Latest / Mortgage Marketing Radio / Ep. 137 - From The Vault...Our #1 Episode of All Time

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Ep. 137 - From The Vault...Our #1 Episode of All Time · Mortgage Marketing Radio

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In today's highly competitive mortgage industry, building profitable relationships with
0:04
real estate agents is essential for success.
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However, finding effective ways to secure agent relationships can be a challenge.
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With so many mortgage loan originators vying for the attention of real estate agents, it
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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.
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And in this case study, he shares his proven strategies for building strong relationships
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with real estate agents and leveraging those relationships to drive more business.
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To get your hands on this resource, head over to LOKestudy.com and download your free copy
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of the case study today.
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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.
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Welcome to Mortgage Marketing Radio.
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Brought to you by the Mortgage Marketing Institute, your number one source for truth in
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Mortgage Marketing.
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Hey, listeners.
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What's up?
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This is Jeff Zimfer.
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Welcome to this episode of the Mortgage Marketing Radio podcast.
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So thrilled.
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As always, that you're here.
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All right.
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So you guys ready?
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We're going to mix it up a little bit.
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We are doing some things differently.
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And I am going to do this because I'm celebrating.
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I'm celebrating and I have you to thank and I wanted to involve you in this as well.
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So here's what we're doing.
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We are celebrating over 220,000 downloads of the podcast.
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That's right.
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220,000 times this podcast has been downloaded and growing and I'm just thrilled and I'm so
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grateful and humbled by all the positive response and feedback and impact that this podcast
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is making for you the listener and I'm grateful for that.
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Now with that said, some of you that are listening are new and as part of our celebration and
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I'm going to be doing a variety of different things ongoing over the coming episodes to
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celebrate over 220,000 downloads to be specific.
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One of the things I think it makes sense to do is to make sure that you're not missing
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out on some of the content from the past that is good stuff and relevant for you to hear.
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So on today's episode, what we're going to do is dig into the vault.
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That's right.
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We're opening up the vault and bringing back to the surface, back to you, the listener,
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the number one download episode thus far that we have had ever in doing this show since
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2016.
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This particular episode itself had over 2,846 downloads.
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So it's our number one episode, two date that's been downloaded and I wanted to bring
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it to your attention.
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But before we do, as always, I'm going to give a quick shout out to my podcast listeners
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and shout out for somebody who's left a review, Andrew C. If you're listening, this
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one's for you.
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Andrew C. says, another awesome show.
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Another great show, Jeff, you always provide great guests and drill down with your questioning
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to get real usable information and that can implement into my mortgage business.
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Thanks.
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Keep the great podcast going.
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That's our intent, 220,000 plus downloads going and more.
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So Andrew C. If you're listening, you get your podcast swag, t-shirt box, stickers, some
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cool stuff, just DM me, PM me, hit me up on the Facebooks and message me.
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Let me know that you know what, hey, I heard you, Jeff, and here's my mailing address
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on my t-shirt size and we'll get you that podcast swag.
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But Andrew brings up a good point here and he talks about drilling down with questions
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to get real usable information.
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And folks, I would say that that is in part why this is our number one downloaded episode
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to date.
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And the title is this.
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It's back way back from, not that far, back actually, December of 2018.
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It's episode 102, getting more agent referrals by going deep versus wide with real estate agents.
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And it features two lovely, powerful ladies, Debby C. Cord and Kitty Shive with Guild
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Mortgage.
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And Debby's got 20 years in the business and consistently coasting about 65 million
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a year, helped over 260 families in 2018.
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And we are going to dive deep.
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We're going to drill down to how she's going deep versus wide with real estate agents and
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all kinds of other cool stuff in her business that I think you'll enjoy video, how to cover
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maximum leads in less time, when to hire a business development support person, such as
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Debby has done with Katie.
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And so this is just, I think, a great crash course in what a successful, highly productive
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yet fun life-balanced mortgage business looks like.
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So that's this episode that you're going to get from the vault on this week's show.
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But once again, let me just say, hey guys, I appreciate you so much listening to the episodes
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downloading them.
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It's been a journey.
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It's been a struggle at times.
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It's called the, it's a battle, it's a struggle, right?
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And so your input, your feedback, your reviews, helped me keep going, helped me stay focused.
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And I'm really excited about what's to come once we get through the acknowledgement and
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the celebration of 220,000 download episodes.
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Look for me to go live doing some stuff, look for me to do some cool, fun giveaways,
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give me a bring on a special guest or two.
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And if you've got any suggestions for special guests that you think we should have on, let
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me know, right?
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Just hit me up on the Facebooks.
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You know what to do.
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And you can always reach out to me podcast at mortgagemarketingradio.com.
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So and don't forget, if you're interested in going deep versus wide with real estate agents,
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much like you're hearing from Debby on this episode, you can always go check out more at
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the mortgagemarketing.pro membership where we've got a whole course curriculum for you
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and how to do that consistently.
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All right.
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So with that said, without further ado, celebrating 220,000 downloads, 220,000 downloads, did
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I say that right?
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Oh my God.
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That's a lot of you.
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It's a lot of people, a lot of downloads are number one episode of all time so far, bringing
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it back from the vault episode one or two, getting more agent referrals by going deep
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versus wide with real estate agents.
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Let's get into this week's show.
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Debby, Katie, welcome to the show.
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Thank you, Jack.
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Hi.
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Thank you.
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So I've done these sessions before on the podcast where we've got two people calling
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in.
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So it makes sense to first let's identify who's who so people can associate the person with
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the voice.
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Debby, why don't you go first, tell us who you are, what you do.
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You're up.
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Okay.
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My name is Debby C. Cord and I've been in lending a loan officer about 20 plus years, so
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let's you know how old I might be and I just love what we do here.
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So when I'm with guild mortgage.
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Awesome.
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Katie.
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Perfect.
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My name is Katie Shive and I work on Debby C. Cord's team.
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My focus is business development and marketing, so that looks like making sure our agents, business
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partners and clients that are really loved on and happy and well communicated too.
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All right.
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How long have you guys been working together a little over a year?
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I've been on Debby's team since last fall, so just a little over a year actually.
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And it was truly one of my best hires.
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I mean, she has our master's degree in marketing and she's bringing us into the new
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modern millennial and it's such a huge benefit to our team.
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All right.
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So we're going to talk about that in a second.
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Debby, I want to set up for those listeners that people are naturally curious all the
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time.
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Give us like a 2017 roughly volume units.
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We're pretty much somewhere in the market of 64 to 69 million a year and that's been
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pretty consistent for the past four years.
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And we're probably a good mix of conventional FHA and builder business.
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And that's around 260 to 270 units per year.
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Wow.
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A lot of loans.
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And you are in, of course, Reno Nevada, just north of me a little bit here.
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Yes.
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Michael, just talk about Reno all day.
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Actually, I dig and I love it.
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But that's not why we're here.
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Let's talk business.
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Okay.
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So you mentioned for a second, Katie, she was the best hire you ever made and she's bringing
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you into helping to bring you into the quote, I'll use the word you use, this millennial
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market, right?
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Or whatever.
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I assume by you, you brought Katie on.
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Let me not assume.
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Why did you bring Katie on?
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Unpacked that a little bit.
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Well, because here it gild our culture and a lot of the goals for the last couple years
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have been for high touch, high tech.
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And as we change, high tech is a lot easier for true marketer and somebody who's a millennial
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herself, maybe the beginning stages of it.
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And I think it's very important as a loan officer to continue to change with your market
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so that your clients get the best of both worlds.
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And what are you hoping are the changes that Katie will help you implement?
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Well, she's definitely given us a presence on the internet and all the different sources
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that a lot of people today it's changing.
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It's no longer they're finding you through their real estate agent and the referring partner,
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they're doing their own research and they're on the internet and they're on all the different
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sites that we're all familiar with.
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And so you have to have a presence there to capture that.
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And did you feel that prior to bringing Katie on, you were lacking, maybe were you unsure
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you were going to be able to do it successfully yourself?
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Absolutely.
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All right, Katie, you up for the task?
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I am.
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Yes, I always learned a really good challenge.
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You're not saying Debbie's a challenge, are you?
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No.
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Yes, I am.
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Go ahead, Katie.
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I am.
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She's not a challenge.
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I see highlighted our market is changing and I just how we talk to our clients and our business
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partners is constantly changing.
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So part of my challenge and my job is really to figure out the best way to meet our clients
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and business partners where they're at.
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What Katie, I want to ask you, when you were evaluating, looking at areas of opportunity
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for Debbie, let's call it that, right, for her online presence or branding, et cetera,
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we've kind of stood out for you initially as like glaringly obvious that was needed
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to be worked on.
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And I think one of the things that we really focus on is just being consistent on our branding
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across the board.
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So making sure that all of our messaging is consistent, we focus heavily on LinkedIn
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and Facebook.
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So making sure our posts are consistent.
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We really try to do posts at least five days a week, but not just a spray and pray throwing
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a post out there and hoping that somebody can respond, but also building engagement.
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So working on getting our clients and business partners to comment, to share, and really
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trying to create a dialogue and build community through social media.
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Hmm.
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And so how have you done that in your time, you've been there about a year or so?
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When you say drive engagement, community getting partners and comments and all that stuff,
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how do you do that?
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What types of content are you creating and posting?
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So some of the things we've done is creating events.
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So we do a couple of events, big events each year.
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So we do one in the fall, which we recently did.
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We run it out of pumpkin patch farm, so to speak.
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And we had about 300 clients show up, which was really successful in our mind.
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And so we really pushed that on social media.
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One of the things we did partner with an agent in town.
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So we had a lot of fun with it.
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We got an inflatable dinosaur costume and ran around the corn patch and made some goofy
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videos and created an event on Facebook for that.
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And then just really played that up as much as we could.
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So you run it out of pumpkin patch, I love that idea.
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How did you do that?
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Was that like during off hours or whatnot?
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So we did on a Thursday, so it wasn't peak weekend hours for them.
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We did have to pay for the whole rental fee.
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And so we had basically a private event, but there's each family or each child left with
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a pumpkin.
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There was a pumpkin patch, a petting zoo.
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We had two face painters come.
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They had all kinds of different rides and whatnot.
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And then on the most inside, we created some cards that each family left with.
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And so it was like a postcard, and then we created a scavenger hunt.
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So the kids had to go around the farm and find different farm animals and bring that back
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to us.
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And they got a treat bag.
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And then on the back of the card, it just said, thank you so much for your business.
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We really appreciate you.
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Love that.
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We have 100 people.
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That's huge.
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We actually have 301.
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Our max is 300 and they graciously let the one extra person come in.
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So say, Jeff, for us, this is Debbie.
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We've done that event.
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This was our third straight year, but typically for me, just high touch, I would get out as
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much as I could, but we've never had the success rate that we had this year to thank our clients,
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our past clients, for staying with us.
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We've never had that kind of success without Katie's marketing.
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So that's where the big difference came.
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More people were reached and could take advantage of such a great event.
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Thank you.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Well, seriously, that's amazing.
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I mean, imagine the ripple effect from that 300 people.
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And that was a mix of past clients and some agents.
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Is that correct?
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Yep.
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I mean, there was primarily our past clients.
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That's what we marketed to.
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And that's an occurrence, as a thank you.
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And our marketing leading up to that, so we did do some print.
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We didn't do a mailer, so we mailed out personal invitations to every family and then we followed
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up with an email campaign as well and then added social media into it.
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But you didn't call people.
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We relied on the outbound stuff.
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And then we did make some phone calls on the last thing, just as a reminder.
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And I'm asking that, hopefully, you know, it's coming across the right way and that really
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speaks to a couple of things, right?
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I mean, one, your marketing, the pieces must have been really good and compelling.
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The social media itself.
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And then just I think the connection or affinity you've got with those clients to get that
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level of people to participate, that really says a lot about, I think you, Debbie.
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No, thank you.
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And that's truly where, with my 20 years, that's what I take the most pride in.
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But like we said in this new marketing and guild idea is high touch, high tech, and great
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at the high touch.
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That's always been what sustained me, the high tech has been a challenge.
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Awesome.
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So I want to all stay on this thread for a moment of events.
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It's funny because a podcast I recorded just before this one, same theme, right?
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And another top producer, big on events.
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What are you guys looking at for other events as we enter in more holidays, right?
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We got Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, anything around those?
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Yeah, so we do happy hours as well.
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Those are targeted a lot to our business partners and our agents.
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So we really try to love on them.
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We've gone back and forth with, you know, in the past, we used to do one every single month.
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But everybody knows agents are super busy and sometimes it felt like our attendance started
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to dwindle because they knew, oh, if I missed this month, I can come to the next one.
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So we've since shifted that model a little bit and now we typically do one a quarter
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and that has a much better turn on.
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I think our last happy hour, we had a little over 20 agents show up to that.
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So we work with a local kind of bar and restaurant in town, which is great to support local.
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They love having us and then they donate a raffle.
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So every time we go, they donate like a wine basket and we get, you know,
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we collect business cards when they come.
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So that way, we know who is attending and then just is a way to thank them for coming.
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We also have the business donate that wine basket.
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I know you're doing anything where it's like the people who come,
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they get a free drink ticket or they all on their own for that.
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It depends on the event.
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So we definitely will host food and then, you know, drinks can be on them.
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It just kind of depends.
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We, you know, none of us are really heavy drinkers.
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So we do more heavy apps and a lot of food.
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So we'll put a big, you know, spread out in the middle of the table and make sure they leave
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with full bellies.
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That's awesome.
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So clearly, events are a key part of you staying top of mind with real estate agents, right?
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And clients.
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Yeah. So in addition to events, we also do pop buys, which is another thing that we target.
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So I look at a calendar.
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I usually try to do this six months in advance and I'll look at, you know,
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major holidays or I like, we did a pop buy in August.
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It was national.
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Smores say and he doesn't like to look at smore.
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So I put together this really cute smores packet and delivered about 50 to different
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agents. I mean, the cost for us is, you know, maybe $2 per little bundle.
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And then I designed a little tag that I printed in tied to each bundle.
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And then I went around to all of the different offices and then handed those out.
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So little pop buys like that as well are in addition to just kind of stay top of mind.
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Hmm. Okay.
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Events, pop buys, it's fundamentals.
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You know what I mean?
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It's one of those things that have been done for years.
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Some people don't well.
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Some people look at pop buys as I've said this just a moment ago.
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Some people call pop buys cheesy, you know, we love cheese.
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Well, cheese winds up being green oftentimes, doesn't it?
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Yes, it does.
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The form of referrals.
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Yes.
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Why do you do?
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Yeah, here's the thing I want to answer for the listeners.
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Why do you do pop buys?
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What does it do for you?
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So I think first of all, it's all about your branding.
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And second of all, the pop buy can serve as two separate things.
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It's like, wow, look, your lending team really still thinks of you.
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A lot.
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You're on the forefront of their mind.
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Second of all, it's a little bit of breaking rice about what we've got today.
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Oh, I see.
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I mean, yeah, yeah, right, right.
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So it makes them feel special.
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Also, do you think it's helpful in today's world and online noisy world
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to take some of the online offline?
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Absolutely.
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I would 100% agree.
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I mean, I think it's one of my challenges is finding that balance, right?
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I could do everything digital and just not get out of from behind my desk,
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or I could be totally, you know, we could be out in front of agents all the time.
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But it's that balance of having a social media presence,
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email campaigns, whatnot, but, you know, also making sure Debbie and I are
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getting out in front of our agents and face to face.
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I mean, you just can never replace that face to face interaction.
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I think that people make a big mistake if they think that the high touch is not
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still part of our current climate and our future climate.
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It is still going to matter.
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Absolutely.
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I agree 100%.
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Okay.
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So that's great.
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Events, Popeyes, I love it.
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By the way, guys, for those that are looking, you know,
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Katie, you said you planned this the
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events or Popeyes out, I think was Popeyes.
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Specifically, you planned those out up to six months in advance, did you say?
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Yeah, so I look at the calendar and I just try to figure out, okay,
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you know, what are we doing?
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You know, obviously we're not doing a Popeye every single month,
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but I try to kind of alternate.
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So maybe it's a Popeye one month, a happy hour, the next.
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You know, and so I kind of look six months out and we'll figure out like with the
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Schmors one, for example, it's like, oh, it's August.
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We're not having a happy hour this month.
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Oh, it's National Schmors Day, the end of campaigns.
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That was kind of the thought logic behind.
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Let's do a Popeye and get in there and, you know,
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Debbie and I just loaded up our car and went around for the afternoon and delivered them.
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So yeah, I try to look six months out.
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Yeah, I think that's smart.
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You got a plan, right?
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Because it's like all of a sudden Tuesday and you're like, oh,
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Thursday's like, you know, the day,
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where am I going to too late then?
20:57
Right.
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I want to share a resource with people that are listening.
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You probably have your own.
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I mean, there's a bunch of them.
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You can find online, Google, like, national holidays.
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And these aren't the usual, like, veterans day holidays.
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You can find where it's.
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Yeah, like this one I'm looking at right now is National Day Calendar.
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Hey, heads up people.
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I don't know if you knew it, but yesterday,
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November 6 was National Nachos Day.
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So we missed that one.
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Yeah, that's literally the calendar that I use.
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And it's fun because you can find some really off the cost
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topics that are great conversation starters.
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You know, the National Red Hat Day,
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there's all kinds of things you can get really playful with.
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That's, that's what's awesome.
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It's fun. It's different.
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You stand out.
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It's not the usual rates today or trending at five,
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but, you know, right.
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Once to hear that.
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By the way, here's a gift to you guys.
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November 14th,
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do we have time?
21:51
Yeah, it's National Pickle Day.
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So perfect.
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You can get pickle chips,
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pickle cakes.
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You could have a...
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So there goes Katie already.
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You could say, don't find yourself in a pickle.
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Choose our team.
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Yes!
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There you go.
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How quick was that?
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Love it, love it.
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So people listening, check out those calendars.
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Lots of cool fun ideas.
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I mean, you can even just do videos around it.
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If you're not the pop-up person, you know,
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and do a video, have fun with it.
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All right, so speaking of videos,
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let's, let's, let's transition to a little bit of online stuff.
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I'm, um, I'm poking around here.
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I'm trying to find out more of what you guys are doing digitally.
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So I'm on your Facebook page.
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Tell me about videos that you're doing.
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What's the strategy around that?
22:31
What, I'll preface it before Katie takes over.
22:34
She tries really, really hard on these videos.
22:37
I am not the most willing participant, but I am learning.
22:43
Yeah, so we, um, that's definitely a goal that we keep making for ourselves is to be more
22:48
on the forefront doing video.
22:50
I'm just because that is, you know, just so quick, easy way to get in front of your clients.
22:56
Um, you know, that's not just the boring content that you're reading.
22:59
So we do a lot of video around event.
23:03
If we have events leading up to it.
23:05
And then we will do video emailing like we have, uh,
23:08
subscribe through bomb bomb, um, so we will email, you know, um,
23:13
our database for veterans, say for all of our veterans or for Christmas and different things
23:17
like that. Um, so we do a lot of video through email marketing as well.
23:22
It's not always on our Facebook page.
23:25
And you've got the video that, are they broken out into different groups,
23:28
realtors, clients?
23:30
Um, we haven't done that as much.
23:33
We do have, um, uh, Facebook group that we have, um,
23:39
we've had an issue, I shouldn't say we've had an issue.
23:41
We want to do something like a Facebook group, um,
23:44
but our compliance is looking into it.
23:45
So we haven't launched that yet.
23:47
But, um, I know that some people do, you know,
23:50
segment out their markets by, um, by groups doing it that way.
23:54
So right now, our strategy is just our Facebook page is to everybody.
23:59
So I try not to talk just rates or just, you know,
24:04
inspiring things that we try to have that make.
24:06
So we know we're talking both to our business partners and our clients.
24:09
I think, too, Jeff, you're probably talking about some canned videos, right?
24:14
So probably for 2019, that might be our growth where you've got your standard
24:19
congratulations.
24:20
Just gone out your home got accepted that you could send out generically once you produce one.
24:26
You know, trying to send out a video, this is goals for 2019,
24:29
trying to set up when you know that somebody's making an offer today,
24:33
trying to set them apart by sending the listing agent a video about
24:37
you're the one with the prequel and how strong they are and how much they love the house,
24:41
trying to look more at those really specifically dedicated things
24:46
that would help your client achieve the dream of home ship and get their offer accepted.
24:52
And your agent.
24:53
Yeah, so it sounds like what you're trying to do there is integrate video
24:56
into some of the milestones and touch points during that transaction.
24:59
Yeah, yeah, makes a lot of sense to do that.
25:02
And of course, it takes a little bit of work up front to kind of build that all out,
25:04
but once it's done, it's done and it works.
25:07
Yes, and that's for Katie.
25:09
So great is that it's consistent because I feel like in this market,
25:13
if you do something once or twice, it doesn't do you much good if you're not consistent.
25:18
So when you click on the things that are going to grow your business that are important to you,
25:22
you have to be consistent.
25:24
And that's where Katie's helped us to have a plan and be more consistent.
25:29
That's why I believe the business itself is more consistent.
25:32
So, so Debbie, then it sounds like Katie had to encourage you,
25:36
could Joel, you kick you to get started with video?
25:41
Yes, that is true.
25:42
So how do you feel now? Are you feeling more comfortable?
25:45
I am. I am. I prefer a goofier video over anything polished or professional.
25:50
So many times, Katie won't even show me when we get done with a little clip video.
25:56
It's just you just post and I trust her because it's always been
25:59
exactly what we wanted and it net our goals.
26:02
But if I have to rewatch it, I don't think they would get posted.
26:06
And I will say to every video that we've done, I wish she'd definitely, once we do videos,
26:13
they get easier. I think you get more comfortable with what you're doing and she does a great job with that.
26:19
It's just, yeah, being consistent, I think is really what's key.
26:23
And truly being yourself. If I try to be somebody super polished or try to not be myself,
26:29
that's when the videos are not fun.
26:32
Key point right there. Be yourself. Don't yeah, don't try and look Hollywood.
26:38
That's not someone else. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
26:43
Katie, I'd like to maybe get your input briefly on too many people get caught up in the metric
26:49
of video. And I'm not saying it's not relevant or important like views and all that kind of stuff.
26:52
It is. But this I guess is around the point of consistency because what would you say to those people
26:57
who we know they're out there that we know they're listening right now. That's you I'm talking about.
27:03
Where oh yeah, I did three videos and it didn't work for me.
27:07
Or I didn't get you only got 12 views. How do you coach that person on why to hang in there?
27:15
I think, you know, just going back to the consistency part is you're building an audience.
27:22
You know, you throw three videos out there and you just stop all of a sudden. I mean,
27:26
you just never know who's watching. You never know. Even if you have one person watching,
27:31
that could translate to, you know, a referral or refinance or a purchase down the road.
27:38
But if you give up too soon, you don't know what audience you're building. You don't know who's
27:42
following you. So, you know, our approach isn't to do it for the metrics, although we do look at
27:47
that and that is important. But really, our long-term strategy is we're trying to build an audience.
27:54
We're trying to build our community. So whether we have one person watch it or, you know, 1200
28:01
to us, it's just important to be consistent and to let people know. I mean, if they're going to
28:07
follow our page and then we just drop off, you know, why are they going to continue following us?
28:12
So kind of trickling that through. I think a lot of people have the ambition to do, you know,
28:17
video and like with any goal going to the gym or whatever, I mean, you start out that, you know,
28:22
January 1, Gung Ho, and then come February, it kind of tapers. And so if you can find a realistic
28:29
schedule that works for you, I mean, maybe that's just one video a month. But practice finding that
28:35
medium, be consistent and then build upon that rather than trying to, you know, do a video every day
28:41
and burning out. Right on, right on. Okay, cool. I'm going to transition to back to UW for a second,
28:47
looking at my notes from our initial conversation. You mentioned something if I'm correct that you're
28:52
doing differently, maybe, or changing up how your realtor strategy and that is you're going,
28:59
is it going deep versus wide? Did I get that right? Yeah, and it's not a change for me. So in my
29:05
20 years, it's pretty much been, that's where I'm super comfortable is really strong relationships where
29:13
your goals are their goals and everybody wins. And I'm not great at going wide, which Katie has
29:20
helped us add a lot of different people or business partners through these other avenues that
29:27
have not always been. So we are going a little wider than what I'm used to. And I just want to make
29:33
sure the service doesn't change. That's always been the reason that kept me from doing that.
29:38
I see. So that actually is, I correct myself. It is you're going wide versus deep because you've
29:44
been used to and very good at going deep. But Katie's brought some capabilities for you to scale your
29:50
reach. That what I'm hearing. That is correct. That is correct. And then you, what you do is you
29:55
identify those folks that might be right for then moving forward or moving further down the funnel
30:00
whatever and going deeper with those few, right? Yeah. And I think, I think as long as I definitely
30:06
am just speaking for myself, I feel like when you are aligned with the same goals in business period,
30:13
it is so much funner and such a better transaction for everybody involved. So that does mean at
30:19
times I have fired agents. If we don't work together on either side, it's not a win for everybody.
30:27
So that's really important to me. Do you ever put up with that crazy realtor just to keep getting
30:33
the business? I think, I think that comes with age, right? So in my early years, I'd put up with
30:40
everything. I do feel like in the last 10 years, no, I won't because at the end of the day,
30:46
if that's a huge challenge for me, then their client is feeling the same. And it's not, it's not
30:53
where I want to be. And it's not really a transaction that ends up the way we want it to.
30:58
So it doesn't mean I don't try super hard. It doesn't mean that I'm willing to throw out
31:05
a business partner or a lead. It means that it just has to be a great fit for everybody. And at
31:10
sometimes I've had to change. Sometimes I've had to change to realize, oh, look, they have a value
31:16
here. And their point is something that we can, now I get it. I get one of this way and I get
31:21
why it's a good business relationship. So sometimes we change too. But no, I no longer will do a deal
31:27
with a nightmare just to do a deal. Just don't do it. Don't have to. Well, and you also have to
31:32
think about the cost to you and your business of that. Yeah. Like you mentioned, the clients are
31:38
impacted by that. But then also, you know, I mean, there's impact to you emotionally. And
31:43
what a time suck that becomes and how that takes you off track. So it's easy. I know, like you said,
31:48
early on, it's harder to say that because you need business or you'll do anything. Yeah.
31:53
Yeah. All right. So let's transition a little bit. I'm looking at my notes and I want to kind
31:55
of do a couple rapid fire topics and see where this leads us. I wrote down Thursday hot shoppers.
32:02
What's that? So every time we get a lead pre-qualified that actually could go out today. So no credit
32:09
fixes. They are ready to go. They have their down payment. They're hot shopping. Every Thursday,
32:15
my team follows up with that hot shopper. We call to see how it's going, how they're agent doing,
32:20
are they seeing some properties so that we can revalidate their agent at that point. But bigger,
32:26
bigger thing is sometimes we find out that they're not happy with the agent that they are happy
32:31
with us keeping in touch. So it becomes super important on both sides. Interesting. So when you find
32:36
out, they're not happy with the agent. How do you handle that? I really do dig into that. I want to
32:42
know why I try to validate, not if it's not true, but if it's true, I try to validate that that's
32:47
not really what I'm used to from that agent and have they talk to the agent. I try to get them to
32:53
go back to the agent because the agent can't do better for them if they don't know how they're
32:59
missing the mark on what they're getting, you know, what the buyer wants to see. And many times we
33:04
end up turning that around. People are not comfortable with confrontation. So in that conversation,
33:10
they realize, yeah, it is not fair to the agent that I haven't told them that he's showing
33:14
these properties and he's missed the mark on what I want to see. So many times we keep those
33:19
relationships together by having those conversations. Yeah, I love the fact that you said with your
33:25
your Thursday hot shoppers, there's multiple initiatives behind that. One is obviously to
33:31
touch base and stay connected and you're building a fence around that client ideally because we know
33:36
they could be double-apping whatever. How do you handle them? I'm curious what percentage
33:40
in every market is different, but I know I often talk to loan officers and they've got the TBDs.
33:46
And I don't know what your market like, meaning there's a lot of TBDs there to just maybe in
33:52
pause mode. And you just still apply the same Thursday strategy? Yeah, until we know they're no
33:58
longer in the market for whatever reason we do, that's just part of one of my upfront
34:03
teammates jobs every Thursday. Well, I love that because now that I think about this,
34:08
there's a number of L.O.'s I've spoken to where your frequency is probably the most
34:12
regular or consistent one I've heard because I think too many L.O.'s let it go too long,
34:18
like a TBD, right? They'll let that thing kind of fizzle out. Yeah, and when you're having
34:22
those regular conversations, you know if that's still an active shopper, they'll tell you.
34:26
And then I think that really does go back to my preference of going deep because I'm taking
34:30
care of those people and we're really, really coddling those relationships we started rather
34:36
than to keep looking for more and more and more and more so you don't get the high touch.
34:41
And when you recognize that somebody is taking a pause or they're not active in the market or
34:46
whatever, you know they communicate that to you or through questioning, do you then move them
34:51
to some type of a, you know, email drop campaign or something or other different type of schedule?
34:56
That's exactly what we do. So it might become a, they just said that they've had a relationship
35:01
change or a financial change and it's going to be six months before they have that money saved
35:06
back up. Then we might touch them every other month saying, hey, how's it going? Do you have any
35:11
questions? Whatever the reason was, we talked specific about the reason, let's say, how's the
35:17
savings going? Do you want to touch base and pick on track? But that might become every other month.
35:22
If somebody truly says they're out for a year for whatever reason, then that might only be once a
35:27
quarter. If somebody is working on credit, we're probably checking in once a quarter to see what
35:32
that gauge looks like. I mean, we just got somebody back to an agent that they worked on their
35:37
credit for three years. Doesn't happen a ton, but when it does, it's so rewarding and we were able
35:42
to get them back to the exact same agent because of every conversation. We talked about their
35:46
business partner and their goals. And when we called the agents to say, hey, Mr. Mrs. Smith
35:51
are ready to go. They were just thrilled. And with those, the TBDs, the Thursday hot shoppers,
35:58
where you're trying to, you know, keep people active in market, what's their status, et cetera,
36:03
are you also then updating agents on those conversations if there's something meaningful, I guess?
36:09
Yeah, if it doesn't reach any confidence, it's definitely something we're talking about.
36:14
Hmm. Okay. And it's interesting. I'm thinking about this through the lens of, well, I think one of
36:19
the value props for a loan officer, we already talked about one, which is I edify that real estate
36:24
agent and help build them up. Do you intentionally articulate that as part of your value proposition
36:32
for real estate agents is, you know, not only is it my goal to obviously prequel, pre-approve all that
36:36
stuff, but also to ensure that I drive as many leads or clients, you know, back to you.
36:43
Does that make sense? It's definitely probably one of my number one talking points about how the
36:48
partnership works. Because the 1-800 lender is not going to care about the agent and our market
36:55
and where that relationship goes. And do you find agents respond to that positively?
37:01
Yes, I do. It's so, so funny is, well, we've both, I'm just like thinking it's crazy. We've
37:08
put both of you, but we've been around in this industry a long time. It's me since 2003. And that's
37:12
one of those classic fundamentals of, like you constantly hear about realtors don't value loan
37:18
officers, or they're not loyal. And in my response to that is exactly what you and I just talked
37:23
about. It's, well, probably because you're not doing a good job demonstrating your visible value,
37:26
because it sounds like you are on the same page, Debbie, where yes, your job is to do an awesome job
37:31
as a loan officer or all that kind of stuff. But you are, and this is where I think you're
37:35
point about going deep. You're an extension of that team, right? Absolutely. Yep. Yeah.
37:41
And I know that was, that was pitched a lot more back in the day, air quotes, if you will,
37:47
where it was, you know, where I got my training from, where it's like, you would call and introduce
37:50
yourself, you know, hi, this is Debby Seekord. I'm part of the, you know, ABC team at Remax. And,
37:56
you know, first of all, just congratulations on your, your choice to use the ABC team at Remax.
38:01
They're one of the best at, you know, that kind of stuff, right? Right. Yeah. I don't think that
38:05
happens a lot. I think what happens just is, no, and I think that, I do think that's something that's
38:10
missed. And I think that mass media and you can go wide and just hope that some stuff sticks, right?
38:17
So for me, that's for the relationship. So important. And our industry is not easy. It's not easy
38:24
for the agents. It's not easy for Glender. So when you have somebody and you can have like this
38:29
great happy ending experience that the homeowner gets the house of their dreams and everybody gets paid,
38:36
it's just such a win win. All right. Good stuff. Let me transition for a moment back to
38:44
Tuketi if she's the best one to answer for this. What, if anything, are you guys doing around
38:50
paid traffic, paid advertising, Facebook ads, for example?
38:55
You know, we don't do a whole lot of paid advertising. We've experimented with it a little bit
39:01
through boosting posts or videos. If you have a new product that just rolled out,
39:07
it's unique to, you know, to guild or our market, we'll boost that. But I honestly can't say that
39:14
we have seen a significant return from, you know, our paid traffic or paid advertising versus all
39:21
of our organic stuff. So that's just not something that we focus on heavily and on our team.
39:29
Do you also have to jump through some compliance hoops if you're going to be running any ads?
39:32
Yeah. I mean, anything that we do, you know, is always going through compliance and that's
39:38
something that's so important to us. So, you know, occasionally we'll have things, you know,
39:42
I'll come up with an idea and this would be great. And, you know, we'll send it to compliance
39:45
and for whatever reason it may not, you know, be approved. And of course, we value that over anything
39:51
else. So it really just depends. But fortunately, our compliance team works really hard to make
39:58
sure that, you know, they're not just blocking everything. So rarely do they ever put the full
40:04
breaks on. So they work really hard to get that together with us. So is your company producing any
40:09
content for you that you then repurpose on social? They do. Yeah. So they have, you know, a lot of,
40:17
you know, some of the generic stuff that, you know, tips for home buyers and, you know, different
40:25
mortgage terms and specific to product announcements and things like that. So we definitely will use
40:33
some of their creative products or creative content and we'll kind of drip that into our social
40:40
strategy. But then we also really try to create a lot of our own stuff. So I would say maybe one
40:46
day a week we'll use content that corporate produces for us and then everything else we try to
40:52
produce, you know, for our team. Do you guys do anything around agents content or listings or
40:59
things like that that they may be, you know, posting to share that or... Yeah. So we will share if an
41:06
agent has a new listing or something like that. And since that goes back to what Debbie was talking
41:11
about, we try to validate the agent. So if they have something that they post, we'll definitely
41:16
share that. But we'll do, you know, we'll do co-branded flyers and share that as well. So
41:23
anywhere that we can partner with our business agents, we love to get behind that.
41:28
And that's where Guild Platform is fabulous. There's all these flyers and products that you can
41:35
use for helping your business partners get out there. What are some of the things you help them do
41:41
in terms of marketing? So we do a lot of, you know, like you said, with the flyers, we'll do open
41:47
houses with... Just to clarify. So open house flyers, right?
41:51
So we do open house flyers, coming soon flyers. I know some loan officers have used products
41:59
called list reports. That is a platform that's available. And then occasionally if they ask us
42:05
to do an event, we'll consider that. Again, it's really, you know, we have some pretty creative
42:09
agents. So some of them come up with some pretty cool stuff that they purchase with.
42:13
How are you doing any open houses with them? Things like that?
42:16
Yes, we do do open houses. And always the same thing. My main job in that open house is to
42:23
edify, you know, if they have an agent, great. And if they don't, that there's one here that can
42:29
help them with every need that they could have in a match and edify the person. And then, you know,
42:34
we also have a fun thing like we have an open house survival kit from the dollar store. And it
42:40
just has like, that the agent gets and it just has their card, our card. And it has maybe a light
42:46
bulb in it, a candle. If you go into a house, it's a little less desirable.
42:53
That we've all been in. Maybe some for breeze. Some lights.
42:58
Some for a roll of toilet paper. You know, it's just another fun thing and it still adds value
43:02
to that. And they can actually carry those around in the future and refill them.
43:07
Right. That's awesome. I love it. Open house survival kits. Yeah. Again, making it fun,
43:11
making it different. Okay. Last thing I'm looking at here for my notes is you mentioned earlier,
43:17
you're coaching agents and I wrote down a book study. You're doing a book study with agents.
43:22
Is that correct? Yeah, I do have some agents that we do a book study. We've done them
43:26
after my in groups where we get together and they can be from all different offices. That's
43:31
beautiful part about the happy hours and some of these other things is that the agents come from
43:36
different offices and it's not a conflict. They learn. You learn more together. But the bigger focus
43:42
we did in 2018 was my team picks a book and they read it throughout the month and if that's how
43:49
we start our Monday morning meetings. What was highlighted, what they like, it gives me a chance
43:55
to figure out where they're where they're really values are and to see everybody's strength
44:01
and what's important to them. And we just like the last book we just finished with the secret.
44:06
And it, you know, we do a vision board every year and we're teaming up with a real estate group
44:11
issue and their agents are coming and we're we're getting together and we're doing vision boards
44:16
together. It's lots of fun things. No, yeah, I love that. This is kind of a new idea for some people
44:22
because I brought it up once before I think and you know, it was like, you know, lights go on.
44:27
Oh, great idea because a lot of people think agents are hyper competitive and they're not going to
44:31
get in a room and share ideas, you know, about what's working. But to your point about your masterminds,
44:37
you found that not to be the case. No, and actually I may have had the belief the other way prior to
44:43
joining Guild were a highly coached company and these happy hours are what truly introduced me
44:49
for the first time that these people do love interacting with each other. Sometimes deals are made
44:54
at these happy hours. Sometimes ideas are given of how a deal can be made and it's different than
45:00
what I've perceived before coming to Guild for sure. So real quick then a mastermind, the kind of
45:05
the format for that is roughly what just gets that out if you could. That would be just talking
45:11
about our market today, the hot topics within the market and it usually does revolve around
45:18
the core coaching or whatever coaching, whatever coaching forms of youth. So we just look at how
45:24
do you track your leads? How did tracking your leads go? What does your greatness tracker look like
45:28
or whatever forms? Like it's the accountability of the work that you got then to achieve your goals
45:34
because none of us have bosses. None of us have to show up. None of us punch a clock. These younger
45:40
agents have not even had a chance to work in an environment that they have to show up at eight
45:44
and leave at five so they're kind of just out there with no real guidance. So these forms,
45:49
the accountability, your greatness tracker, how many calls did you make? How many thank you cards did
45:53
you send? What do you do for the end of the year? Reminders, what do you do for the quarterly
45:59
reminders of your close clients? It's just really for me, it's mostly based around coaching,
46:04
the core coaching that we use. Yeah, as a matter of fact come to think of it, one of your colleagues
46:10
Olig to Koch, you know him? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Who doesn't know Olig, right? Exactly.
46:18
Had him on the podcast and he said the exact same thing in terms of how he sees the role for
46:24
loan officers, you know, he's changing, if you will, although you and I were like, hey, no,
46:29
this has been the role since the beginning. But for those that aren't doing that, you need to
46:33
become a coach for the agents. I think there's this perception that for those of us in the industry,
46:38
we get exposed to all this stuff, the different real estate coaches out there and all that kind of
46:42
jazz. And our assumption is, oh my god, the realtor is they've got plenty of info on how to do
46:46
X, Y or Z. And reality is, yes, but no, because you know, most of them aren't like doing it yet. And
46:55
they really need, here's what I've learned, they need a guide, they need your user term a coach,
47:00
but to have somebody locally there face to face in person, that's a whole different thing than
47:04
watching a video or whatever. Exactly. And it's an in-person accountability.
47:10
Now, I love it. And by the way, to your point about, you know, the coaching content, right,
47:13
you guys are part of the core and all that stuff, great organization. And so the whole point there
47:19
is, look, just borrow the content that exists out there and put it together in a format that's
47:24
right is easy for you to share and people to write, share and have a conversation. Your goal is
47:29
really to facilitate her in those masterminds, isn't it? Absolutely. Yeah, you're not like a teacher,
47:34
you're not like, you know, big raw raw session, you're like, okay, so let's talk about this concept of
47:39
like time blocking, you know, and you just roll it out there. And people just love the fact that
47:45
somebody's pouring into them, I think I could go on about that all day. I love it. And we've
47:51
actually had, you know, we've seen a lot of success through that. But again, that's just about
47:56
my personal preference about willing to be. You could do big, huge lunch and learns with
48:00
you invite everybody in the brother, which, which I've tried that and we've done it and some of them
48:05
are a lot of fun. But I much prefer the more deeper relationships where we know what we can do
48:12
for each other and how to best help each other and accountability. Yeah, I think the big takeaway
48:18
from all this is specifically real estate agents is, you know, not to sound cliche, but it is a
48:23
real estate relationship. And we need to be as loan officers, I just taken my personal experience
48:31
and a lot of folks I talk, you just need to get better at developing relationships and realizing
48:35
that from the get go, that it's not a vendor situation, your job is to not close alone. Even though
48:42
it's like, you know, we've heard that before as a matter of fact, you know, give back the
48:46
Oleg for a second. He's like, you know, three years ago, you know, maybe you could get by with,
48:51
oh, I close loans on time. But so what today, everybody can do that. That's not your competitive
48:58
advantage. So how do you, what is your competitive advantage? And I think it's, you know, again,
49:02
to sound, I hate to beat these words to death, but it's the value you bring to the relationship.
49:06
It's how are you pouring into that person? How are you helping to help them achieve their goals?
49:11
You know, we've heard it for so long, but dog gone and it's true.
49:16
Yeah, and I think I think in the 20 years that that concept comes and goes, right? Because it's
49:22
the next shiny penny, the next great idea. But I think at the end of the day for me, it's always been
49:29
the consistent relationship. Not about when I get paid, but how we all issue that in goal.
49:35
Right. And then last but before we wrap up, Hey, Katie, what do you got on your radar for 2019?
49:44
Digital marketing wise or branding wise for Debbie and team?
49:49
I think really just kind of sound to more videos. That's really a goal that we've been
49:55
discussing and pushing. And so really just being more consistent, getting in front of the camera.
50:01
I think being more spontaneous and in really pushing videos is going to be our main goal for next
50:09
year. More spontaneous videos. Does that mean like on the streets, right?
50:16
Yeah, I mean out and about or maybe even doing more Facebook live events too. That's a huge thing.
50:26
I know sometimes when you're live, the nerves come out a little bit different than if it's
50:30
recorded and you can do 10 takes. So I think just being doing Facebook live events and you know,
50:38
more more videos is really where we're going to be focusing. Love it. Love it. Look at the key
50:44
there, even with Facebook live or anything, it's like just just be you. It doesn't have to be perfect.
50:48
Totally. Go live and go, you know.
50:52
Yeah, and we pulled out we pulled out fun props and I mean we really try to have that balance
50:58
of fun and cheese because that's what you're going to get when you work with our team.
51:01
You're going to have a great time and you're going to be taken care of. But we definitely like
51:06
to have fun and get things done. So that's how we try to come across in all of our communications.
51:11
And that's a great reminder that people would rather be entertained than educated. But if you
51:15
can combine the team, you got a winner. Yeah. Winning together. Exactly. Awesome. Well,
51:22
let's guys appreciate you making time. I know you're incredibly busy. What's the best way? I'm
51:25
going to put links in the show notes, of course, to Debbie, your Facebook page. The website is well.
51:32
Give me that one more time. So those listening, they know where to go.
51:35
So our website is guildmarch.com forward slash Deborah C Ford. Awesome. Well, thanks again for
51:42
sharing. I really appreciate you both being here. I thought it was an awesome combination of
51:47
powerful women dropping some truth bombs. Well, thank you for having us. And thank you, Jeff,
51:52
for always trying to better our industry. It's fabulous. Oh, you bet. No, thank you. It's a
51:56
passion project. And that speaks to our listeners. Thank you. Of course, ultimately for tuning in
52:01
and listening and if you like the episode, hey, let us know. Give us a little shout out wherever
52:06
you're listening to this little ranking stars. You know how to do it. So it's my pleasure to host
52:12
this and as always be good. Be safe. We'll see you out on the next one and bye for now.
52:36
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