Zero inbox is NOT a prize

A while ago I received a course on “How To Get A Zero Inbox of Emails”.

After spending about 12 or so hours reading the course and then implementing it, I came to a shocking conclusion:

Zero Inbox Is Not A Prize!!

After doing everything it said, which took a good part of a day, I found that I had ZERO more deals; Zero more income; and really accomplished absolutely nothing that is measurable.

There is no magical check or money order that pops into your inbox when you get that “zero inbox” notification…

I also shockingly discovered that more emails just pop in 3 minutes later.

I remember that early in my career, feeling overwhelmed with all the emails, that I actually did an “email bankruptcy” and just deleted all inboxes, and never saw a difference…

I discovered that when I really wanted to see a difference in my productivity, when I really wanted to increase the purchase deals in my pipeline, that I had to do actual “Loan Getting Activity”.

I spent the next 30 days in “lock down mode” and mapped out, then implemented a simple 4 step plan to bring in more purchase loans…

… and not just a few more loans, but A LOT OF PURCHASE LOANS.

I did this by doing an intensive study of my last 50 purchase deals that came in.

I asked myself this simple question:

“What specific activities brought in the last 50 purchase deals?”

and “What do I need to do to do more of that / those things?”

I was actually shocked to see how simple this was going to be.

I found it was 4 basic activities:

1. Talk to more agents that were currently closing 8 or more buyer sides in the last 12 months.

2. Ask for more referrals from the agents and buyers that I was currently working with in current deals in my pipeline.

3. Contact my past database using 3 methods (phone calls <gasp>, monthly mailers, and emails (the emails were the least effective even though I could automate them).

4. Call my pre-approved buyers once a week, encouraging them (by having them mentally visualize why they were buying a new home in the first place), and then using a very simple and cool script, ask them for referrals of their friends, family, and co-workers who were looking to buy, sell, or refinance.

That’s it.  Just sooooo simple.
That’s how I drastically increased my purchase deals in a very, very short period of time, and that’s how my team still does it today to have one of the most successful teams in the nation, all while I am working a 32-hour work week with frequent vacations.

If you are going to work, if you are going to put effort into something, let’s make sure it has actual measurable results (more closed loans).

I know that doesn’t sound sexy, I know it all happens without having to “build a funnel”, I know it all happens without me paying for a bunch of Zillow leads or using some fancy smancy widget of some sort.

It’s just following a simple 4 step process that I now call the Daily Success Plan.

It’s just that simple.

That’s exactly what I now help thousands of loan officers across the nation in programs like my high level Loan Officer Freedom program.

Just to show you how simple it is, I’ll give you a completely free and LIVE 1 hour 1 on 1 zoom call, just like the ones that these high producing loan officers and branch managers get on our private one on one calls, and walk you through it step by step.

Go Here to schedule your free and private 1 on 1 sample coaching call and we’ll map out in detail, along with scripts we use on our Daily Success Plan.  I’m convinced this will be a very very good use of your time.

See you on the inside (and don’t waste time getting to “zero inbox”)…

Closing more of your pre-approved and looking…

I’ve been told that my Saturday emails are very helpful in giving ideas on how to close more loans in less time.  This one is a particular biggie.  

Be sure to read on and I’m sure you’ll agree with me.

Picture this, you have a pre-approved buyer who is out looking for a home, and out of frustration, they decide to put this on hold.

So in reality, everybody loses here.  

They were moving to solve a problem, perhaps a bigger home, a smaller home, closer to work, out in the country for more privacy and fresh air, perhaps a home with a “home office” room so they don’t have to work at the kitchen table with the kids running around…

Then they got frustrated and stopped looking at new homes.

You get the idea.

The buyers’ agent loses out, because they just lost a commission check.

And of course, the LO (you) lose out.  You spent the time getting the lead / referral, spent the money to pull credit, took all the time to structure the best mortgage plan with them, all resulting in zero dollars made….

I bet this sounds all too familiar right now.  So how can we fix this?

Easy, read on….

In my branch, we call the pre-approved and looking people every Thursday.  

That day wasn’t just pulled out of a hat.  I actually did some scientific studies that proved that it is the most effective day.  (I knew that science degree would pay off some day)

Perhaps on an upcoming Saturday email we can talk about why Thursday is the best day, but for brevity, just know that day has at least 4 reasons why it’s the best day.

The purpose of the Thursday call is to do a couple of things….

#1: Get more referrals (I’ll show you where to get the script we use for free in just a minute)

#2: To keep them motivated to keep looking and making offers (as long as that’s in their best interest of course).

#2 is what we will talk about today… and this is THE Biggie!

The biggest reason buyers get frustrated and stop looking and stop making offers isn’t because of inventory issues…

The reason they get frustrated is that they forget why they were wanting to get a new home in the first place.

They forget that they are tired of paying high rent.  

They forget that they can’t get their work done when they are working at the kitchen table with the kids playing video games 5 feet away.  

They forget how much their family will enjoy the new pool…

They forget the reason why they were motivated to start the home buying process in the beginning.

So it’s our job as the pro to remind them of why

Once you master this “Art of Influence”, you and everybody else in the process, will benefit from it greatly… and it only takes about 3 mins per week per PAAL (Pre-Approved And Looking).

Here’s the name of the technique that you want to master on that call:

Future Casting (I’ve also heard this called “Future Pacing”)

Future casting is where you get somebody to envision that they already have that very thing that they want.

For instance, let’s say they are buying a home so that their family has a pool home.

On that 3 minute Thursday call, I’ll say something like…

Me:  “So <prospects name>, if I remember right, you guys are buying this new home so your kids have a pool to play in this summer, is that right?”

Them:  “Yes”.

Me:  “Wow, how your kids will love you for that.  I can hear them splashing in the pool and then you and the Mrs. (or Mr..) will be the “cool” parents because their friends will come to your house on the weekends to hang out and spend time with you guys.  I can smell the poolside BBQ on the grill already.”

You see, you want your pre-approved buyers to visualize what it’s going to be like.  You want them to hear the kids laughing and smelling the BBQ.

Whatever problem they are solving by buying that new house, you want them to have a mental picture of what the solution feels like with great detail.

If they are moving closer to work, have them visualize being able to save 45 minutes of drive time so that they can go take a walk around the lake at the park before picking up the kids from school.

Can you see how this reignites the fire and helps to influence them in a cool way to push past the frustrations because the end result will be worth it?

There’s an old saying, “Wherever your head is, your butt will soon  follow”.  
Once you master this high level of influence tool, they win, you win, and the buyers’ agents win. 

I’ve also found that the buyers’ agents will send even more referrals, because “you” are the LO that helps convert leads into closed transactions, so that the agents can work with even more buyers.

It has a snowball effect.  More referrals to you = more closings = more referrals to you… and the ball keeps growing (as does your bank account).

So this Thursday, put this into action.  It’s very powerful and rewarding to help even more families turn their dreams into reality.

Get my full script for free here.

I’ll give you a free 1 on 1 coaching call as a demo to exactly how we help high level LOs in our group do this very thing in full detail.

Imagine getting even more referrals, resulting in even more closings, and helping even more families, and building up your own bank account. 

I want you to picture what you would do with the income you would make with an extra 5 closings next month.  What would you do with an extra $10,000… perhaps an extra $15,000 just from this one simple technique.

Pretty darn cool!

Morning pipeline meetings a time suck?

When I was a wee lad, I dreamed of sitting in “important” business meetings that “made things happen”.

So when I became a loan officer and then a branch manager, I found myself having a daily morning pipeline meeting every workday. 

And as my personal pipeline grew from a few loans to 50-70 each month, and then as a branch manager, well there are now many hundreds of loans in our pipeline and I found the meetings that started as a quick 15 min update, became an hour or more.

2 problems with that.  #1: Getting bombarded with information that I (you) personally didn’t need to know (my team needs to know, but I don’t), and #2:  While I was in that meeting every day, I wasn’t doing PROACTIVE outbound activity to bring more loans in for the next month.

Hence resulting in the ol’ “up a month and down a month” loan officer rollercoaster.  <can you relate?>

So I made a drastic reconstruction of my daily morning meeting that gave me all the information I needed, and could run through a pipeline report of dozens and dozens of loans… all in about 15 minutes.

Here’s the format that I strongly recommend….

It has 3 parts:

1. <me asking>, “What leads came in the last 24 hours (or since our last meeting) and where are we at with those leads?”

This helps ensure that no lead slips through the cracks and we are then able to update our referral partners and the listing agents and then asking for even more referrals from those agents going forward (resulting in getting even more loans coming in for the next month).

2. <me asking>, “What files are in jeopardy of closing late, what are the issues causing that jeopardy, and what are you people <my team member(s)> doing about that / those issues?”

See, you don’t need to know the appraisal and title work has been ordered.  Of course they have been ordered. 

You don’t need to know that the bank statements are in, of course they are in. 

You don’t even need to know what issues the team is working on.  You only need to know if a file is in jeopardy of closing late and what they are doing to fix it on this file and what they are doing to ensure this issue doesn’t happen on future files.

If we have a team that can’t do their job, then things aren’t likely to work out well for you until you replace that person(s).

Our job is to bring more loans in the door, to get more applications.  If you are tied up so you can’t do that, well, in today’s market that is poison for your stability and success.

3.  The last item we discuss on the morning meeting is what I call MOD.  Moments Of Delegation.  It’s where you say “Hey team member Bob or Jill, here’s something I need you to help me with or do for me today…”

Which is basically clearing everything off of your plate that is keeping you from doing even more prospecting.

If you haven’t noticed, the days of sitting around and watching our phones ring with the next lead, well, let’s just say things have changed a bit lately. 

We have to maximize our time spent actually doing outbound activity to bring in new referrals and applications.  If we don’t do that, well, everybody’s job is in jeopardy…
So these meetings should last a max of 15 mins if you have 20 loans or less, and 25 mins max for those of you closing 30, 40, or even more per month.

Those that are able to learn and adapt will do exceptionally well in the next upcoming months, because most loan officers will continue to do things how they did last year, and for most, well, it may not work out so well.

Also, it’s more critical than ever that we have assistants to help free us up.  Those that get rid of all their help and the LO is now chasing conditions and putting out fires, well, that is how some will plan to continue to slow up more and more until they come to a very painful stop.  Don’t put yourself in that fatal situation.

When you are ready to focus on getting even more purchase business, let me know and I’ll hook you up here.

“Swamp Marketing” vs “Well Marketing”

I see a lot of LOs making a truly fatal mistake.  I call it “Swamp Marketing”.

If you think of a swamp, it’s wide and shallow AND it’s very muddy… certainly nothing that we would want to drink out of (or get referrals from).

A well, on the other hand, is a highly targeted and smaller space, but much deeper… and that’s where we get great, cool & clean drinking water… or high quality referrals.

So in our marketing, we don’t want to be email blasting out or social media marketing to a huge list of prospective strangers or referral partners, see that’s wide and shallow. 

Instead, we want to go deep with a much smaller list. 

It’s a bit counter intuitive.  A smaller, much smaller list of the “right agents” will actually get us many more referrals; more loans than a bigger generic list.

With a smaller targeted list of “qualified agents” (those closing 8 buy sides or more in the last 12 months), we connect and go deeper with those.  

What does deeper look like?  It’s actual phone calls <gasp> and perhaps face to face or zoom meetings <double gasp>. 

I flew out and was just doing a presentation to a large group of LOs earlier this month, and somebody asked me which automated tool was best to call people and drop “ringless voicemails” like SlyDial does. “That way I don’t actually have to talk to them” he went on to say.

See, that’s swamp marketing.

Come to find out, when we actually talk to a small amount of qualified agents, that has been the one thing that has been responsible for my team closing thousands and thousands of closings… literally.
While the swamp marketing may look attractive, avoid it like the plague… that’s the water that will make you sick.

Instead, we want to go deep with a few (30 or so qualified agents) at a time.

I’m convinced that everybody intuitively knows to go deep with a few, I think it’s just that they have never been taught how to do it and what to say.

I’m happy to help you with exactly who to target, how to find the 30 or so qualified agents, and what to say to them to get more referred leads (that’s the kind that actually closes).

Just go here and we’ll give you a full example of the 1 on 1 zoom calls, just like we do with our high level Loan Officer Freedom Club members, where we show them step by step how to do ‘well marketing.’

I’m betting that you will be amazed on how much you will get accomplished on this one simple private zoom meeting with either myself or one of my coaches… and it’s totally free.  No catches or gimmicks, just results… because that’s how we roll around here.

Freedom Club Demo

See ya on the inside.

Why an Email or Text Is Never Enough

The vast majority of loan officers / branch managers make a huge mistake:  They send emails or texts without the willingness to make a phone call or follow up. 

Most LOs try to figure out a way to send out emails giving updates to agents and the borrowers on the progress of the loan, instead of simply calling with the updates, which gives a golden opportunity for asking for even more referrals using the simple “just ask” script at this point (this has been one of our biggest sources of even more closed loans).

Don’t get me wrong, in my branch, we also do have the automated “milestone” updates that go out to the borrowers and agents via email and text for when milestones like the appraisal come in and / or when we are clear to close…

… so those automated updates are great, but in addition to those, we actually pick up the phone and update by the phone ALSO.  That’s where we get most of our purchase referrals is with those simple update calls with our “Just Ask” script at the end to get even more referrals on those calls.  It’s kind of one of my secret sauces.

Keep in mind, the purpose of the “update calls” isn’t really to update them, even though they all love that part, it’s really to ask for yet even more referrals… and it’s very, very effective in doing just that.   Oh, did I mention that this one set of calls is responsible for most of our repeat referrals… you know, the kind of leads that actually close at a very, very high level.


Oh sure, we get some referrals from the email and text communications, but it’s when we picked up the phone that things really started to take off for us and other LOs that are doing it the same way we are.

We find the same results with all of our marketing – phone calls out trump everything else combined.

It really just makes common sense.  In our single days, if we are looking to date somebody, I think we can all agree that a phone call would out trump an email.

In fact, there is a famous study that in person meetings were #1, phone calls #2, text messages a distant #3, snail mail #4, and email was in last place when it comes to influencing people.

So why do most loan officers communicate their marketing messages with the least effective way to do it??

I’m convinced that they simply didn’t know the facts about  1. How ineffective emails are,  2. How effective phone calls are,  3. They aren’t sure what to say. 

So again, I’m not telling you not to email, I’m simply letting you know that if you are avoiding making the phone calls, that’s likely going to cause you a lot of pain and lost opportunity to close yet even more purchase deals going forward, and I can totally help you get over that.

If you need help with what to say on these update calls to get more inbound referrals, or what to say when calling your past database to get more inbound referrals, I’ll be happy to share with you the same ones that we share to our members on a free “Freedom Club Demo” call. 

There’s no charge for this and the charge for not doing it is likely HUGE!!

See ya on the inside ☺