourself.
26:01
And so he and I did it together.
26:03
We rented the theater.
26:04
We committed to X amount of tickets.
26:07
And just aside know, some people fill these things to the, you know, they sell it.
26:11
They basically get X amount of seats.
26:14
And then they take an RSVP from exactly those amount of seats, which keep in mind, if
26:20
you do that, you're going to have clients in the front row, right?
26:25
So we didn't do that.
26:26
We kind of sold out, which, you know, I see sell loosely because they're not paying for
26:30
it.
26:31
But I took RSVPs and I left about two rows open.
26:36
So that was a cost, you know, that we absorb, but I guess the experience.
26:41
You purposely left it for you purposely left the first two rows open.
26:45
We did it just because I thought, you know, would not be like, you don't want your best
26:50
realtor or favorite client in the front row going, well, this kind of sucks, right?
26:54
So that's what we did.
26:57
So, you know, when you, when you figure out your cost, you may or may not want to do that.
27:00
That's up to you or put all your friends and family in the front for something.
27:03
You know what?
27:04
Don't let everybody sit down and then put your mom and your brother and sister in the
27:09
front row.
27:10
Yeah.
27:11
Exactly.
27:12
That's right.
27:13
Throw them up there.
27:14
But yeah, that's what we did.
27:15
And then you know what?
27:16
And it is expensive.
27:17
Again, you may want to pay for food and you may not.
27:19
That's your choice.
27:20
Some of the theaters, like what we've done is they have a package where you can commit
27:25
to X amount of, you know, like one large popcorn and two small drinks per family or something
27:30
like that or kid packs, you know, X amount of kid packs.
27:33
So that's what what I've always done is kind of figure out how many, you know, and then
27:37
we prepay and we give them a ticket for it and they go up to the concession and get it.
27:43
The last time we did it, they just kept a tally of who got what, but we gave them kind
27:48
of a, they could only get certain things like popcorn and the drink or a kid's pack.
27:52
Anything about that.
27:53
So you may or may not want to do food.
27:55
What's that?
27:56
Anything above your commitment to them, they pay for themselves.
27:58
It's like it's like a drink ticket.
27:59
First two free, whatever.
28:00
You get your bucket, your drink.
28:02
That's a work.
28:03
Exactly.
28:04
Exactly.
28:05
Okay.
28:06
If you want the, if you want the friggin' jujubes, hey, that's on you.
28:07
Yeah.
28:08
If you want the extra large slurpee, go for it, but we're not doing that.
28:11
Yeah.
28:11
You guys saw Drake.
28:12
You want to exercise it?
28:13
You could pay the difference.
28:14
But yeah.
28:15
And I think people loved it.
28:16
I mean, it's so fun because then what they do is they post it and they tag you and they
28:22
hashtag it and their friends see it and I mean, who doesn't want to see themselves, you
28:29
know, marketed everybody else organically.
28:32
That's great.
28:33
It's fun.
28:34
Okay.
28:35
So this is truth and mortgage marketing here.
28:37
And you give us prices vary around the country, but let's just assume you split that with
28:41
the L.O.
28:42
50, 50.
28:43
And of course, you can get other people like title, escrow, whatever.
28:46
But roughly, you know, what would you, what, what is the investment on that roughly?
28:51
Ballpark.
28:52
Um, so again, the last, the Timos recent, for the last two years that I've done this,
28:58
it cost me about including food.
29:04
And I hope I'm not getting this strong because I probably purposely have forgotten this
29:08
number because I'm not sure what you remember.
29:11
But I want to say it was about 3500 bucks for the theater and the food.
29:16
Now I get a little bit of a marketing match with my company, but I want to say it cost
29:21
me about three ish thousand dollars, which you're having, you know, look at how many people
29:30
you're entertaining, that's how many, a couple hundred people, right?
29:35
Yeah, yeah, I did, um, I want to say the theater we did, one of them was 300 ish, second one
29:44
was probably about the same, yeah, yeah, something like that 200, but again, I split the first
29:49
one with, with, with a guy, right, and the second one, let me clarify, the 3500 was your
29:55
half or was your total net?
29:58
Well, so again, my company does a marketing match, so I get, they, they pay a third, right?
30:03
And so the first time around, um, it probably cost us 3,000 each and then we got a marketing
30:12
match, maybe it cost me two, right?
30:14
So the second time around, I did it myself and this is in the last two years and I did
30:20
a little bit smaller theater since I was doing it myself.
30:23
And then with my third paid by the company and I paid my two thirds, it's still probably
30:28
cost me about 3,500,000.
30:29
Yeah, no, okay, thank you for sharing all that.
30:32
That makes sense.
30:33
I think that's right, I have to do the map, but it's about, it's something like that.
30:36
Yeah, no, no, that, that makes sense.
30:38
Of course, it depends on the size of the theater and where you're at and all that stuff
30:41
in the country.
30:42
Right.
30:43
Okay, now here, here's the really, the toughest question of all so far, which is, you know,
30:48
the yellow cap is on.
30:49
Okay.
30:50
Well, can you, can you identify business that came as a result of that?
30:54
Yeah, because the last theater, when I did the Star Wars event, one of my clients brought
31:01
their parents and I, so I met the dad and he's like, hey, Michelle, we're going to call
31:05
you, you think, okay, sure.
31:08
And I'm sure I've gotten more than just this out of that event, right?
31:11
But I know specifically like, because this one just closed, we got a reverse mortgage
31:16
out of it.
31:17
That's a pretty nice commission.
31:18
So that, you know, that worked out well.
31:21
And I know I, I picked up an extra realtor out of that event and I got one of my realtors
31:26
to defy, no, which he've done it anyway.
31:28
Who knows?
31:29
That's the hard part with some of this marketing objective.
31:32
You don't really know like what I've gotten that business with or without doing that, maybe.
31:37
But I know that the scoreboard doesn't lie and I've been the number one L.O. at Nova the
31:42
last four years in a row in our region in Colorado.
31:48
So you have to think like if things are working, don't, if they're not broke, don't fix
31:52
them.
31:53
So I just keep doing what I'm doing because it seems to work well.
31:57
And part of the, you know, I tried to tie it straight to it, but what was that?
32:01
No, I know.
32:02
That's why I prefaced it by saying this is a really difficult question because you can't
32:05
necessarily track not only just the direct deals, but also the continued loyalty and referrals
32:12
that we're already coming, but just allowing those to continue to come because of the investment
32:17
you've made in those relationships.
32:19
Right.
32:20
And I know that I have a really high repeat and referral percentage of business as I told
32:26
you and I know it's high compared to the, to the industry.
32:30
And I don't, and I think most of that's very organic, just through events like that,
32:35
mailings, you know, versus like me picking up the phone and dialing for dollars.
32:40
So I know that that stuff does pay off.
32:42
Yeah.
32:43
It's an incredible branding event as well in terms of view, right, planning yourself top
32:48
of mind with upwards of a couple hundred people, agents, past clients, you know, other people
32:54
that maybe haven't worked with yet.
32:56
So again, it's the ripple effect that you can't directly measure.
32:59
It's like a, it's just really fun.
33:02
Yeah.
33:03
Have your own movie theater.
33:04
Exactly.
33:06
For yourself and all your favorite, you know, people, it's super fun.
33:09
Like, that's just a cool thing to do.
33:11
So why not?
33:12
Yes.
33:13
Yes.
33:14
Now, when you're doing that, do you kick off the movie and like thank everybody for coming
33:18
or how do you handle that, you know, people coming in and before the movie starts?
33:21
Yeah.
33:22
So next time I'm going to do it different.
33:24
The last events that we've done, we have a table in the front.
33:28
They have to come and get their ticket from us.
33:32
And we, you know, and that's our chance to think of.
33:35
And you know, it's just kind of a fun time, they're just, hey, oh, is this your sign?
33:39
That's your mom, you know, whoever, right?
33:42
You brought your grandkids.
33:43
Oh, that's awesome.
33:44
You know, and then so you kind of get to see them on their way in and maybe you don't
33:49
see everyone because it's sometimes just a line and I usually have like a table set
33:52
up with my team and even have my husband there helping and whatnot.
33:56
But, you know, you get to see pretty much everyone.
34:00
But I know that you can't stay in front of the theater and think everybody up front
34:04
and I haven't done that because I'm out there doing the ticket thing, but I think next
34:08
time I might do it that way.
34:10
We'll see.
34:11
It's so far that's the way I've done it.
34:12
It's been pretty cool.
34:13
Do you have a movie that you're eyeballing, perhaps, is the next one out to do?
34:18
No, but that's what I've got to start working on because I'd like to do it kind of around
34:23
the Christmas season.
34:24
So I need to get busy.
34:25
Yeah.
34:26
Start keeping.
34:27
I'm going to hang up with you.
34:28
That's my next project.
34:30
What's Hollywood going to release?
34:32
I don't know.
34:33
I'm going to look.
34:34
And then, truthfully, if there isn't a good movie, you know, if there's not something
34:37
I like, we'll just pick a different time of year.
34:38
It's okay.
34:39
But yeah, you're right.
34:40
I mean, I really try to pick the best.
34:41
I like to take a movie versus a time of year per se.
34:45
I mean, summer's great, but this past summer, it didn't work out because we were traveling
34:50
when the great movies were coming out and when we were here, the movie that we're out
34:53
weren't that good.
34:54
Yeah.
34:55
I don't want to leave the scene of this idea of getting active and involved in a community
34:59
and leveraging events like this, because you also pointed out, let's make sure we don't
35:04
forget that there's a lot of other things you can do.
35:07
Like you mentioned, Santa showing up in the Hudson Gardens, you know, and having Santa come
35:12
out and hot chocolate.
35:13
And as a matter of fact, down the street from my house where I used to live, we had a
35:17
realtor there.
35:18
We have this little grassy, noelle park with a slide and it's like the local park where
35:22
everybody's got these, right, where the slides are and the kids go to play.
35:25
And Santa comes out every year, well, guess who's sponsoring that, the real estate agent
35:29
and the loan officer.
35:30
So it's like, how can you get in front of your target market, your local community?
35:35
That's one idea.
35:36
How about pumpkin patches, right?
35:37
Maybe you could sponsor a weekend or a day at a pumpkin patch, you know, and get your
35:41
branding and exposure and all that kind of stuff out there.
35:43
And while I'm at it, one last crazy idea, a few dog lovers, doggie photo day in the park.
35:48
Okay.
35:49
Yeah.
35:50
Our company is doing something kind of kooky.
35:53
I guess we're all buying these little doggy hanker chips that say no bottom and then we're
36:00
going to give it and then we're everybody's going to come and get their family picture
36:02
with their favorite furry child and put the little hanker chips on and say, I mean, this
36:08
is, and we're going to post them and so this will be, but that's actually a big like
36:11
Nova thing, not just the auto group, but yeah, anything like that, you can do an Easter
36:18
I can't, you know, and have a pancake breakfast, have a pancake.com.
36:22
You can do October fast, you can do, and there's millions of things you can do, you know,
36:28
race car day at the end of your speedway, you can do, there's so many different fun
36:31
events.
36:32
One of the guys in our company does a habitat for humanity thing and they have, they make
36:38
gingerbread houses.
36:39
So the clients and the realtors come and they make gingerbread houses and then they bring
36:44
a toy, you know, for that, and it's just like kind of a whole feel good event, but,
36:50
you know, yeah.
36:51
That's awesome.
36:52
Great ideas.
36:53
It brings to mind that saying that people forget what you said, they, they, what they
36:57
remember is how you made them feel.
36:59
And so that's a great opportunity for these types of events.
37:01
Like you said, people are smiling, they're having a great time and it's, it's that connection
37:05
so that when you next come up on their news feed and Facebook or they get your gift or
37:10
they're your call or they're thinking, oh my God, you know, Susie over here, she just
37:14
mentioned she's thinking about buying, you know, who I got to call Michelle.
37:16
We just had the movie.
37:17
We just had Santa show up.
37:18
You got to call Michelle.
37:19
Yeah.
37:20
I just had one of my friends, one of my clients, such friends posted a, one of my postcards
37:26
which had all the pumpkin patches on there and she just put it on Facebook.
37:30
I love that you do this, Michelle, you know, wait, I don't get one of those because you're
37:35
not my client.
37:36
You're my client.
37:37
You know, anyway.
37:38
Yeah.
37:40
So, so listeners, you've got ideas now to take advantage of in the fall, happening.
37:43
There's lots of other events in your local area.
37:46
Just get involved.
37:47
You want, you're looking for ways to get, you know, grow your presence online on social
37:50
media, get involved in what's already happening in your local community.
37:53
Grab a camera, take some photos, take some video and freaking talk it up.
37:56
That's it.
37:57
It's that simple.
37:58
Yeah.
37:59
All right.
38:00
So, you mentioned the other biggest source of business for you was past client slash referrals.
38:06
That's a big one for a lot of people.
38:07
Most people drop the ball, unfortunately, on that.
38:10
How did you get so smart and to realize you could build a really awesome business use,
38:14
if you, if you keep your database intact and communicate with it?
38:19
You know, I was in a networking group and this goes back maybe, I don't know, many years
38:25
ago, maybe it was 12 years ago, something like that.
38:28
And one of the gals in our group was kind of a marketing guru that was her thing and
38:34
she did this presentation on, you know, how many times you have to get in front of somebody
38:38
that you don't know before they'll use you.
38:41
But yet, if you have clients you've already worked with, and they know and like and trust
38:46
you, right, and you market them, it doesn't take, it's, you don't need as many touches,
38:51
right?
38:52
And that it's much more cost efficient to just market your own people versus trying to
38:56
market like farm and neighborhood.
38:59
And she had all these statistics and it just really hit home with me.
39:02
I thought, wow, I've got all these clients.
39:03
I've done business with and I'm trying to market new clients.
39:07
Why would I do that?
39:08
Market the clients you've already got, they already know you.
39:11
And I started doing it kind of a little bit out of time and I just really started seeing
39:15
the effect and then just went deeper with that.
39:18
And you know, and her presentation was much more, you know, in depth than what I'm telling
39:22
you, but it really, it kind of smacked me right in the forehead like I need to be doing
39:26
this.
39:28
And actually one of our branch managers met with me, I guess six months ago, just to
39:33
kind of ask, what do you do?
39:34
How do you do it?
39:35
You know, what advice do you have for me?
39:37
And that was my first question.
39:38
What are you doing with your existing database?
39:40
And he's like, not much.
39:42
And two months later, he called me, he said, Michelle, I have four refides going, thank
39:46
you so much.
39:47
He's like, it's not that hard.
39:48
I don't know why I didn't think of it, but what a great idea.
39:51
So what do you do then to stay top of mind with your past database?
39:55
So I do postcards about every six weeks, summer clever, summer, you know, name specific,
40:02
summer, just what's going on in the neighborhood.
40:04
We do emails, we do videos, we do events, and we do some outbound calling sometimes, not
40:14
a lot.
40:15
But if there's something going on, you know, pause on that for a second when you say outbound
40:19
calling sometimes.
40:20
So are you structuring annual reviews, for example?
40:24
We do that annual reviews, yes, I also have a program called HomeBat, so if I see somebody
40:29
is in there quite a bit, looking at what's going on, you know, I'll call out to them to
40:33
say, hey, I see your, you know, checking out what an investment property might look like
40:38
or, you know, and then also just I have certain clients that I keep on a list in terms of
40:42
I know what they're looking for and it didn't work today.
40:45
But when rates get to a certain point or whatever it may be, when equity gets to a certain
40:50
point, we need to reach out, so just kind of a separate little ongoing list of who
40:54
I need to be reaching, circling back with.
40:59
Birthdays, we do birthday stuff, we do, I do it like that though, how do you, you know
41:04
what I mean?
41:05
You must have a CRM that you're using.
41:06
I have Django, we also have our company CRM, which does some of this for me as well, it's
41:11
kind of a set it and forget it.
41:13
And then I even use Outlook, I mean, I do a combination, so I don't have a magic formula
41:17
for this, but there's certain things I just know, hey, I got to call this guy back in
41:21
three months and I put him on Outlook.
41:23
But don't forget, regardless, and yeah, that's what I do.
41:29
Yeah, so you're staying pro in terms of a given week, are you, are you a time blocker?
41:34
Do you structure your day?
41:35
I am.
41:36
I am.
41:37
And it doesn't always work, you know, sometimes it gets blown out of the water.
41:41
So I don't get too freaked out if I can't stay right to it, you know, to the minute,
41:47
but you have to have some sort of a framework of what you're going to do or just kind
41:51
of flounder.
41:52
Yeah.
41:53
Yeah.
41:54
So in a given week, you have X amount of time devoted towards past client activities.
41:59
I do.
42:00
I have, I would say at least two hours a day, a few days a week, so probably six or
42:08
between six to eight hours.
42:10
Six to eight hours a week focused on past client activation.
42:14
Which could also be realtor, that could be both.
42:16
It just depends on what I've got going on in my database.
42:20
But yes.
42:21
Explain what you mean, how it could be both.
42:23
Well, when I say six to eight hours, so I have obviously this realtor, I have a separate
42:29
realtor list of who I'm needing to touch throughout the week.
42:33
But mainly it's past clients, but again, based on the database, what's going on in the market
42:38
and how much activity, you know, I might have that might be all clients that week or it
42:44
might be light and so I'll fill it in with making some realtor calls.
42:47
I see.
42:48
And these are realtor that maybe you want to bring closer into the fold.
42:51
Correct.
42:52
Okay.
42:53
So set up coffee meetings or whatever.
42:54
Correct.
42:55
Okay.
42:56
Yes.
42:57
Wow.
42:58
And so how many speaking of realtor's is back there for a second.
43:01
How much FaceTime use and week to week with realtor's in terms of like hours, you know,
43:06
or meetings?
43:07
Let's just then say it that way.
43:08
Meeting face to face.
43:09
Yeah.
43:10
Probably four hours, so a few lunches, a coffee.
43:15
It could be six.
43:16
Sometimes it's a concert or something fun and that's going to be four hours right there.
43:21
But, you know, but like we took one of my realtor's to the Racky's game last couple
43:25
weeks ago or things like that, you know, so it kind of fluctuates.
43:28
But maybe on average, probably I guess maybe four six hours or something like that.
43:34
But the thing that I want to hit home for you listeners right now is that Michelle is
43:37
clearly very intentional with her time.
43:41
Like you said, you're not, you don't have a lot of white space I'm assuming on your calendar.
43:44
What do you do?
43:45
It's by design.
43:46
Absolutely.
43:47
That's correct.
43:49
Not enough.
43:50
I need more meantime, but it doesn't always work out, so what do they say you can rest
43:56
when you die?
43:57
No.
43:58
All right.
43:59
I'm curious then for someone who's as well established as yourself.
44:03
Are you doing the whole texting, hey, I'm available weekend.
44:07
Are you 24 seven available?
44:09
How do you structure that?
44:11
Yeah, that's a tough question because I am pretty available.
44:17
And I'm not telling, I don't like to tell people you need to be available 24 seven if you
44:21
want to build your business.
44:22
I don't like telling people that.
44:25
But honestly, I am pretty available and I don't mind it, so it doesn't feel like work
44:30
to me.
44:31
So that's hard because I always think I'm telling people you need to be available all
44:36
the time, right?
44:37
But I do feel like there are definite statistics if you don't respond within the first five
44:42
to fifteen minutes, your closure ratio diminishes drastically.
44:49
So for new stuff, I definitely try to answer the phone.
44:53
People looking at properties that need updated lender letters, I'm always available.
44:58
I do have some systems in place where my good rultures can make those changes without
45:02
having to get me for every little thing.
45:05
And I have a team, my team helps.
45:08
I have two loan officer associates that help, but I would say I'm pretty available,
45:12
honestly.
45:13
And if my clients call or text me at night or on a weekend, I do respond.
45:17
But I don't look at it, I don't know, it's weird.
45:19
Again, I always, I think you can look at it like, oh, I'm being bothered or you could
45:23
have the mindset of, this is an opportunity.
45:27
Why would I not pick up a dollar?
45:30
You know what I mean?
45:31
If someone trying to get me to give me money and to create a relationship, but for me,
45:35
it doesn't feel like work always.
45:37
I don't meet, typically I won't meet with a client at night or on the weekend for a
45:42
new loan application or anything like that, unless it's the only time they can meet and
45:46
we have to meet in person, which is very rare.
45:50
Are you trying to get people to meet face to face?
45:53
This is a new thing for me.
45:56
I have been very highly upload, like to do it over the phone, do it on all that.
46:03
A lot of us on the phone, I'm not necessarily just online, but not necessarily face to face
46:08
up until the last probably four to five months.
46:14
We've been testing more face to face where they're bringing their documents in and I'm
46:19
noticing a lot less shopping when I do that.
46:23
Interesting.
46:25
A great conversion.
46:26
Higher, because it's all about trust and visible value and you're going to get a lot
46:31
more of that face to face, for sure.
46:34
Yeah, I mean, you get their commitment to come in.
46:36
They go through the, you know, so it's like a pre approved them over the phone or pre
46:39
quality, let's say, and they're going to bring their docs in just that face to face kind
46:43
of seals the deal and it stops the shopping most of the time.
46:47
Do you have any type of an online app?
46:50
I do.
46:51
I mean, it's just through my website and it links to encompass.
46:55
Oh, I see.
46:56
Are you trying to drive that like as a first step before getting face to face?
46:59
Yeah.
47:00
Well, it's over the phone is my first choice to take their app.
47:03
Okay.
47:04
If that doesn't work, I'll send them to the website and then still get on the phone with
47:07
them to fill in holes and communicate about what they want to do.
47:12
And then now it's a deal.
47:15
Let's bring your docs in.
47:16
If you can come in, that would be great.
47:18
If you can only upload, we're not going to not take them, but if you can come in, we
47:21
really prefer that.
47:23
And I've amazed at how many people that I used to think, oh, they don't want to come
47:27
in.
47:28
They're so happy.
47:29
Oh, yeah.
47:30
Well, come in.
47:31
That'd be great.
47:32
Really?
47:33
Okay.
47:34
Well, come on.
47:35
I was just kidding.
47:36
I didn't know you'd really want to come in.
47:37
You know, so all of a sudden, all these people want to come in.
47:38
Damn it.
47:39
They said yes.
47:40
Right.
47:41
Cash.
47:42
Got to fit that in the schedule.
47:43
Exactly.
47:44
But that's where my team comes in too because they can meet with the client and I can come
47:46
in and say hi and shake their hand and, you know, all that.
47:49
And then my, my L.O.A.s can go through the docs with them.
47:52
Yeah.
47:53
And that's a lot.
47:54
I guess I wanted to close out on that note in terms of what is your process for when
47:58
they do come in.
48:00
How do you structure that meaning?
48:03
Are you really trying to create that like five-star experience?
48:05
You know what I mean?
48:06
They got water.
48:07
They've got like, you know, hey, you know what I'm saying?
48:09
You really set up that kind of rhythm.
48:10
Cash.
48:11
Yeah.
48:12
Exactly.
48:13
Yeah.
48:14
I like the commander.
48:15
We have a very nice office.
48:16
So it's definitely nice to have them come in and see this is a real brick-and-mortar company,
48:21
you know, and it's a nice local office if you get a coffee or water, whatever they'd like.
48:29
They're brought to the conference room or to my office depending on how many people,
48:33
you know, if kids and if they simply need more space, I do have around, you know, table
48:38
chairs in my office just the time we do that and we bring them in and then usually I'll
48:45
meet with them for a few minutes, five, ten minutes, go through, just kind of getting
48:49
reacquainted with what they're doing and the plan and the timeline and okay, so you've
48:54
got your documents great.
48:55
Okay.
48:56
I'd love for you to meet Carla or Shannon, whoever I have them set up to meet with and
49:01
then Carla or Shannon will take them to their office and go through all their documents
49:06
and spend really the bulk of the time with them and I'll come in and say, you know,
49:11
goodbye and thank you and walk into the elevator and all of that or if I have a closing
49:16
or somewhere I need to go, I'll just, you know, let me say my goodbye at that point,
49:20
but thank them for coming in and, you know, just excited to get you, you know, to that
49:25
next step.
49:26
So it's kind of like the doctor's office or that you've got the person who comes in
49:32
and takes your vitals and we haven't heard all that stuff and then the Michelle, the doctor's
49:36
going to come in and see you and give you the prescription.
49:38
Exactly.
49:39
I mean, I'm not.
49:40
Yeah.
49:41
I'm stripping it down.
49:42
Yeah.
49:43
Well, for the most part, right.
49:44
I feel like I see more a little more time just because let's say it's a complicated,
49:49
you know, like I had a guy who, you know, they're going to vacate their home.
49:53
We're doing a line of credit, they're going to buy a new home, we're doing a second over
49:57
there.
49:58
Then he's going to, you know, after they close, he's going to do a recast on the loan and
50:04
should we do this?
50:05
Should we, you know, if he needs some time with me to get a game plan together, I don't
50:08
want Carla having to do that, you know, my team doing that.
50:11
That's really me, but I want my team going through his documents with them.
50:16
Who blocks the loan?
50:17
Me.
50:18
Okay.
50:19
And then what's your name?
50:20
Sometimes it could be the team, actually, that's not true.
50:22
If I start that loan, I lock it.
50:24
If Shannon starts the loan, she'll lock it.
50:26
So there are loans that just, I don't necessarily touch just because they came in.
50:32
Shannon started it or Carla started it and they take it through.
50:35
And I only step in if there's a problem, but the bulk of them go through me.
50:39
Yeah.
50:40
And then are you, who's making those milestone touch points, is it, I know you've got
50:44
the kind of the automated system where there's some milestone updates like appraisal,
50:48
right, approval, whatever, but what does your call cadence look like as you go through
50:54
that loan process to close?
50:56
So under contract, my, you know, I obviously send them typically an email sometimes the
51:02
phone call just dependent.
51:03
They need to talk to me about something.
51:05
I do call for the lock.
51:06
We do the lock.
51:07
And so we call it the lock talk.
51:10
And then that file kind of goes from my, it's usually with Carla, who's our loan coordinator,
51:15
and she will take it from there.
51:19
And then the processor takes it from the point of processor gets it.
51:23
And then milestones would be, I would step in with either we have, you know, they sent
51:29
us something that wasn't what they told us and now we kind of have to restructure or
51:34
great news.
51:35
You know, we just got your file out of, out of underwriting, everything's great.
51:39
So I'll do a couple of touches throughout the file.
51:42
But my team is also doing it, they're getting over communicated to you because they've got
51:47
me and the team.
51:48
That makes sense.
51:49
Yeah.
51:50
Same with the realtors as well over communicating.
51:51
And the realtors.
51:52
Yeah.
51:53
Very good, very good.
51:54
You know, to close out on this, I want to point out something you said at the beginning
51:57
in regards to face to face and having people come in.
52:00
A one is what I heard you say is it's increased your, your conversion or your stick rate less
52:05
shopping.
52:06
So that's a key point there, people.
52:09
Number one is Michelle knows her numbers.
52:10
She tracks and measures that.
52:12
You need to know yours as well, what your conversion rate.
52:14
Number two is what I really like that you said was, you as well as many of us have this
52:19
mindset of like, oh, well, people are too busy.
52:22
I don't really want to come in, but, but you found the opposite to be true in most of
52:26
the, not 100% but in a large percentage of the cases.
52:29
They want that.
52:31
And.
52:32
They really do.
52:33
Which surprised me.
52:34
Right.
52:35
And I think it surprises everybody.
52:36
And my, my, my recommendation would be test it out, test it out, have a good reason,
52:42
right?
52:43
Don't you say, oh, yeah, you got to get me.
52:44
It's like, you know, provide some context around it.
52:47
But I think, you know, we are so conditioned to believe that everybody is, yes, we are
52:50
busy.
52:52
Again, back to my point about like technology, trying to displace connection and relationships.
52:56
People are craving that, right?
52:58
And if you want to increase your conversion ratio, if you want to get shopped, the last
53:01
get in front of more people and stop buying into some of these, I'm going on a rant here
53:05
Michelle.
53:06
Stop buying into these people that are pitching you of like, you know, you can do this,
53:11
you can do this business 100% remotely.
53:13
You can.
53:14
That's a transactional business.
53:16
And you are going to be subject to the fluctuations of the market and interest rate much more
53:20
so than if you build a relationship business and you're building, you're creating value
53:25
because if it's so easy, then, then it's a commodity, you know, it's like buying shoes
53:31
on mine.
53:32
And why do I need it?
53:33
But if you, right, why do I need you and why are you worth more and not that our price
53:38
is always more, but there are times, you know, where you're in that bidding war or whatever,
53:42
or you know, you're in that price war and it's like, if you can create value and they
53:46
can come in and you're directing them and you're providing amortization pedals and you're
53:51
really, you know, taking them under your wing and looking at this loan as though it were
53:56
your own.
53:57
You know, people really appreciate that you care about that.
54:01
It makes the difference.
54:02
Yep.
54:03
Yep.
54:04
That's going to be the visible difference moving forward is those who are true trusted
54:08
advisors versus just app takers.
54:10
This is like we said, I mean, that's why do you think the popularity of things like rocket
54:15
and all this kind of stuff and other people come, you know, Amazon becoming a more, right?
54:20
Because that's the perception and there's a percentage of the market that that fits
54:23
for out there who just want the, hey, you know, the automated rate quote, but that's not
54:28
everybody.
54:29
And so you got to be clear on who your market is.
54:31
Yeah, I guess the statistic I just heard, I don't know if this is true.
54:35
So do your research people.
54:37
But I heard 10% of the population will go with the lowest rate no matter what and they
54:43
just don't care.
54:44
That's a really small percentage.
54:46
Yeah.
54:47
The bulk of the population will go with who they trust and feel, you know, they feel
54:52
the most comfortable with.
54:54
Yep.
54:55
And then there's like another 10% that just go with the highest price because I think it's
54:58
going to be the best.
54:59
So really what, you know, if you get the 90% and forget the 10 that are just shopping,
55:04
you no matter what, that's a pretty good, you know, you got a pretty good market there
55:08
to pick from.
55:09
Absolutely.
55:10
Absolutely.
55:11
Love it.
55:12
Love it.
55:13
Listen, we are out of time and I know you're busy.
55:14
You got to go get, get after some business.
55:16
So I just want to say thank you so much for being here.
55:18
Appreciate it.
55:19
Oh, thanks for having me.
55:20
This was fun.
55:21
I appreciate it.
55:22
I hope somebody gets something.
55:23
One good nugget out of it.
55:24
That'd be great.
55:25
And by the way, with your permission, if anybody wants to reach out to you, I'll put
55:27
a link to what your website, the show notes.
55:29
Is that work?
55:30
That'd be great.
55:31
Sure.
55:32
All right.
55:33
We'll do.
55:34
I put my phone number.
55:35
Whatever.
55:36
Yeah.
55:37
Yeah.
55:38
Yeah.
55:39
Yeah.
55:40
Your personal mobile number and address and all this stuff.
55:42
So we can send you 100 cheeky gifts.
55:44
So short.
55:45
No.
55:47
All right.
55:47
Well, thanks again for the time and listeners.
55:49
Thank you so much for tuning in.
55:50
If you like this episode, hey, let us know.
55:52
Leave us some love out on the inner webs.
55:54
Wherever you're listening, iTunes, blogs, Stitcher, Google Play.
55:57
I don't know.
55:57
One of those podcast platforms.
55:59
We appreciate you so much.
56:01
So thanks for tuning in to this episode.
56:02
We'll see you on the next one.
56:04
Bye for now.
56:05
Thanks for listening to Mortgage Marketing Radio.
56:08
One more truth in mortgage marketing.
56:10
Get more free training and resources at MortgageMarketingInstitute.com.
56:31
Hey, guys, what's up?
56:31
Real quick.
56:32
You've heard about the Mortgage Marketing Pro membership before.
56:34
And I just want to quickly remind you
56:36
if that you're in a place in your business where you simply need more purchase
56:40
loans, you need to fill your pipeline with purchase business.
56:43
Let's just face it, agents are still a solid pillar of business and sources of purchase
56:47
business for you.
56:49
Well, good news.
56:50
Our Mortgage Marketing Pro membership helps loan officers like you close more loans
56:54
without the hassle of chasing agents or cold calling.
56:57
Done for you, agent classes, expert training videos, a marketing automation platform that
57:02
automates the entire process for you, everything you need to build your personal brand in
57:06
your local market, attracting convert agents into referral partners.
57:11
Plus, done for you proven marketing materials and plug and play content to make promoting
57:16
your class, getting agents, butts and seeds, partnering with affiliates real easy.
57:21
But that's not all.
57:22
You'll also get access to our weekly mastermind calls with top L.O.'s authors, speakers and
57:28
coaches to learn the best strategies to grow your business right now in today's market.
57:34
And as an extra bonus for limited time, for all new members, you'll get access to a database
57:39
of 200 agents in your local market that have closed anywhere from eight to 50 transactions
57:46
in the last 12 months.
57:48
And we'll provide that list uploaded into our platform for you so you can get off to a
57:51
fast start in reaching actually productive agents.
57:55
So what are you waiting for?
57:56
You can check out more at mortgagedmarketing.pro, see more of the success stories there.
58:01
And if you feel compelled to do so, book a call, we'll have a chat, we'll see if it's
58:05
a fit.
58:06
Don't miss out on this opportunity to take your mortgage business to the next level
58:09
right now.
58:10
Head over to mortgagedmarketing.pro.