“Ok, I screwed up and I think it’s going to delay the closing, what do I tell the borrowers and Realtors?”  

That was the question I asked my branch manager my 2^nd month in the business (over 2 decades ago). He gave me a formula that I’ll never forget.

This simple formula that I’m going to share with you today saved my bacon more than once over the years.

First of all, understand that things happen, and everybody makes mistakes.  We just don’t want to make the same mistake the 2^nd or 3^rd time.  We learn from it, make adjustments, and press on.

Also remember that successful agents, the one’s we get our referrals from, have several deals going on at any given time and as such, your “problem” or issue isn’t their first one and they also know that things happen sometimes. 

It’s the ‘struggle bunny’ agents that get all out of whack because they don’t have any other deals closing to make their own mortgage payment.  (who could blame them for panicking when it’s the only one that they’ve had for the last several months…)

So when something goes wrong that puts the closing in jeopardy of closing late, immediately call the agents and the borrower(s).

The important thing is to communicate, and here’s how you do it:

1. Here’s what happened.  Tell them exactly what happened.  Take responsibility. It’s what leaders do.

2. Here’s what we are doing about it / here’s where we are now.  Let them know what’s happening now and what action steps you are putting in place and your prediction of if and when it will solve the problem.

3. Here’s what we are doing to prevent it from happening again.  Tell them what action steps you are putting in place so this won’t happen on the next referral that they send over to you.

This formula helps to de escalate the emotions AND it helps you put together a better team / system for your ever growing business.

Trying to ignore the issue and / or hiding in the closet, well, that just never turns out well and it just adds to the stress that you may be experiencing.

It is seldom that I lose business relations when I follow this formula, and frankly, following this formula, my business is a well oiled machine because we continue to improve the systems and make sure the team are all “A” level players, all because of past issues.

Nobody likes it when things go wrong, but when it happens, do what leaders do… communicate.
The true key to all of this is, GET MORE REFERRED LEADS!!

It’s way more likely that you’ll close more loans when that is your focus.

How do you do that?

We’ll show you how to get more referred leads here on a quick zoom call.

Once you have more high quality referred leads, no 1 individual deal going sideways will ruffle your feathers as there are soooo many of “them” and only 1 of you. ☺

To your success and coolness,

Carl White

Do you kind of feel like that “mortgage wind” is blowing you a bit sideways?

Here’s a little known weird fact:  A sailboat actually moves faster with the wind blowing from the side rather than when it’s going downwind.

See, when it’s going downwind, it can only move as fast as the wind.  When it’s blowing from the side, it can move multiples of the wind speed.  A few years back, a catamaran sailboat set a record speed of 50.8 mph, with a wind speed of only 18 mph.

So how does this help us close more loans?

The last few years, the wind has been at our back.  Rates low, plenty of equity in existing homes, and plenty of money floating around… 

… but let’s face it, it was easy to get “sluggish” and just sit in the easy chair and let loans just fall out of the sky.  

“How do I close all these referred leads” was the biggest challenge.

The challenge now is, getting back to actual prospecting. You know, those things that we used to have to do for every loan…. it’s getting back to “normal” now.  The last handful of years have not been normal.  Rates in the 2’s and 3’s are not even close to normal for those that have been at this for a few decades.

This is actually welcomed news to many of us.

Just like going through the mortgage meltdown of 2008-2009, most loan officers fell off the face of the Earth… they didn’t know how to prospect or they simply chose not to do it.

But here’s the thing, those of us who did prospect ended up making way more money after the meltdown than before it.  I didn’t have my first 7 figure income year until AFTER that challenging time.  We made more on each loan and closed way more loans because only a handful of us were left, there was like no competition.
I’m confident that history repeats itself and I’m confident that you will do record speeds during this “side wind” time… well, assuming of course that you know how to prospect and actually do it of course.  I believe in you!

I’ve never found prospecting to be hard at all. 

It’s a simple 4 step process that we use with our Loan Officer Freedom Club members that I’m happy to share with you <no charge>.

I’ll give it to you here on this demo call.

See ya on the inside and let’s enjoy some sailing ☺

Capt. Carl White

Right about now we could all use a bit of good news and here it is…

It’s easier to get people that are referring you a couple of deals to send you more deals, than it is to get people who are sending you no deals to send you deals.  

In the past, I would spend a ton of time, money, and resources to get somebody referring to me for the first time, all while essentially ignoring those that were sending me 2 or 3 referrals a year or had done so in the past, and then stopped.

I get it, it was a “duhhh” moment for me too!

So, what can you do to get this to work for you right now and right quick? 

A couple of quick steps…

1.  Get a list of all referral partners that are currently referring to you (even if it’s just a couple).

2. Look to see how many referrals they have sent you the last 12 months, and then see how many purchase deals they have closed in the last 12 months.

Basically you are just looking at what % “at bats” you are getting from them… every time they close 10 new buyers, what % of the time are they giving you a shot of talking with that buyer when they are a prospect.  (79% of those prospects will close with the 1^st loan officer they talk to).

You can look up the agents’ buyer side production via MLS which any title company, appraiser, or your favorite real estate agent can help you with (or there are subscription services these days where we can pay to have access to look up any agent’s buyer side production reports).

If you are already closing 50% or more of their current buyer side deals, that’s evidence that what you are doing is working and there’s likely no tweaks that need to be done.  Most of the time this is not the case.

Most of the time we discover that the LO is getting less than 50% “at bats”, and 94% of the time it’s simply because they aren’t asking for the business; asking for referrals.

So how do you ask for referrals from an agent that does refer to you, but you aren’t getting at bats for at least 50% of all their buyer clients?

Simply meet with, zoom with, or call them with a simple script….

“Hey Realtor Susan, I really appreciate your referrals and would like to work with you even more often.”

“What would I need to do that every time you get a buyer lead, you break out in a cold sweat thinking I have to get this lead over to <your name> because she / he will close me on time, give me great communication during the loan process, and follow up on my leads like green on a pickle so I (the agent) get even more closings from the leads that I (the agent) already has?” 

“What would I need to do to get even more of your buyer referrals so I can work with you even more?”

Then shut up and listen to what they say.  Almost always it’s simply an issue that they aren’t thinking about you because you aren’t talking with them frequently enough.  A very, very easy fix. 

You just have to have a plan, and then follow that plan.  Without a plan, you are a blind person trying to play pin the tail on the donkey.

That’s why we have the Daily Success Plan.  It’s a simple plan that we map out and discuss with all of the top producers in our Loan Officer Freedom Club.

I’ll be happy to give you a free sample of what that looks like here:
Free Sample Daily Success Plan

Not knowing what that looks like could be costing you… and costing you big… And right now is not the time to be operating in the dark. 

Now is the time to be pro-active.  We can’t do things like we did last year, it’s different now, so we have to do different things.

Talk soon.

Carl White

Has your loan volume dropped this year?  Come to find out, a lot of LOs have dropped….while a handful of others have actually increased.  Some of our Freedom Club members are literally having their best months ever.

I’m not pointing out that to be uncool or to make you feel weird or anything, it’s just very important to know… and I’ll risk our relationship here to tell you the truth…  You deserve the truth.

There are 4 reasons, and only 4 reasons that some LOs’ volumes are down.

1. They have no plan

2. Their plan sucks

3. Their implementation of their plan sucks

4. They are looking for something else to blame other than the first 3 reasons.

It’s just that simple.

Don’t get me wrong, I know just how you may feel because early in my career I would blame my production on rates, inventory, my looks, the way I talked, the car I drove, blah blah blah blah…

Then I found out that while I was struggling, other LOs were having record months (just like today).

After intensively studying the difference between those that were struggling vs those that were actually thriving, I came to a shocking discovery which particularly holds true to today’s LOs….

… it had nothing to do about rates (everybody is the same more or less), it had nothing to do with how old they were – many of the thriving LOs were / are in their 20’s and 60’s and 70’s and on…

…. It had nothing to do with male / female, their weight, the color of their skin, how well they spoke, whether they were pretty or handsome, or even if they looked like me…

… because there was, and still are LO’s that were and are thriving that fell into all of those categories.

It all boiled down to their plan and the execution of that plan.  Period.  No other factors stood out.

So here’s where we stand now… the next 4 months there’s going to be a great “weeding out”. 

Many LOs will be gone, and just like back in the 2008 & 2009 mortgage “correction”, those that are still standing will make even more money than before because those without a real plan and those that don’t execute on a real plan will no longer be in “the game” like you and I will. 

Together, we will be in a plentiful ocean with very, very few fishermen (fisher people).  Our “nets of awesomeness” will be overflowing, just like the last time this happened…

…well, as long as we

1.  Have a proven purchase business plan

2.  Implement that plan

3.  Stop blaming anything else for our current pipeline

Want some help with mapping out a REAL plan of getting more purchase business to help put MORE closings in your pipeline all while decreasing the stress you may be feeling now?
(the same plan I use today in my branch)

I’ll give you a 1 hour demo call of how we map out an epic purchase business plan that’s working in today’s market, and we’ll also show you ways to help ensure that you avoid the distractions and obstacles that may have held you back in the past.

Go Here Now for a short video to show you how.

Talk soon!

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”)…