I just heard two crazy stats.

Crazy stat #1:  1 out of every 6 loan officers didn’t renew their license this past quarter.

Crazy stat #2:  2023 is projected to be the 3^rd best purchase market ever for loan officers when measured in volume (how many dollars were loaned out).

So how is it that so many LOs are struggling, yet it’s the 3^rd best purchase market (measured in volume) ever?

I’ll tell you what I came up with…  read on..

I have found that the issue is, they aren’t focusing on their marketing.

You see, they may know about what to do once a loan comes in, but that’s not where the money is.

Think about McDonalds. The person making the fries is likely at minimum wage. 

The person that makes all the money is the one that gets the customer to drive up to the window… the marketer.

Another way to look at it is, there is no award for the “Best Written Book”.

All the awards are for getting on the “Best Seller” list… the marketer…

So while certainly knowing the guidelines are important, whoever masters the marketing will be the king / queen of all the lands.

And while we are on that subject, stay focused on what has worked for years and years and years…

I see soooo many “experts” trying to sell magic beans.

Breaking news:  There are no magic beans.

There’s a reason why my branch is one of the largest ones in the nation…

We spend more time doing what most others avoid doing… prospecting.

While others spend an enormous amount of time and money trying to grow magic beans, we spend 2 hours each day actually prospecting <gasp>.

It literally pains my heart when I see LOs leave this amazing career, and 98% of the time it’s not their fault, it’s because they simply haven’t been shown how to effectively prospect for business.

Almost always, they fall prey to some “trainer” selling them “magic beans”, you know, the ol “this will have agents begging to work with you” sales pitch.

Let me share some breaking news with you, my team and I have literally closed 10’s of thousands of loans over the years.  We bring in those leads in dozens of ways.  

In my decades of being a top producing LO and now branch manager with thousands upon thousands of transactions under my belt, I’ve never seen anybody ever “beg for business” or have people begging to work with them.

People have fallen for that ol’ snake oil pitch since the beginning of time.
Any time someone uses that line, hold on to your wallet.  Some shady character is looking to benefit themselves at your expense.

If you are looking at a plan, and want a 2^nd opinion on how to maximize it, start it, or tweak it, or want to see my proven plan, reach out to me and I’ll hook you up… no charge.

Schedule Here

 

I have a rule in my office that I would highly recommend you put in yours.

“If you come to my office with a monkey (problem), you have to leave my office with that monkey.”

What I mean by that is, when someone comes to me with a problem at work, I’ll give them help on the solution, but they have to leave my office with that suggested solution and either do my suggestion, or do what they already thought they needed to do before they come in to my office in the first place.

Otherwise, if people bring in a monkey (problem) to your desk, and don’t take ownership of it (the problem / monkey), they then leave you with that problem (monkey), and then you have a bunch of monkeys (problems) running around on your desk all day and there is no way you can think, prospect, or do anything with all that turmoil.

So if a loan officer assistant or a processor comes to me with an issue, my response has always been “Thanks for sharing, now go fix it.”  (Don’t leave your monkey in my office).

While this may seem cruel at first, but you see, it’s actually an action on my part to make sure I don’t have to lay off any staff.

You see, as long as your team keeps issues off of your desk, you can spend even more time prospecting.  When you spend more time prospecting, well, you will close more loans. 

When you close more loans, your team has job security.

Otherwise if you / I try to solve all the problems (feed the monkeys), then we aren’t prospecting, and that means that our job and all of our support team is in jeopardy of having to learn how to mow yards for a living… (I’ve done that in the past… not fun).

So while trying to be helpful in the past by putting on my superman cape and taking care of all the monkeys, looking all knowing and all important.. I was actually hurting my team and stunting our growth.  Totally uncool!

If you need some help with “who does what” in a top producing office, or how to have somebody else pay for your help for you, or perhaps, what are the exact action items that results in the best prospecting and most leads that actually close, just hit me up and I’ll hook you up… for free ☺

In the meantime, keep those monkeys out of your office and go prospect!

 

Here’s one of my favorite sources of free leads that actually turn into closings.  And not just a few closings, but A LOT OF THEM.

Just like we see every 5 or so years, when the market takes a turn, those LOs that didn’t do effective prospecting get out of the business due to their lack of taking effective actions to bring in new referred leads.

And while we certainly hate to see great people bow out of this wonderful and VERY lucrative career that we are in, it does leave some unique opportunities for us that do embrace real prospecting….

Read on…

We all know that calling our past database with a simple script is an enormous way to close more purchase deals.  Keep in mind these referrals aren’t just “them” buying a new home, most in fact are their friends, family members, and co-workers.

As a rule of thumb, for every 100 people in your past database, you should get 1 closing each and every month.

So 500 in your past database should equal 5 more closed loans, which may be an EXTRA $15K each and every month…. Practically for FREE.

So, back to our LOs that DIDN’T prospects and have now left (in droves)..
Most of these loan officers that are now gone, have left behind a database of past clients… who are now “orphans”.  Nobody in the industry has their back.

So I would go to my branch manager or company owner and tell them that I would like to call all of our “orphan” past database peeps and use a simple script that has been proven literally thousands of times and is responsible for literally billions of funded loans.

Of course they will share with you the info on who in their past database of “orphan loans” to call and use our script on to close their next loan, and the loans of their friends, family, and co-workers.  Not doing so is costing them and you a fortune… literally.

We find when I use these simple scripts, it doesn’t matter if “I’m” the one that closed their last loan, or if was another loan officer that has tapped out (due to lack of taking effective actions), we still expect getting warm referrals from them that close at a very very high rate for us.

So here we sit in our comfortable offices, in a comfortable chair, with perhaps a glass of tea by our sides, and by simply calling our (or a past LOs) database, we can make an income that would make NFL football players blush.

Most NFL players earn wayyyy less than I do, and I don’t have 325 pound linebackers trying to break my knees….

And all I / we have to do is take some simple actions, make some simple calls, all while in the comfort of my / our favorite home office chair… for just a couple of hours 4 days a week.

I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming sometimes.

Why don’t all LOs take these simple actions?

I don’t know, but I do know that those that don’t, well, I’ll take fries with that….

I’ll be happy to share this simple script in its entirety with you.  It’s the very same script we share with our top producing loan officers that are in our group.

Go Here and I’ll give you the script, help you with phone role play, all for free, no strings, no catches, no kidding ☺

www.FreedomClubDemo.com

Don’t delay taking action.  We don’t have the luxury of delaying what actually works in today’s market.

I got your back!!

 

Give this to your favorite Real Estate Agents, they will love you for it.

Some years ago somebody passed a list to me and now I’m passing it on to you.

It’s a list of over 180 things that real estate agents do for their clients.

The idea behind it is, you will be giving real estate agents a list that they can share with their clients on all the things they do to help and protect their clients with the selling and / or buying of their home.

The idea is to set themselves apart from the “discount” or on-line services.

This complete list includes:

• 20 “Pre-Listing” Activities 
• 13 Listing Appointment activities
• 26 Marketing activities
• 43 “Under Contract” activities

… and 82 other activities to help their clients have the competitive advantage.

Grab This List and share with your favorite real estate agents to show them that you got their back, just like I got yours. ☺

No charge, just another random act of coolness, because that’s the way I roll around here. ☺

Just click here and tell me where to send the list, and I’ll email and text it to you (in case it goes into email purgatory…).  I just want to make sure you have this to hand out, post, or do videos on.

 

I had a guy ask me yesterday if I really do take every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off (yes, almost always), yet still get paid on hundreds of loans per month (yes, really).

It reminded me of one of my favorite stories that talks about achieving awesomeness…. and fishing for your life.  Read on…

A vacationing American businessman standing on the pier of a quaint coastal fishing village in southern Mexico watched as a small boat with just one young Mexican fisherman pulled into the dock. 

Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. Enjoying the warmth of the early afternoon sun, the American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish.

“How long did it take you to catch them?” the American casually asked.

“Oh, a few hours,” the Mexican fisherman replied.

“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” the American businessman then asked.

The Mexican warmly replied, “With this I have more than enough to meet my family’s needs.”

The businessman then became serious, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”

Responding with a smile, the Mexican fisherman answered, “I sleep late, play with my children, watch ball games, and take siesta with my wife. Sometimes in the evenings I take a stroll into the village to see my friends, play the guitar, sing a few songs…”

The American businessman impatiently interrupted, “Look, I have an MBA and I can help you to be more profitable.

You can start by fishing several hours longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra money, you can buy a bigger boat. 

With the additional income that larger boat will bring, before long you can buy a second boat, then a third one, and so on, until you have an entire fleet of fishing boats.”

Proud of his own sharp thinking, he excitedly elaborated a grand scheme which could bring even bigger profits, “Then, instead of selling your catch to a middleman you’ll be able to sell your fish directly to the processor, or even open your own cannery.

Eventually, you could control the product, processing and distribution. 

You could leave this tiny coastal village and move to Mexico City, or possibly even Los Angeles or New York City, where you could even further expand your enterprise.”

Having never thought of such things, the Mexican fisherman asked, “But how long will all this take?”

After a rapid mental calculation, the MBA pronounced, “Probably about 15-20 years, maybe less if you work really hard.”

“And then what, señor?” asked the fisherman.

“Why, that’s the best part!” answered the businessman with a laugh. “When the time is right, you would sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions.”

“Millions? Really? What would I do with it all?” asked the young fisherman in disbelief.

The businessman boasted, “Then you could happily retire with all the money you’ve made. You could move to a quaint coastal fishing village where you could sleep late, play with your grandchildren, watch ball games, and take siesta with your wife. You could stroll to the village in the evenings where you could play the guitar and sing with your friends all you want.”

Moral of the story:  Look, I get it, we are in interesting times right now.  Here’s the thing, you can close even more loans AND still spend time with family, friends, or just chill’n.

It just perhaps takes on a different approach than what worked in the past.

Be open to look at different approaches, particularly ones where LOs ARE closing more loans AND enjoying their personal time in the evenings and weekends.

If you want help with that, let me know.  It just won’t be during the evenings, or weekend ☺

Schedule Here