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Mortgage Loan Officer Blog

“Swamp Marketing” vs “Well Marketing”

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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

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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 ☺

I wasn’t going to bring this up, but I’m going to anyway…

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At first glance, this may seem like it doesn’t have anything to do with mortgages and helping you ramp up your business, but I’ll tell you this may be one of the most important messages I have ever sent to you.

Making sure everything at home is good is critical to how we do things at work.
It all overflows to each other, home and work.

Think of a jar of water and then putting even just 1 drop of red dye in it.  The red dye doesn’t just sit there on one side of the jar, in short order the entire jar is red.  This is the same for “work and home” for us, it all overflows to each other.

That’s the set up for a life changing conversation I had about 7 years ago…

I was sitting on my front porch visiting with my then 30 something year old niece.  Out of the blue, she said “You know why so many people end up in divorce (or separating from their mate or life partner)?”

My first thought was, what is somebody that just got married a year or 2 ago going to have to say to me about How To Make Relationships Work…  what the heck does she know..

But then she shared with me something that has been an absolute game changer for me…

“The reason so many romantic “living together” relationships break up is because they confuse “marriage (or mate) issues with “roommate” issues.  You see couples really have 2 different relationships going on at the same time.  They are a romantic (or married) couple and they are also roommates.”

She went on to explain, “You see, “roommate” issues are things like leaving the cap off the toothpaste, using up the last bit of coffee without picking up more at the store, leaving the car empty of gas, or having the TV turned up too loud while the other is trying to rest or wants quiet time.”

“Marriage issues” she said, “really boils down to 3 things, beating, cheating, and/or addictions.”

She explained that we have to be very careful when we are having an argument with our mate, not to elevate “roommate” issues to “marriage” issues.  Roommate issues are just part of living with somebody and not to be elevated to “I can’t live with you because you didn’t put the milk back in the refrigerator…”

So these days I remind myself to keep things in perspective and that if I’m feeling a bit of strife in my marriage, it’s extremely likely just a small roommate issue and not worth getting upset about.

When I started doing that about 6 or 7 years ago, it was a game changer! 

Now things are pretty darn good at home, and with things pretty darn good at home, it’s way easier for things to be pretty darn good at work.  I find my work conversations go way better and I feel more confident about putting together my team, asking for the business, getting more sales and loans closed with the entire mortgage team over here.

I guess it really all boils down to, “Don’t sweat the small stuff and it’s all small stuff.”

Now I realize that some of the people that read this are single and enjoying life in that way.  Awesome.  Perhaps you know somebody that could benefit from this bit of wisdom that can be a life changing awareness for them, if so, please pass it on.

OK, so I know this isn’t my typical message, and I sincerely debated about sharing this as I didn’t want to offend somebody or perhaps seem “uncool”.  But I decided that real friends take risks to help each other out.  Thanks for letting me be a part of your awesome journey. 


If you need help with anything else, give my team a call.

You think this is hard?

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A few years back, I found myself in my Ford F-150 pickup truck, sitting in the parking lot with my head in my hands thinking that this loan officer work was just too darn hard…

Leads were a little hard to come by, appraisals were slow, and I was having to make some difficult phone calls… <those are never fun>.

As I was having my own little pity party, I heard an inner voice tell me to look up.

When I did, I had a life changing moment.  Let me explain further.

When I looked up, on top of the building next to me, there were 3 men and 1 lady on top of the roof.  And this roof wasn’t like most roofs, it was a flat roof.

Well, from time to time with a flat roof, you have to “Tar Mop” it.

That’s where you get buckets of super hot tar (so it’s spreadable) and literally get kitchen mops, and spread the hot tar on the roof.

I did that one summer when I was in high school and I can tell you it was the hardest job I’ve ever done.  The tar was super hot, it splattered on my arms causing instant burn blisters, the fumes from the hot tar were almost as bad as the mosquito bites and the heat burned from the hot Florida sun.

As I looked up from my air conditioned seat in my truck that day and saw those 4 people working very very hard in the most miserable conditions, I heard “that voice” again…

“Carl, you want to know what hard work is, those 4 workers on that roof are experiencing hard work.”  It’s hot, spreading the tar is like spreading molasses, just backbreaking work…

… oh, and by the way, it pays around $14 an hour at best.

I then heard that voice one more time…

“Carl, I’m asking you to do 3 simple things to make more money than you could have ever dreamed of…”

“I’m asking you to Talk, Type, and Think… Which you can do while sitting in an airconditioned room, in a very comfortable chair… no fumes, no mosquitos, no sunburn… all while making more in 1 month than the roofers will make in the entire year.”

Talk, Type on a computer, and Think.   Resulting in helping a lot of people, making lots and lots of money, and no tar fumes.

… and here’s the other thing, we don’t even have to think too much because we can just copy the already super successful, well, as long as that’s who we’re hanging with instead of the doomsayers.

Once that was crystal clear in my head, I felt a wave of relief and gratitude wash over me like a warm blanket on a cold night.

So here’s the thing, we are not in “hard times” right now, we simply have to talk (saying the right things to the right people), type (communicate and follow up with those people) and think (again, this is minimized by hanging out with the winners).

Now, those that don’t do those things, those that try to do business the same way they did it last year, well, it could be a very very hard season for them coming up.  Don’t be one of them. 
We have to be adaptable and working the “purchase market plan” while talking, typing, and thinking. It’s really just that simple and doesn’t involve buying a bunch of widgets.

The Purchase Market Plan is exactly what we are mapping out on our coaching calls with our high level and high productions (while low stress) loan officers.  It’s absolutely amazing what can be covered, and the results some of the LOs get on even just 1 of these 1 on 1 calls.

If you want a free sample of what even just 1 of those calls can do for you, I’ll give you one.  <no credit card, no “trail”, and no strings attached>  We’ll help you with what to say, who to say it to, how to communicate with them, and what the top producers are thinking… you know, their Purchase Market Plan.

Free Sample 1 on 1 Coaching Call

Just go here and we’ll help you with the right activities, the right conversations, and with the right people… right now ☺.   Why, because that’s the way we roll around here.

-Carl “this is really easy” White 

“Who turned off the “more loans” switch?”

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Another branch manager that I hadn’t seen or spoke to in a few years called me up the other day.

“Carl, who turned off the “more loans” switch?” he asked me in a panic.

First of all, we have to have clarity of the current situation.  Here’s the truth:

2022 is expected to be the best year ever for purchase mortgage business.

Yepper, you heard that right… 2022 the purchase business is expected to be $1.739 TRILLION.  Just for comparison, 2021 was $1.646 Trillion in purchase mortgage business (2nd only to this year’s projections).

So what in the heck is everybody worried about?  This is going to be the best year EVER for purchase mortgage business (just in case you forgot I said that just 1 minute ago).

Ahhhhhhh, oh, I see, some LOs haven’t been doing our referral partner marketing as part of their weekly routine.

Ok, here’s the thing, It’s not your fault, I see this kind of thing all the time.  Many of our mentors just shared what worked for them way back, and it did work for them way back.

No big deal, it’s going to be ok, we just need to map out how to get agents to refer to us, and it’s not buying Zillow or online leads and dumping those things that will never close on their desk like a pile of rotting fish.

The reason I focus on referral partner marketing is the CLV (client lifetime value) is soooo much higher with them.  You see, with each dollar invested and with each hour invested, the return on investment is so much higher with referral partners than consumer direct.

Focusing on “consumer direct” is like trying to fill an empty lake by buying buckets of water.  It would cost a fortune and likely evaporate faster than you could fill it that way.

If we want to fill a lake, we need to dig a well, and then run a hose from that well to the lake.  In short order, we will be ready to enjoy the fruits of our smart (and wayyyy easier) activity.

While I do some consumer direct, for market research purposes for ongoing loan officer training that I offer and for research for my own mortgage branch, I can tell you that the referral partner marketing is what has made my branch one of the most successful in the entire United States industry… and without overly exerting myself.

So that’s where you and I together want to spend the majority of our time.  When we do, all the stress of “what am I going to do” all goes away. ☺

As the famous hockey player said, “Go to where the hockey puck is going, not where it’s currently at..”

It’s a purchase game, and the next two years are slated to be the best purchase market ever, let’s just go there together. ☺
Focus on referral partner marketing and the good news is, we just have to put into place a simple, easy to implement, predictable process to make that happen.

If you need help mapping out a plan to get more purchase loans that are referred to you, without ever buying another lead, let’s get on a 1 on 1 zoom call here.  <no charge>.

Talk soon.

Loan Officer Freedom