Latest / Mortgage Marketing Radio / Closing $80 Million in a Challenging Market
Transcript
- 0:00Hey, what's up, Jeff Zimper, host of the Mortgage Marketing Radio podcast.
- 0:09Thanks for tuning in.
- 0:10Appreciate your being here.
- 0:11Hey, a couple of notes of housekeeping before we bring on today's special guest.
- 0:15If you're liking the episodes, you've been listening a while or your new listener, I appreciate
- 0:19you being here.
- 0:20And we'd love to hear your feedback on the podcast.
- 0:22You know, you can do to help us out.
- 0:24Just take about 60 seconds or less and leave us a quick review wherever you're listening
- 0:28to this right now.
- 0:29You should be easy to tap through, click through it and get over to leave us a review.
- 0:33And I'd appreciate that because that's how we help reach more people and stay in the
- 0:37top rankings on Apple Spotify podcasts.
- 0:40So I appreciate if you can do that.
- 0:42And then of course, you know Mortgage Marketing Radio.
- 0:43This is the place that we help loan officers get more agent referrals so they can become
- 0:47the go to lender in their local market.
- 0:49How do we do that?
- 0:50We help you implement a proven system for attracting, engaging and converting agents to conversations
- 0:55and referrals at scale.
- 0:58As above the noise, leap frog from being seen as a solicitor and a vendor to a partner
- 1:03and appear.
- 1:04How do you do that?
- 1:05You do that with positioning.
- 1:07You do that with branding.
- 1:08You do that with leading with education and helping agents solve problems.
- 1:13You've heard about it by now.
- 1:14Our mortgage marketing pro members are getting attention, engagement and conversations with
- 1:19real estate agents and they're not having a call call.
- 1:22They're not having to chase.
- 1:23They're not having to do broker reviews, open houses.
- 1:25They're not having to co-pay for leads.
- 1:27They're simply becoming the preeminent, most attractive, obvious choice in their local
- 1:33market for real estate agents by leading with education.
- 1:37Got a brand new testimonial for you here.
- 1:39This week, here it is on my hand out right here and this comes to you by way of one of
- 1:45our pro members, longtime pro member Janelle Davis from Maryland.
- 1:49I believe three years now with us.
- 1:51She just hosted our 90 day CMA class, which this class actually shows agents how to use Google
- 1:57Earth and to send unsolicited CMAs to their database and lead sources using a really cool
- 2:03video technique using Google Earth and a video email that literally gets people to open
- 2:12the email to watch the video and to schedule conversations to learn more.
- 2:17As a matter of fact, I've done this myself in Vegas a number of times.
- 2:20We've had a few teams do this and they get listings, they get appointments.
- 2:23One of our pro members, Janelle, has taught this class a couple of times now.
- 2:27She recently completed the class.
- 2:29Here's her testimonial right here in front of me, 28 agents attended.
- 2:33How long does it take you to get in front of 28 agents?
- 2:37Better question.
- 2:38What type of value propositioning and positioning, right, who'd you have in front of 28 agents
- 2:45versus one by one on a call call and the disadvantage that that puts you at?
- 2:49Janelle has a class of 28 agents in it are eight high producing agents and the class is
- 2:55so well received and Janelle gets acknowledged this way.
- 3:02One of the realtors who has attended several of her classes sends her a text message or
- 3:06an email, I believe, that says, hey, Janelle, just wanted to, you know, thanks to your class
- 3:10I'm sending videos to my sphere of influence.
- 3:12I've done eight videos so far and have about another 140 to go doing five per week and
- 3:18he goes on to say a few more things.
- 3:19Thanks again for such a value right in class and I'll see you for the Google My Business
- 3:23class.
- 3:24Guys, the name of the game right now is market share, right, capturing the attention of
- 3:29real estate agents because look at, yes, agents are leaving, yes, law and officers leaving.
- 3:34Good news.
- 3:36That means less noise, less of that distraction and now agents are going to be able to hear
- 3:42your value proposition more clearly and seeking, right, a lender relationship and a partnership
- 3:47that actually goes above and beyond the normal, which is close loans on time and do a good
- 3:51job.
- 3:52Anybody can do that.
- 3:54If you can actually help agents solve problems in today's market, vis-a-vis the example
- 3:58I just gave you help agents get more listings.
- 4:00You win.
- 4:01Now, how do you learn more about this?
- 4:03If it's a fit for you, you go to mortgagemarketing.pro, you book a call with me and we walk through
- 4:08your business where you're at, where do you want to go?
- 4:10Are you the right fit for us or not?
- 4:12We'll show you the platform.
- 4:13We'll show you the classes.
- 4:14We'll show you how we help you get butts and seats and convert and follow those up to
- 4:17conversations and manage the whole process.
- 4:20Mortgagemarketing.pro.
- 4:21Go check it out.
- 4:22All right.
- 4:23This week, my special guest is somebody who I've come to really enjoy following and engaging
- 4:27with on Instagram.
- 4:28It is Paige Bowman, the Htown Mortgage Check on Instagram.
- 4:33We're going to put a link to her Instagram profile in the show notes, but she's a founder
- 4:38and teen leader at the Mortgage Collective in Houston.
- 4:41She's a top female mortgage lender and she is crushing it in Houston.
- 4:45I got to reference my notes here because we just finished the conversation and I think
- 4:49she said she's going to do 80 million this year.
- 4:51She's on track to do 80 million in this year, right, 2023 in a quote unquote down market
- 4:57in a tough market, right?
- 4:59So what I love about Paige is, first of all, she's just real and who doesn't these days
- 5:04want more of real.
- 5:06But we're going to unpack.
- 5:07Speaking of real.
- 5:08We're going to talk about her strategies for attracting agents on Instagram, for attracting
- 5:15consumers on Instagram, her processes that she has in place, how she does events, and
- 5:20bottom line how she's building a very compelling brand that is helping her grow and scale her
- 5:25business to record numbers, even in a down market.
- 5:29So if you like what you hear on this episode, make sure you click the link in the show
- 5:32notes to follow Paige over there on Instagram.
- 5:34And I think you'll be not only entertained but educated and informed about how to actually
- 5:40build a personal brand on social media and work with real estate agents.
- 5:44So without further ado, let's get into this week's show, Paige, welcome to the show.
- 5:49Thank you for having me.
- 5:50And as a pleasure, congratulations on you creating such a presence on Instagram that it sucked
- 5:57me in.
- 5:58It's like a vortex.
- 6:00That's right.
- 6:01And I don't know how you, you know, you never know how people show up on your feed, but
- 6:04you did.
- 6:05Clearly, I'm a lot of mortgage related real estate stuff.
- 6:08Yes.
- 6:09I showed up on my feed and I'm like, whoa, wait a minute, this girl's putting on some pretty
- 6:12cool content.
- 6:13Like it's highly professional.
- 6:15It's engaging.
- 6:16Thank you.
- 6:17And before we get into that, for those listening, give us the brief background or calling
- 6:22you a bit in the biz units, number one source of biz.
- 6:25Yeah, for sure.
- 6:26So I got into the business in May of 2014.
- 6:29I have been a licensed originator since 2018 and took over the team that I run in May of
- 6:372021.
- 6:39And from May to December of 2021, we closed about 75 to 80 million.
- 6:43And then all of last year did about 85 million with a move in between all of that.
- 6:48So and just, you know, I know 2021 COVID numbers are like, oh, I did this much in COVID.
- 6:56We're still on pace to do about that this year.
- 6:59So I'm a number one source of business right now is realtors.
- 7:02Realtors.
- 7:03Okay.
- 7:04Great.
- 7:05I love that distinction as well.
- 7:06I got to start asking, what are your non-COVID numbers?
- 7:08What did you do before COVID and what are you planning on doing this year?
- 7:12And what is your balance of purchase versus re-fi, roughly?
- 7:16You know, I think we've closed one re-fi this year.
- 7:20But even during COVID, we specifically did not lean into re-fives.
- 7:23I think on average, we would close about five to seven percent re-fives and actually
- 7:27just sent off those re-fives and get paid on just referring them out to people because
- 7:32I wanted to make sure that we stayed heavy on purchase because re-fives come and go,
- 7:36but your realtor relationships and any relationships that you have that feed you business will always
- 7:41be there and re-fi them and post re-fi them.
- 7:44Yeah.
- 7:45So I'm pausing purposely there for a moment because a lot of people hear that and they're
- 7:52like, what?
- 7:53What are you doing?
- 7:54We could have closed $200 plus million during COVID and we probably referred out, you
- 8:01know, in the course of 24 months, I would probably say, you know, $65 to $85 million
- 8:07worth of business.
- 8:08Did you have some kind of rev share on that or was it all goodbye?
- 8:10No, we got obviously basis points production on it, very small amount, but still worth it
- 8:16enough to be able to focus on our realtor relationships and we specifically told clients
- 8:20that we're giving you to this person who solely does re-fives.
- 8:23They're going to treat you 10 times better than we are because we are focused on our purchase
- 8:27business and we want to make sure that you're getting the same customer care and the same
- 8:31client care as all of our purchase business.
- 8:34Oh, there's a statement right there.
- 8:36That's a writer downer.
- 8:37A writer downer, I like that.
- 8:40I'm like, I got a writer downer for you all.
- 8:43It makes me wonder how that re-fi shop air quotes is doing now.
- 8:48You know, I don't know.
- 8:49I don't know.
- 8:50We'll leave it at that.
- 8:51Leave it at that.
- 8:52Just curious.
- 8:53Don't want to, you know, ruffle any feathers.
- 8:54But no, I just love that you really take a stance on that and you communicate to those
- 9:01potential clients as to why, you know, you're doing that and back to your referral partners
- 9:05as well.
- 9:06That just, that thing's courage is what it takes.
- 9:09It was definitely, it's one of those things that, like, when you're short-sighted, all
- 9:15you think about is, oh my gosh, think about how much volume I'm missing.
- 9:18But when I go alongside, I think about how many more realtor relationships that we gained
- 9:23because we were all in unpurchased.
- 9:25And I'm still closing the same little bit.
- 9:28We're a little down on business this year, but we're still closing about the same as we
- 9:33did last year, which was $85 million, which is, you know, pretty good, I think.
- 9:38And that's because we've gained realtor relationships when loan officers were losing them because
- 9:43their pipeline was full of re-fives.
- 9:45Wow.
- 9:46You know, there's a little coming up for me during this conversation because you, you,
- 9:50from what I can gather are, how would you classify yourself?
- 9:55Millennial?
- 9:56I am a millennial.
- 9:57I'm proud to be a millennial.
- 9:58Yes.
- 9:59Okay.
- 10:00You are younger, younger than me, at least.
- 10:05Yes.
- 10:06You know, like, there's a narrative that seems to be bubbling up for some people.
- 10:12There's a larger percentage of people than I hear the narrative through you and what
- 10:17I'm hearing right now is, but page, the market sucks.
- 10:21No one does it.
- 10:23Like, it doesn't suck for you.
- 10:25Right?
- 10:26Yeah.
- 10:27I mean, I, I hear you.
- 10:28I talked to loan officers all around the country almost every single day that tell me
- 10:32the exact same thing.
- 10:33Oh, the market's trash, realtors, uh, realtor relationships.
- 10:37We have had realtors that have literally just gone out of the business.
- 10:40I can't, I'm not, this is not sustainable.
- 10:42I'm going back to my job that I was doing before real estate.
- 10:44Right.
- 10:45Okay.
- 10:46So, but what's the difference?
- 10:47Why are you, how are you different than, you know?
- 10:50Yeah, consistency.
- 10:51We've really been consistent.
- 10:53Um, we have, we've stayed, uh, top of mind with mailers.
- 10:58I know that sounds silly, but we are old school.
- 11:00Um, um, was any of those old school, amen?
- 11:03Yes.
- 11:04Listen, I like taking notes on a notepad.
- 11:06I have a notepad that I take notes on.
- 11:08Yep.
- 11:09I have one of those right here.
- 11:10We send mailers, um, every month, and I am in front of my people every single day on social media.
- 11:15I post consistently every single day and consistent is different for every single person.
- 11:20Consistent for Sally might be three times a week and consistent for a bob might be, you know, seven times a day.
- 11:26Um, but consistency is really what you have to do in this market.
- 11:31Um, and you have to be in front of people because content equals contracts.
- 11:36Um, and if I can be producing content and I can be in front of somebody, when we're consuming content, not to be weird, but we are not taking up.
- 11:47No one's taking my mailer with them to the restroom.
- 11:50You know what's going to the restroom with them?
- 11:52Yes.
- 11:53They're phone, right?
- 11:54Yeah.
- 11:55If you're grabbing people's phones, you probably shouldn't know that I've said that.
- 12:00And hopefully you're cleaning your phones at least, you know, once a week.
- 12:03But I mean, seriously, we are with them in their most intimate moments.
- 12:07Right.
- 12:08And if you have the ability to connect with people like that, whether it be realtors or referral sources or past clients at a past client reached out to me last night,
- 12:15or a day page, we worked with you before.
- 12:17We are relocating and ready to buy our dream home.
- 12:21Do you have time to chat this weekend?
- 12:23I know you're probably super busy.
- 12:24And I was like, Hey, man, I'm never too busy for you.
- 12:26Um, my cell phone number is the same.
- 12:28You know, what's, you know, can I confirm that I have your correct cell phone number, went into our CRM real quick at 10 o'clock last night whenever I was answering her, sent her email at her telephone number.
- 12:38And she's like, I can't believe that you still have that.
- 12:41I was like, you're important to me.
- 12:44Like, you're, that's important that I have that.
- 12:48It's important that I'm able to communicate with you.
- 12:50And they reach out to me on social media.
- 12:52And so it's just, you know, being in front of people you never know, again, you never know who's looking.
- 12:57Yeah, that's interesting real quick note on that is what does that say about the expectation of the consumer to be surprised that you have their mobile.
- 13:04Very low.
- 13:05Right.
- 13:06And so it's easy to win if you like show up.
- 13:09Yeah.
- 13:10Back to the mailers for a second.
- 13:12Who were you?
- 13:13Those two.
- 13:14We sent them out to our thousand, our thousand people.
- 13:18It's our most recent thousand past clients.
- 13:21Okay.
- 13:22And so what that looks like is we use reaching neighbors.
- 13:26And so reaching neighbors is awesome.
- 13:28We actually customize our.
- 13:31Customize our.
- 13:32We're using these retailers via Canva.
- 13:34And doesn't take a rocket science to do that.
- 13:37Reaching neighbor also has some good templates.
- 13:39But we really.
- 13:40We know that, you know, thousands of other maybe not thousands literally, but, you know, hundreds of other loan officers are using those same templates.
- 13:46And so we want to be different and we want to be unique.
- 13:49So this past month and June.
- 13:51We sent out the top five things to do in the Houston area for summer because if you have kids or if you don't have kids, it's cool to know what there's,
- 13:58which are able to do.
- 13:59In February, we had moved in November,
- 14:03and we'd been sending out every single month
- 14:05something that said we moved.
- 14:06We've moved, we've moved, we've moved,
- 14:08because the average consumer needs to see something
- 14:11seven to 10 times to know that it's happened.
- 14:15That's just human nature.
- 14:16And we did, hey, if you send us back an email at team
- 14:19at mtgcollective.com, we'll give you a $5 Starbucks
- 14:21or Duncan gift card.
- 14:22Just tell us which one you want.
- 14:24Mm, Hanako.
- 14:26I spent a lot of money on this.
- 14:28I love it, that's a good time.
- 14:30I spent a lot more money than I thought.
- 14:32I mean, of the thousand that we sent out,
- 14:33I maybe had 200 reply back to me.
- 14:36Yeah, but one loan, obviously, covers it.
- 14:38Literally, yeah, one loan.
- 14:39And now my email address, my team email address,
- 14:43is in their phone as a email address
- 14:46that they have communicated with.
- 14:48And our CRM uses that team email address.
- 14:51And so now it's an email address that they're used to seeing
- 14:54and they're like, oh, so it's not going to spam.
- 14:56So if it was going to spam, now that they've communicated
- 14:58with it, it's no longer going to spam.
- 15:00And they're going to start getting my emails.
- 15:01Friendly now.
- 15:02Do you do any QR codes on those mailers?
- 15:05I don't, you know, we did those all during COVID
- 15:08and I've just stopped with the QR code.
- 15:11Are they postcards?
- 15:12They are postcards, yep.
- 15:14All right, cool.
- 15:14Yeah, I'd be curious to see.
- 15:15I'm sure you guys have some type of engaging,
- 15:17maybe slightly funny humorists or people to them.
- 15:22It's anybody who follows your brand,
- 15:24which we'll put links in the show notes,
- 15:25to your Instagram, right?
- 15:26That is part of the personality that shines through.
- 15:28Yeah, I mean, you got to have fun.
- 15:30Like this is not a glamorous job.
- 15:32This is not a, I mean, it's a cool job,
- 15:34but it's not a glamorous job by any means.
- 15:36And you've got to have some humor.
- 15:38You got to laugh every once in a while.
- 15:40Yeah, love that.
- 15:43Man, there's a lot to cover here.
- 15:43Okay, so number one source is real tours.
- 15:48And so we launched off that thing, the market sucks.
- 15:50You covered that.
- 15:50It only sucks.
- 15:51Wow, it's a sock.
- 15:52It's mindset.
- 15:55Then how have you done anything differently
- 15:58with realtors?
- 15:59Have you pivoted or changed anything
- 16:01in the current market, right?
- 16:03With realtors specifically?
- 16:04Yeah, so we don't really,
- 16:08I say yes, but I also want to say no.
- 16:10It's really just being consistent
- 16:13and providing them value.
- 16:16If your realtor is wanting you to give them money
- 16:18for something, you're not in the right relationships.
- 16:21We're in an intimate relationship with our realtors,
- 16:24meaning that if I don't want to go to dinner with you
- 16:27with my spouse, if I don't want to go to vacation with you,
- 16:30if I don't want to hang out with you,
- 16:32you're not the person that I want to work with.
- 16:34And so far often we find,
- 16:36you know, I talk to a ton of loan officers,
- 16:38people will ask me, how are you so close with them?
- 16:41Like, well, they're my people.
- 16:42Like there are people I want to be in business with.
- 16:45And if they're not, we don't drive.
- 16:47And that's okay.
- 16:48Like, I'm okay with that.
- 16:50And so I just, we're in an intimate relationship
- 16:53with all of our referral partners,
- 16:54but with that we provide them value
- 16:57and none of them ever asked for,
- 17:00can you sponsor my open house and give me $250?
- 17:03Because they know that I'm going to provide them value.
- 17:06And sure, ever once in a while,
- 17:07someone might say, hey, could you, you know,
- 17:10would you help sponsor a team lunch?
- 17:12And I'm quick to say yes,
- 17:14because I'm not getting asked for that money
- 17:16every single week or every single month by 10, 20, 30 realtors.
- 17:21I spend a very small amount of my money on realtors
- 17:23because I'm providing them value.
- 17:25And when I do spend money,
- 17:26we're having, we're typically doing like, lunch,
- 17:29we're going, you know,
- 17:31I'm inviting them over to my pool
- 17:32and we're having a pool day.
- 17:33Like we're doing something fun,
- 17:35where it's enjoyable for all of us
- 17:37and it's not work related.
- 17:39And then I also say that we do thank you cards,
- 17:43handwritten thank you cards,
- 17:44every single lead that someone sends to us within a week.
- 17:48Every Friday, my assistant gets me,
- 17:50my handwritten thank you cards
- 17:51that are addressed with the stamp on it
- 17:53and a $5 Starbucks gift card.
- 17:55And I send them a thank you card.
- 17:58And it might not even,
- 17:59I probably don't talk about business in 90% of them.
- 18:02Yeah, right.
- 18:03Hey, Brandon, congratulations on, you know,
- 18:06whatever it might have been.
- 18:08Congratulations, I think you're weight loss goal.
- 18:10You're absolutely amazing.
- 18:12I'm so grateful to be in business with you,
- 18:14cheers to more success.
- 18:16And I'm here if you need anything.
- 18:17But those thank you cards are only when the referral comes in
- 18:21or those are throughout the whole relationship.
- 18:23When they send us a referral
- 18:25or if I just want to say thank you for something.
- 18:28I just acknowledge somebody.
- 18:28Okay.
- 18:29Yeah, people like being acknowledged.
- 18:31Yeah, they do.
- 18:32More than we want to admit, we like it being acknowledged.
- 18:35For sure, who doesn't like the good pat on the back?
- 18:37We probably never got none of that grown up, right?
- 18:39Yeah.
- 18:40All right, you twice or more,
- 18:43I've heard you use the word value to real estate agents.
- 18:45So I want to crack that a little bit
- 18:47because that means different things to different people.
- 18:49For sure.
- 18:50And so again, you seem very structured
- 18:53in your business approaches and systems.
- 18:56So I'm wondering if you,
- 18:57like what I think is like do you have a,
- 18:59in that initial conversation with a realtor,
- 19:01is that value conversation starting there?
- 19:04Do you start differentiating or articulating
- 19:06how you actually deliver value?
- 19:08Yeah, so a lot of the realtor relationships
- 19:10that are new that find us or use us
- 19:12or new relationships that we find
- 19:14are typically found on social media
- 19:17or they know like interests someone
- 19:19that no likes and trusts us
- 19:20and we get in business because of a mutual relationship.
- 19:22So if they know me on social media,
- 19:24they probably know a lot about me already
- 19:25and pretty open, talk about a lot of stuff
- 19:28and I'm just who I am.
- 19:29I hate to use the word authentic
- 19:31because authenticity is such a throne around word these days
- 19:35but I'm authentic on and off social media.
- 19:38And so with that being said,
- 19:40a lot of the realtor's already kind of know what to expect.
- 19:42And so, and I know a lot of people
- 19:46that listen to this might be like,
- 19:47well, that's not gonna happen for me.
- 19:49Well, I thought the same thing,
- 19:52but the reality is is that if you're in business
- 19:54with people that know like and trust you
- 19:55and that you know like and trust,
- 19:58they are your biggest rating fan.
- 20:00And I know that you all have read the book Raving Fans.
- 20:05And if your realtor's are not your Raving Fans
- 20:06and your clients are not your Raving Fans,
- 20:08you need to tweak the business that you're doing.
- 20:11And so when I have that conversation with them,
- 20:13it's hey Brandon, I'm using the word Brandon.
- 20:17I'm using Brandon because I just hung up
- 20:18with the realtor named Brandon
- 20:19right where we hopped on this call.
- 20:21Hey Brandon, you know,
- 20:23I, you know, Katie referred you over to me.
- 20:26I, you know, how are you currently getting business?
- 20:29What, you know, are you paying for leads?
- 20:31Are you, is it referral based business?
- 20:33And far often than not,
- 20:35the realtor's that we're working with
- 20:36are typically getting referral based business
- 20:38or social media business.
- 20:40And so, you know, it's hey, I'm getting leads
- 20:43from past clients.
- 20:44I'm getting leads from different people
- 20:46throughout the industry.
- 20:48And I'm like, well, how can we serve you?
- 20:50What do you need, what, what do you need help with?
- 20:53We have a pretty robust CRM, you know,
- 20:56that keeps you up to date.
- 20:57It notifies you of, you know, client birthdays,
- 20:59client home of our trees.
- 21:01It keeps you up to date on where we're out
- 21:02with your clients.
- 21:03And that's all great.
- 21:04And everybody's got a CRM that they love.
- 21:05But what do you need from me?
- 21:07How can I be the best partner to you?
- 21:10And just asking people that,
- 21:13like people will tell you what they want.
- 21:15Yeah, they will.
- 21:16I'm just curious, you know,
- 21:18there's a thousand thoughts that run through my head
- 21:19because there's a, you know, potentially 20 or 30
- 21:22different answers to that.
- 21:25And I'm wondering if you hear a theme or, you know,
- 21:28because I think here's the bigger problem.
- 21:30Communication, if you want another theme.
- 21:32I want, I'm not getting communication
- 21:35from my current loan officer
- 21:37or my current, my current loan officer is being too pushy
- 21:41or I just can't get them on the phone.
- 21:45And y'all, we're not that busy.
- 21:47This isn't COVID.
- 21:49I'm not working 90 to 100 hours a week.
- 21:52What do you have a structure in place?
- 21:54You know, a lot of L.O.'s have the,
- 21:56I'll call you back within an hour of voicemail thing
- 21:58or what do you do?
- 21:59No, I just have a, my voicemail just says,
- 22:01like, hi, you've reached the voicemail of Paige Bowman.
- 22:03I'm either on the other line or away from my desk.
- 22:06You're welcome to text me or leave me a voicemail
- 22:08and I'm going to call you back as soon as possible.
- 22:11And if I know that I can't get to them,
- 22:13I'm on this podcast, right?
- 22:15I have forwarded my desk phone over to someone on my team.
- 22:19They'll take messages for me
- 22:20or nine times at a 10, probably can answer the question.
- 22:24But, you know, speaking in business
- 22:27that want to be in business with you, you know?
- 22:29Yeah, for sure.
- 22:30Well, I love the old saying,
- 22:30go where you're celebrated, not where you're tolerated.
- 22:33Yeah, I love that.
- 22:34Yeah.
- 22:36And I think that's too often the acceptance
- 22:40that what L.O.'s put up with from realtors,
- 22:43is they're taller because they're going to get a deal.
- 22:46And then all they do is bitch and moan about realtors
- 22:48and how they suck and all this kind of stuff.
- 22:49And I'm like, dude, how many realtors
- 22:52are here in your backyard, you know?
- 22:54For real?
- 22:54It's a good one.
- 22:55You're a mindset because how you, your mindset
- 22:59is going to transform and change your business.
- 23:02Last week, I was literally chatting with my mom
- 23:04who's also in the industry, shout out to Kelly Rogers.
- 23:08And if you, if you know her, you follow her,
- 23:13she's really smart.
- 23:15And I was like, call me my,
- 23:25perhaps, man, I only have nine apps this month.
- 23:27I have one lock.
- 23:29It's the sixth.
- 23:31Like, what's going on?
- 23:33I know I was just on vacation,
- 23:35but I thought if I went on vacation,
- 23:37I would get busier.
- 23:37Like, what the heck?
- 23:38Well, you've been lying to me my whole life.
- 23:42And she's like, you got to change your mindset.
- 23:45Like, you're acting in scarcity.
- 23:47You have a bad mindset right now.
- 23:49And I literally on Thursday,
- 23:51I had that conversation with her
- 23:52and I picked up the phone and called 10 realtors.
- 23:54Call of them, no, I can trust me.
- 23:55I didn't call, I'm cold call anybody.
- 23:57And I just said, hey, Katie, how's your day going?
- 24:00How's business?
- 24:02And I typically say that how's business for last?
- 24:05Hey, Katie, how's Riley?
- 24:06How's, you know, how's Noodle?
- 24:07How's the dog?
- 24:09You know, and just ask questions.
- 24:10And then, you know, how's your business?
- 24:12What can, how can I serve you?
- 24:14I made 10 of those phone calls on Friday.
- 24:16And not that this has a lot of correlation,
- 24:19but I like to think that it does.
- 24:20On Friday, I locked six loans.
- 24:22So I don't know.
- 24:24You don't see.
- 24:25Sorry.
- 24:27So I, you know, I don't know that that
- 24:29as a direct correlation,
- 24:30but I'm going to let myself believe that it does.
- 24:32That I shifted my mindset on Thursday morning
- 24:34after I chatted with my mom and complained to her
- 24:36for probably 10 minutes about how my business was imploding
- 24:39and my world was over.
- 24:41And by Friday at 5 p.m., I had locked six loans in 24 hours.
- 24:45That's awesome.
- 24:46Well, it's okay to vent, too, you know?
- 24:47Yeah.
- 24:48Vent and go dump that whatever it is.
- 24:50Maybe it's a workout, maybe it's a person, I don't know.
- 24:52But go let go of that and then get back in the lane.
- 24:55100%.
- 24:56Yep.
- 24:57Yeah, because we're all facing all that noise and resistance.
- 25:00I wanted to ask you a question here for a few minutes
- 25:02and we'll pivot into social media.
- 25:04So, and I hate to use the term millennial,
- 25:06but all right, it's because it's an identifier.
- 25:09But you're young, all right?
- 25:10Let's put it that way.
- 25:10Matter of fact, I remember a few years ago
- 25:12when this whole millennial thing started, right?
- 25:13And everybody's like, oh, the millennials compared
- 25:15to the boomers and all that.
- 25:17And somebody was on stage saying, you know,
- 25:19they didn't like the labels either.
- 25:20And he goes, you know, you know, who millennials are?
- 25:22They're young people.
- 25:24That's who they are.
- 25:25Okay, that's it.
- 25:26They're no different than you were young, all right?
- 25:28They're just young people.
- 25:30Yeah, we're just young people, man.
- 25:31I like that.
- 25:32I'm young.
- 25:33But I'm asking this could this question
- 25:35because we'll segue into your social media following
- 25:38Instagram over 10,000 followers.
- 25:41Why are you bullish on realtors?
- 25:45You know, that's a good question.
- 25:47I, I'm gonna answer in this might not be the right way
- 25:52to answer, but so I apologize.
- 25:54But I don't ever want to rely on somebody else for,
- 26:03I'm trying to think of the kind way to say this.
- 26:08And so, you know, I don't want to be,
- 26:12I don't ever want to rely on somebody else
- 26:14for the food that's on my plate.
- 26:16And I'm a lot of the time all in on realtors,
- 26:19but I also would love for my business
- 26:22to come from other places.
- 26:24And so, I'm all in on realtors
- 26:26because those realtors are my friends,
- 26:28but I also am all in on social media
- 26:30because I know that there are other realtors,
- 26:33I mean, other lenders that are getting their business
- 26:35solely from social media and then giving
- 26:38those leads to realtors.
- 26:41And so, I love the realtors that I work with.
- 26:45I love the people that I'm in business with,
- 26:46but I also know that there are plenty past clients,
- 26:51social media or other avenues.
- 26:54And new thoughts that I answer here.
- 26:55Don't even know you exist yet, yes.
- 26:57Yeah.
- 26:58Is that answer?
- 26:58I feel like that was like, yeah.
- 27:00I am hopeful and I know that they're going to,
- 27:04at the end of the day, my realtor relationships
- 27:07are my friends and so I want to continue being a business
- 27:09and being a partner and being aligned with them,
- 27:12but also at the end of the day, like I know that business
- 27:14can be cut like there are other sources of business
- 27:16that is out there.
- 27:17And so, yes, I'm going to be all in on realtors,
- 27:20but I also want to be all in on other avenues
- 27:22to try to mesh those together.
- 27:25No, it makes total sense in there.
- 27:26First of all, let's start from the top
- 27:28is your realtors are your friends.
- 27:29So you have chosen who your business partners are wisely
- 27:33because you enjoy doing business with them.
- 27:36The out for the loan officer listening,
- 27:38a lot of realtors aren't your quote unquote friends
- 27:40or you don't like them, you tolerate them, right?
- 27:42Yeah.
- 27:43Wrong things start to divert, start to mix it up.
- 27:46You're going to need to, if you want to enjoy this business,
- 27:48it's all about who you work with and partner.
- 27:50That's number one.
- 27:51Number two, here's my belief about realtors
- 27:54in the ranking of sources of business is,
- 27:56and we're going to now talk and pivot to social,
- 27:58but still today, and I'll friggin debate anybody on this,
- 28:02still today, realtors, in my opinion,
- 28:04are the shortest quickest path with the lowest cost,
- 28:07highest conversion rate to buyers in the market period.
- 28:10Yes, game over.
- 28:12Better social media does not beat that yet.
- 28:16Correct.
- 28:17It is a longer funnel, longer process
- 28:19and all that kind of stuff, delicious face it.
- 28:21How many realtors do you work with roughly,
- 28:23just your core group?
- 28:24My core group is probably about 25 realtors.
- 28:27I know that seems like a lot, but it's no, no.
- 28:31Note for people listening, you need more
- 28:34than you've ever needed before.
- 28:35100%.
- 28:36We work with probably 50 to 60 realtors.
- 28:39My core group is probably 25,
- 28:41and honestly, that's still not enough.
- 28:43Who's, I take a lot of calls and people
- 28:45fell out of form before they get on the call with me.
- 28:48And most of them have like six, you know, six, four,
- 28:53maybe eight, once in a while.
- 28:55I mean, you need 10, 20, 30 today,
- 28:58because the pie has shrunken for everybody.
- 29:00Yeah.
- 29:01So it has.
- 29:02Up on that.
- 29:03Now, let's get into social media.
- 29:05Speaking of that, have you generated business from social?
- 29:10I have actually had a closing today from social media.
- 29:13Nice.
- 29:13What was kind of like a love that?
- 29:15Take me through the journey.
- 29:16Was it like a post at DM?
- 29:18Well, it was a video that I posted that led to a DM,
- 29:23that led to the conversation, that led to the application,
- 29:27that ultimately led to 16, 90 days of credit repair,
- 29:30and then now they're closing.
- 29:33There you go.
- 29:34And have you seen that over?
- 29:36You've been now obviously,
- 29:37how long have you been focusing on Instagram?
- 29:40So I've been shooting content and shooting videos
- 29:42since May of 2021.
- 29:49I started posting them in really,
- 29:53I, let me say this, I went all in on shooting video
- 29:56in December of 2021.
- 29:59I've gone all in on social media and posting consistently
- 30:04and doing stories January of this year.
- 30:07So I had not gotten a lead from social media
- 30:11until January of this year when I went all in.
- 30:15So I was just like mosing around.
- 30:17I was like, I'm going to post a real today.
- 30:20It's Tuesday, I feel like posting a real.
- 30:22All right, now it's Saturday.
- 30:25And oh crap, I haven't posted a story in six weeks
- 30:31I need to get on that.
- 30:31But I've been all in on social media
- 30:34since January 1st of this year.
- 30:37And I've been saying for a while,
- 30:40I want to get all of my business from social media.
- 30:42It's doable, they're, I'm not going to say hundreds
- 30:45because there aren't hundreds,
- 30:46but there are at least 800 loan officers
- 30:48that are getting all their business from social media,
- 30:50maybe not even that much.
- 30:53And it's doable and it's an untapped market.
- 30:58Yeah, well, it's like a never ending source as well
- 31:00because it's not like the pool doesn't end.
- 31:03The pool doesn't ever get full.
- 31:04No, right?
- 31:05It continues to expand and has capacity,
- 31:08it's just about your ability to reach it.
- 31:10Correct.
- 31:13And by the way, I know you're saying
- 31:14I get all your business, but I think what you're,
- 31:17I get what you're saying, however,
- 31:18it's not like you're going to shut off
- 31:19the faucet of realtors, you know?
- 31:21Oh, no, never.
- 31:23But I would like to primarily see that most of my leads
- 31:25are coming from social media because that just means
- 31:28I'm doubling my business.
- 31:29Right, and you can feed your realtor partners as well,
- 31:33which is cool.
- 31:34And then they'll never ask me for money.
- 31:36Exactly, right?
- 31:37I can ask them for money, no, I'm just kidding.
- 31:40Okay, so you said all in and I know that's a,
- 31:43that's a very important distinction versus dabbling.
- 31:46And I have been equally guilty of the dabbling mistake.
- 31:50You though are, are you exclusive in terms of your quote
- 31:54unquote all in?
- 31:54It's Instagram for you.
- 31:56It is, I do post funny stuff on Facebook.
- 31:58So if you follow me on Facebook, which I don't think they do,
- 32:00and it's not, not your fault.
- 32:02It's totally okay.
- 32:03I really post like, if we're having any events,
- 32:07I post that on Facebook and I also post like,
- 32:10what's better, chipsahoy or Oreo?
- 32:13And I, yeah, see?
- 32:15And then it becomes like, okay, now what's better?
- 32:17Original Oreo or double stuffed?
- 32:20And then that starts a whole debate.
- 32:22But I do that because I continually keeps me top of mind
- 32:27and in people's feed.
- 32:29I don't, I mean, I am, I like to think a pretty funny person.
- 32:34And I am a little controversial.
- 32:37I'm probably a lot more controversial than most people.
- 32:42I would say most people are controversial,
- 32:43but most people are not willing to be vocally controversial.
- 32:48Behind closed doors, everybody's controversial,
- 32:51but I'm willing to be a little bit more controversial than most.
- 32:55And I, I use the term of like, what's better?
- 32:57Chick-fil-air raising canes.
- 32:59And I mean, gosh, people love that.
- 33:01But it keeps me within their algorithm feed.
- 33:04And I was constantly showing up every single post.
- 33:07And so that's, I'm just trying to juice the algorithm.
- 33:10So when I do post, hey, we're having an event.
- 33:12It's not reaching five people, it's reaching 500 people
- 33:15or a thousand people.
- 33:18And so there is a method to that madness.
- 33:20So real quick, real quick, let's go back to the quiz.
- 33:23What was the first cookie one Oreo versus?
- 33:25Oreo versus chipsahoy.
- 33:26But then, but then everyone's gonna say Oreo.
- 33:28Like literally, it was like Oreos.
- 33:31I'm a more of a chipsahoy guy.
- 33:32Well, okay.
- 33:33So you're like of the, like literally,
- 33:35I think I have like 400 comments on that post.
- 33:38Of that post, like two people said chipsahoy.
- 33:40And I, I'm not gonna, yeah, I'm like crack.
- 33:44Yeah.
- 33:45And so then the next day, I was like, all right.
- 33:48I was like, maybe a few days later, I was like, all right.
- 33:50The people have spoken Oreo is the true winner.
- 33:53Now, which one is better?
- 33:55Stuffed crust or stuffed crust, double stuffed
- 33:58or just the original Oreo.
- 34:00And then that sparked a whole other debate.
- 34:02People feel very strongly about store-bought cookies.
- 34:06Oh, I know, yeah, they do.
- 34:08That's funny.
- 34:11It's surprising though to see so many people love Oreo
- 34:13because I just don't get it.
- 34:14Anyway, we don't want to, we don't want to
- 34:16derail this conversation.
- 34:17That's all different podcasts.
- 34:18I just don't get it.
- 34:19Anyway, okay.
- 34:21So back to Instagram.
- 34:23I'm looking at your content and your reels
- 34:24and all that kind of jazz.
- 34:26How, so I opened up with this, as you know,
- 34:29is when I look at your Instagram feed,
- 34:31is the first word that came to mind for me was intentional,
- 34:34right, or intentionality.
- 34:36So are you intentional with the current strategy?
- 34:39And all right, so unpack that.
- 34:40So 100%.
- 34:42So my videographer Rusty Gates, he is wonderful.
- 34:45He's also a really good friend.
- 34:46Was a realtor.
- 34:48Was a good friend when he was a realtor.
- 34:49He was a client.
- 34:51Then he became a realtor and then we used us.
- 34:52And now he is my videographer
- 34:54and doesn't really do real estate anymore.
- 34:58Cause who wants to know?
- 34:59I'm just kidding.
- 35:00I'm kind of.
- 35:02So we, I was his first client and I went all in.
- 35:07I believe in my friends.
- 35:09And so if you don't believe in your friends,
- 35:11then you have the good friends.
- 35:14Yeah, you have the wrong friends.
- 35:15And if your friends don't believe in you,
- 35:16then you need to like rethink your whole friend strategy.
- 35:18But I believe in my friends.
- 35:20And so I went all in on Rusty.
- 35:22And I think Rusty also went all in on me,
- 35:24even though he's never told me that.
- 35:25But he was really betting on me.
- 35:27And so with that being said,
- 35:30we kind of toyed around a while.
- 35:32You know, beginning of first half of 2022
- 35:35is like just figuring out my style,
- 35:38figuring out, you know, shooting videos
- 35:40so I can get comfortable.
- 35:41And so if you look at the videos from like,
- 35:43the beginning of 2022, they're like meh.
- 35:45And it's like, what was the purpose for this?
- 35:48But then we really honed in on my style is that I myself,
- 35:54I'm, you know, I show up.
- 35:56I don't show up in a suit and, you know,
- 35:59I'm not dressing any way.
- 36:01I'm being myself true to who I am.
- 36:04But I'm also my content is created for realtors and clients.
- 36:08Okay.
- 36:09And I want it to be easily digestible
- 36:11for someone who has no idea what real estate is.
- 36:14Because the average home buyer
- 36:16purchased a home three to five times in their lifetime.
- 36:18And it's certainly increasing now, right?
- 36:20You could probably say that the average home buyer
- 36:22that's my age will probably purchase five to seven homes,
- 36:26maybe five to 10 homes in their lifetime
- 36:27because people are moving more.
- 36:29But the reality is is that I want to talk to people
- 36:32like they don't know anything,
- 36:33but I don't want to treat them like that.
- 36:35Okay.
- 36:36There's no one wants to feel stupid.
- 36:39All right.
- 36:40So your content is designed to be digestible content
- 36:44for realtors and clients.
- 36:46Riltors and clients.
- 36:47And so I think that because I know sometimes people
- 36:50get hung up on, well, consumers are realtors.
- 36:52What should I post my stuff about?
- 36:54You're saying both and you've proven it can work
- 36:57because there's a pretty clear crossover there.
- 37:00Because if you're posting it for your clients
- 37:01and your realtors are following you,
- 37:02your realtors are sharing that content to their story, right?
- 37:06And then because they have clients following them.
- 37:08And that's at the end of the day what I want.
- 37:09I want my content to be shared
- 37:11because the more people that see my content,
- 37:13the more impressions that I have
- 37:14and the more impressions that I have,
- 37:15the more likely to get a client from that.
- 37:17And obviously you're positioning yourself as knowledgeable, right?
- 37:22Front of the realtor feed
- 37:23because you're showing up with all those amazing content
- 37:25and they're like, that's a lender I want to work with.
- 37:27Yeah.
- 37:28Yeah.
- 37:29Have you attracted new relationships solely from Instagram?
- 37:32No, 100%.
- 37:33Yeah.
- 37:34My top realtor referral relationship I met in 2021
- 37:38because of social media.
- 37:40And I would consider her one of my best friends
- 37:43and her the same.
- 37:44And we met because of social media.
- 37:47Is that Katie Day?
- 37:49It is.
- 37:51Katie Day.
- 37:52I said good, good score, man.
- 37:53Yeah.
- 37:55That's a hell of a team there, huh?
- 37:56Yeah.
- 37:57And she's good people.
- 37:58And we're like, she's a friend.
- 38:00She's the one I want to be a friend with.
- 38:02And the same like she wants to be friends with me.
- 38:04And we view business the same
- 38:06as we want to be in relationship and in business
- 38:08with people that we know like and trust.
- 38:11Okay, so map out for me then your schedule
- 38:15for filming, posting, batch.
- 38:18Everybody wants to know the secret friggin sauce, right?
- 38:22Well, when someone finds it out, let me know.
- 38:25I batch out content on Tuesday.
- 38:28I actually batch out content.
- 38:29I brought a realtor in and we shot 10 videos
- 38:32together podcast style.
- 38:34And then I did I think 25 individual videos
- 38:39and then Alice in a loan officer on my team shot
- 38:42another probably 15 videos.
- 38:44So poor Rusty and his editor probably have somewhere
- 38:46between 45 to 50 videos in a four to five hour period
- 38:50that we shot.
- 38:53I will also shoot again at one more time this month.
- 38:57And that day will be just realtor's and me.
- 39:01And so Katie and I shoot content together once a month,
- 39:05typically.
- 39:05And then I'm going to be sitting at the chair.
- 39:08podcast style.
- 39:09Yeah.
- 39:10Okay.
- 39:11But side by side with podcast mics and we, you know,
- 39:13riff back and forth.
- 39:14Interesting.
- 39:15So you're talking about all kinds of different real estate
- 39:16related topics.
- 39:18Correct.
- 39:19And her content is client facing.
- 39:22Yes.
- 39:23And you're in some of her content though.
- 39:25Yes.
- 39:26Yeah, nice.
- 39:28Okay, so that's a lot of content.
- 39:30So on that Tuesday shoot,
- 39:31is that a month's worth of content for you?
- 39:33Yeah, that is.
- 39:34The goal is again, so I shot 10 videos with a realtor.
- 39:38And then I saw 20 to 25 videos around myself.
- 39:42I'm not going to like every video that I make.
- 39:45Not it's just like, I probably have, you know, 20 videos
- 39:49in my drafts that the world will never see, because I look back
- 39:53on, I was like, oh my God.
- 39:55I was thinking, no, no shit.
- 39:57I've been there too.
- 39:59Why did I think that sound again?
- 40:00And then sometimes you're like, Affet, I'm posting it.
- 40:04Because I don't have anything else.
- 40:06I literally, I'm this is it.
- 40:09How are you scripting these out?
- 40:11I don't script anything out.
- 40:12I'm actually launching this weekend, a small plug here.
- 40:16I'm launching this weekend in ebook for lenders.
- 40:18It's a hundred topics and a hundred hooks on just hooks
- 40:22that I have found that have either generated me a lot of views,
- 40:25a lot of likes, a lot of comments, or a lot of shares.
- 40:28And I go to the notes section of my phone.
- 40:32I don't know what an Android note section is called.
- 40:34But if you don't have an iPhone, you shouldn't be in business.
- 40:36I'm just kidding.
- 40:38So I go to the notes section of my phone
- 40:39and I have a running just things, anything that someone
- 40:42asks me two or more times, whether it be a realtor or a client,
- 40:46or any hot topic in the news that I'm seeing.
- 40:49God forbid those lone level pricing adjustments.
- 40:52Everybody was posting that they were going to skip
- 40:55their credit card payments because they
- 40:56wanted a better interest rate.
- 40:57So I talked about the same thing I'd ever seen.
- 41:03I was like, all right, go ahead and do that.
- 41:06Who are you getting me posted?
- 41:08I don't apply for a mortgage any time after that though.
- 41:11What's great about that?
- 41:12So people listen up.
- 41:13You should take notice of this.
- 41:14When you see or hear something like that,
- 41:15that you know is stupid and doesn't make any sense.
- 41:18It's your chance to hijack that.
- 41:20It's called news jacking.
- 41:22And you've got content on that to say,
- 41:24hey, guys, time out, this is dumb, right?
- 41:27Or whatever your approach is going to be.
- 41:29Yeah, it's not smart.
- 41:31I don't know.
- 41:32Yeah, so it's a lot of that.
- 41:36It's sometimes I just like remake content
- 41:39that I've made before.
- 41:41And some of it is, you know, I watch, you know,
- 41:44Neil home, what's a mortgage?
- 41:47Right.
- 41:48A mortgage guy.
- 41:49A mortgage guy.
- 41:50Yeah, and I'm seeing like, okay, what are they talking about?
- 41:53Because like we can only, like there's only so much crap
- 41:55that we can talk about.
- 41:56Like, you know, so, but I've talked about like, you know,
- 42:00did you know that your prime example I should just shut a video?
- 42:05I was like, did you know that you could buy a home for your older
- 42:10parent if they are not able to afford it?
- 42:13And you can purchase a primary residence, a 5% down.
- 42:15I literally had realtors reach out to me.
- 42:18I had loan officers call me and say, you're full of it.
- 42:23Oh, really?
- 42:24The guideline.
- 42:25And I was like,
- 42:26phew, what oh, and I said, actually,
- 42:29Freddy's is even better than Fanny's.
- 42:30So you should check out Freddy's guideline.
- 42:33And I'm telling you, I, I blew probably five to 10 loan officers lines.
- 42:38But it's just posting stuff that like guidelines that people don't know about.
- 42:43Yeah, yeah, I also love to see.
- 42:45I'm just looking at one of your videos about the HELOC and, um, you know,
- 42:49you're the haters, right?
- 42:50The people are like, ah, the HELOC sucked.
- 42:51The HELOC killed us.
- 42:52Not a good idea.
- 42:54Yeah.
- 42:55What do you do with those?
- 42:55You just like blow by him or just go, hey, appreciate your opinion.
- 42:58Um, some of them depends on like some of them.
- 43:01I want to respond back and be a little snarky,
- 43:02but I also know that there's like clients watching my stuff.
- 43:05So I don't want to be too snarky.
- 43:07Um, but some of them, I'm just like, you know,
- 43:09hey, I appreciate your feedback.
- 43:10Everyone's opinions different.
- 43:12Right.
- 43:12Yeah, that's, um, should address it.
- 43:14Yep.
- 43:14And there are some people that like, you, well,
- 43:16you could tell them that like, hey, you want a million dollars,
- 43:19and they would still come back to you and say something like rude.
- 43:22That's just, unfortunately, I, you know, they weren't raised by my mom.
- 43:26That's for sure.
- 43:26Now, if we just get the spam, uh,
- 43:29erased from the message thread, right about.
- 43:31No, I love the spam, give me all the spam.
- 43:35It juices your algorithm.
- 43:37The more comments and the more likes that you have, the better.
- 43:39So leave the spam.
- 43:40Don't delete them.
- 43:41Do you respond to the spam sometimes?
- 43:43Yeah.
- 43:44Sometimes like, I've, I've deemed you 20 times.
- 43:47Check your inbox.
- 43:49I'm like, I think you must be deeming the wrong person.
- 43:52Oh my God.
- 43:53That's, that's a smart play.
- 43:54I didn't.
- 43:56The spam.
- 43:56I didn't know that was actually how I know comments help.
- 43:58But I was just figured at least, no, they don't know.
- 44:01They don't know, don't know.
- 44:04I'm trying to play Google here real quick.
- 44:06Don't mind me.
- 44:07Yeah.
- 44:08I'm always curious about people's Google business profile.
- 44:10All right, looking strong 65, 64 reviews.
- 44:13Yeah, that happens to be one of my little pet projects I love.
- 44:16I, yeah, I really wish I was more all in on Google my business.
- 44:20I really think that there's a lot of value in Google my business.
- 44:24It's just not something that I know enough about to be all in on it.
- 44:28And it's definitely something that I am actively looking for someone who is good at it.
- 44:32But everyone that says that they're an expert at it has only like helped one person.
- 44:36So it's like, I really need someone who's really helped people turn their,
- 44:40their Google my business.
- 44:42And if you don't have a Google my business, you should just start one.
- 44:45My recommendation would be to, if you have a CRM, you could email your clients and say,
- 44:50Hey, you have until, you know, one, you know, August 1st, you could email them and say,
- 44:54Hey, we are, we just started to Google my business.
- 44:58And we're looking to get reviews on there.
- 45:01We're going to do a drawing for everyone that leaves a review five star review.
- 45:06They can leave a four star review.
- 45:07But everyone that leaves a five star review will be entered to win a $500 lows gift card.
- 45:12Nice.
- 45:12Yeah.
- 45:13And it's not, you're not against compliance.
- 45:16You're not against.
- 45:16It's not, you know, CFPB can't come get you for that.
- 45:20Yeah, I love that idea.
- 45:21I saw some realtors do that a year back.
- 45:23And I've been sharing that same idea.
- 45:24And here's the cool thing they did is they went live with the winner or winners, right?
- 45:29Every time they did it for like 90 days and they went live is super smart.
- 45:32Because the more reviews that you have and the more active reviews that you have,
- 45:36the more recent reviews that you have, obviously it helps your business.
- 45:39But on Google, but yeah, I wish I was, I knew more about it.
- 45:43Well, hey, there's only so much bandwidth you have, right?
- 45:46For sure, definitely.
- 45:47All right, so you mentioned events.
- 45:50Those are near and dear to my heart.
- 45:51What do you do for events or classes if anything?
- 45:54Yeah.
- 45:54So we do things that we're good at.
- 45:57So we talk about social media a lot.
- 45:59We host events about first time home buyer webinars, seminars, whatever.
- 46:04We partner with realtors in regards to that.
- 46:07We have found that, I mean, because if you think about it,
- 46:10if you're only getting, as you say, term only, if you only have five people that show up at
- 46:14event, you have five people who are a captive audience who have taken time out of their
- 46:18Saturday to come learn about buying a home.
- 46:21Those are people that are almost guaranteed to use you.
- 46:23And so if you're like, hey, let's host an event.
- 46:25I've got a space.
- 46:27You bring the coffee.
- 46:28I'll bring the donuts.
- 46:29We can have a one hour class.
- 46:32Have them send it out to all their past clients and say,
- 46:34hey, if you have any friends that are looking to start the process.
- 46:38And so we did those a lot.
- 46:39We've definitely toned those down.
- 46:40We were doing like two to three a week for probably six months.
- 46:45But we do, you know, educational events once a month.
- 46:49I load happy hours because I don't like small talk.
- 46:54And so I do those, we do those like every other issue month.
- 46:59You know, I try not to do them that often.
- 47:02And then we do client events as well.
- 47:06So we're doing a mommy and me photography event.
- 47:11We have our for lifestyle photographer.
- 47:13And we've rented a space in October.
- 47:15So they have the ability to get them for Christmas.
- 47:18Just in the amount of Christmas cards.
- 47:20But moms and their children get their photos taken the least.
- 47:23Dads, y'all have all the photos.
- 47:26Because moms are like, come on.
- 47:28Let me make your picture.
- 47:29And it's a good angle.
- 47:31The lighting looks good.
- 47:33And then dads are like, yeah, here's the picture.
- 47:36It's like down here of their feet, you know.
- 47:40So we're doing my wife training.
- 47:43That's good.
- 47:44Like this.
- 47:45The up angle, right?
- 47:46Just the up here, man.
- 47:50Nobody wants to know.
- 47:51Yeah, nobody wants to picture this way.
- 47:53So we're doing a mommy and me photography event.
- 47:57We'll be able to have about 15 to 20 past clients.
- 48:01And we'll have, you know, obviously, we'll send out.
- 48:04We're going to do actually a postcard.
- 48:06And then we'll do an email and a phone call.
- 48:09And we'll probably only send it out.
- 48:11We will hand select VIP clients for this because this is something where
- 48:16it's going to be a pretty costly event.
- 48:18And we want to make sure that we're doing stuff for people who value us.
- 48:22And so if we maybe, you know, know somebody who's a VIP client,
- 48:27we're going to invite those people first.
- 48:28Unfortunately, you know, just is what it is.
- 48:31And, you know, I'm excited about it because it's, you know,
- 48:35and then we're going to tell the realtors like, hey, Suzy and Suzy and her kids are coming.
- 48:39You're more than welcome to come and see them.
- 48:43We're going to have refreshments.
- 48:44We'll probably do goodie bags for the kids.
- 48:47And nothing will be branded because nobody wants anything that's branded.
- 48:53They, you know, just, yeah, just a way to give back to create some goodwill.
- 48:56Literally, I'm just, yeah, if it's branded, then it seems like it's a time to sell.
- 49:01And this is really not a time to sell.
- 49:03I'm just trying to give value to these people.
- 49:05And anyways, so they'll have their pictures before Thanksgiving.
- 49:09And they'll be able to use them for Christmas cards.
- 49:10So, you know, quick note, do you do tag people in your CRM based on VIP or not?
- 49:16We do. Yeah.
- 49:17So we have a ABCD client.
- 49:20We try not to get the goal is for no one to ever be a CRD client.
- 49:24What's the good though?
- 49:25Is it referrals or what is it?
- 49:27The metric is honestly, it's just people sometimes that like have connected with us on a level.
- 49:33You know, some people you're just like, man, I really like them.
- 49:36And they really like you just, you just get along with that person.
- 49:39Yeah, you vibe. That's a yeah.
- 49:41So it's really just a lot of people that we vibe with or maybe people that are financial planners
- 49:45or people that should be seeing our names a little bit more often.
- 49:50Yeah. So it's people that are doing a job that maybe they're in front of people.
- 49:56You know, we try to be strategic about our stuff.
- 49:58For sure. I mean, be smart.
- 49:59Yeah, it's kind of like just weird stuff pops in my head when I do these pages.
- 50:04But I remember back in the day, I forget where I was working.
- 50:07But you know, there were some contests where you were going to win.
- 50:09There was a get maybe it was a realtor thing and you give a realtor a certain gift.
- 50:12And you know, before you choose the realtor, right?
- 50:15You're like, no, no, no.
- 50:16Yes, she's a top producer.
- 50:19Sally, you're the lucky winner, right?
- 50:22Yeah, that's the yeah.
- 50:24No, for sure.
- 50:25That's the sweepstakes people.
- 50:27It is.
- 50:28And I will say this and I know this is kind of like off topic and not anything that you've
- 50:33talked about, but creating a brand.
- 50:36So my social media is intentional, but I've also created a brand.
- 50:39And so I am typically wearing what I'm wearing right now.
- 50:43You can't see it because but you can kind of see it says the mortgage collective on there.
- 50:49I'm typically wearing a shirt of like this or a white version.
- 50:53I have like literally all different colors.
- 50:55And typically wearing that and wearing jeans or joggers.
- 50:57Typically have on a cold pair of sneakers.
- 50:59And that's my garb like my hair is always curly.
- 51:02I'm 511.
- 51:04And when I go out, people recognize me.
- 51:08I've literally been getting attached to you before and I've had somebody come in and
- 51:12like, oh my god, I follow you on social media and I'm a realtor.
- 51:16I literally have a new client and I have been nervous to reach out to you.
- 51:21And now that I'm meeting you in person, here's our information.
- 51:23Would you mind calling them tomorrow?
- 51:25I got my nails done a couple of weeks ago and I literally was checking out.
- 51:29And it's a new realtor that just started referring me because she saw us on social media.
- 51:34And she said, are you page?
- 51:37I'm like, yeah, hi.
- 51:40You know, it's always like a weird interaction.
- 51:41I'm like, I am.
- 51:43Are you going to kill me?
- 51:44Yeah, right.
- 51:45I don't know who you are.
- 51:46Who are you?
- 51:47First off, I'm a realtor.
- 51:48I've seen you on social media and I just started referring you guys.
- 51:51I love your content.
- 51:53I think that it is amazing.
- 51:56And then I'll see clients also when I'm looking the worst.
- 52:00Like, I'll literally like have run to the grocery store to get milk on a Saturday morning.
- 52:04And I'm like, looking homely.
- 52:06And they're like, oh my gosh, so good to see you on person.
- 52:10Because I don't, I don't have time to go to closings.
- 52:12I, you know, closing, you know, 30 plus people a month.
- 52:14I don't have time for that.
- 52:15Unfortunately.
- 52:16And I just always see the people when I look the worst.
- 52:19But, you know, it's because people know what to expect.
- 52:22I'm wearing a mortgage collective t-shirt.
- 52:24Well, I think what's cool about that is your brand is you, you know?
- 52:27Yeah.
- 52:28You know, I'm trying to be sure.
- 52:28So create a brand.
- 52:30Yeah.
- 52:30And sorry, I got off, I got to track on that.
- 52:32Sorry, but just to kind of tie it up,
- 52:34you should have a personal brand.
- 52:36Nike has a brand.
- 52:39You know, Apple has a brand.
- 52:40All of these people have a brand.
- 52:42And the brand is what people are talking,
- 52:46your brand is what gets you into rooms that you never thought you could be in.
- 52:51And if you have a brand.
- 52:53Connects with your tribe.
- 52:54And people will identify and be attracted to want to work with you.
- 52:57And some want, but that saves you a hell of a generation.
- 53:00Yeah.
- 53:01Some people don't like me because I have tattoos.
- 53:03They're like, I can't work with her.
- 53:05You're like, okay, good.
- 53:06Because I don't want to work with you.
- 53:08We probably have a way different mindset.
- 53:10It's okay.
- 53:11And then it's so funny going back to your posts from earlier.
- 53:14Like I can see what the blazer on and all that.
- 53:15And you're like, what is that?
- 53:17That's yeah, it's not.
- 53:19Yeah.
- 53:19And those were like, I hated them.
- 53:22But I did had nothing else.
- 53:24And I was like, all right, I'm just going to have to lean in.
- 53:26And uh,
- 53:27true.
- 53:27This is the growth process of.
- 53:29Yeah.
- 53:29How has it taken you to find your voice on social?
- 53:33I actually just talked about this on Tuesday.
- 53:35I made a video about it.
- 53:37It's taken a long time.
- 53:39Because when I first started doing content,
- 53:42I was really reserved because
- 53:45you're being scrutinized by people
- 53:48by people that you don't even know are watching your videos.
- 53:50Right.
- 53:51And it took me a while.
- 53:54But I am unpologetically me.
- 53:56Like unapologetically, I am myself on and off social media.
- 53:59And it's taken me a long time.
- 54:01When I got into this business in 2014,
- 54:02I worked at a bank and I wore, I had one
- 54:06arm sleeve, half sleeve done then.
- 54:08And I worked for my mom and I was her receptionist.
- 54:12And I wore a button down or some sort of blouse
- 54:16and a blazer top.
- 54:18And either nice slacks or really nice looking jeans
- 54:22and some sort of like closed-toed loafer or shoe.
- 54:26And I was just like you.
- 54:29Yeah.
- 54:29And I did that because that's what I was under the impression.
- 54:33And I remember the first time that I wore a t-shirt to the office.
- 54:36My mom and I at that point had been working together.
- 54:39It was September or August of 2017.
- 54:462016, 2016.
- 54:48I'm sorry, 2015.
- 54:49That's all right. So we had been working together at this point for a year.
- 54:52And I wore a t-shirt on like a Wednesday.
- 54:55And at this point, we weren't working at the bank anymore.
- 54:57We were just working in a regular like with the regular people,
- 55:01non-banker people.
- 55:02And I wore jeans and a t-shirt on like it was just a random day.
- 55:06Fridays, we were allowed to wear jeans and a t-shirt.
- 55:08But I just did it.
- 55:09I was like running late and I didn't have anything.
- 55:11I had to go home and change.
- 55:13Oh my god, they made you go home?
- 55:15Yeah, my mom was like, this is not how you just come to the office.
- 55:17Clients come up here. We cannot be in jeans and a t-shirt.
- 55:19It's not Friday. Go home and change.
- 55:20Not that reserved day.
- 55:22Yes.
- 55:23Yes, it's not the rest.
- 55:24I'm like, what?
- 55:25Friday, the reserved day that we were jeans and a t-shirt.
- 55:29And I'm wearing Louis Lumin joggers today.
- 55:31Again, sneakers and t-shirt.
- 55:33Because nobody cares about what you look like to a certain extent.
- 55:37People care about how you show up.
- 55:38People care about how you act and people care about how you communicate to them
- 55:41and their clients.
- 55:42Right.
- 55:42Yeah.
- 55:43Amen to that.
- 55:44I think the point being, go back to that word authentic,
- 55:46even though it was a bit overused,
- 55:47is people want to know the real you, right?
- 55:49The real you is t-shirts and tats.
- 55:51Then that's going to do way more in terms of creating a connection and feeling trust
- 55:56than this pretend blazer and pointed shoes, you know?
- 55:58Yeah.
- 56:00And that's just me with the pointed shoes.
- 56:01But that's a whole nother side story.
- 56:03Okay, so we are officially out of time and you've been very gracious
- 56:06with sharing your time with us.
- 56:08For those that want to connect with you more and follow you,
- 56:11where would you find you?
- 56:12Instagram htown mortgage chick.
- 56:14So ht own mtg chick.
- 56:18So htown mortgage chick or just search page
- 56:20Bowman.
- 56:21I'm the only one that comes up.
- 56:23I love that.
- 56:23And I'm put a link to it in the show notes as well.
- 56:25So people are listening right now on your mobile phone.
- 56:27Just pick up your mobile and look for the show notes and tap.
- 56:30There you go.
- 56:30You can go follow page and see all the cool shit she's doing.
- 56:32So there we go.
- 56:34Page, thank you.
- 56:35Thank you.
- 56:36All right, listeners, you know what to do.
- 56:37If you like this episode, leave us a review
- 56:39and we'll see you on the next one.
- 56:41Bye for now.
- 56:42Hey guys, what's up real quick?
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