Mortgage Loan Officer Blog | Loan Officer Freedom

“Damaged” doesn’t mean “Broken”

November 29, 2021June 20, 2018 by Carl White, Mortgage Marketing Animals

I had a live mastermind event in Florida a couple of weeks ago.

After one of the sessions, I happened to walk by two Freedom Club members talking about something called “Kintsugi”.

“Bless you!” I said.

They laughed and explained what they were talking about.

“No Carl, I didn’t sneeze, I was telling Joe here about Kintsugi. It’s a Japanese form of pottery, where they take a pot that’s cracked or broken in pieces, and they repair it with gold lacquer, so that it’s repaired, but now it’s cracks and damages are the most beautiful part of it.”

In that moment, I had something like an epiphany. Just because you’re “damaged goods”, does not mean you are broken, my friend. You are still just as functional, as successful, as useful as you’ve always been, even if you’ve been through the wringer a time or two. Maybe it’s been an especially hard time. Maybe you’re in more pieces than you’d like to be. But guess what, you are strong, you are capable, and you are resilient. You’ll make it through whatever trial you’re facing, I guarantee it.

You might be thinking, as you’re reading this, “I don’t know Carl, this time it’s different, I don’t think I can put myself back together again, what do I do?”

I’ll tell you what you do. You reach out to me here, on LinkedIn, or on Facebook, or call my office, and I will work together with you to repair your cracks and fix them all up with gold so that you’re back and better than ever. I promise you this, I am with you every step of the way my friend.

You are stronger than you think. Keep on keeping on, my friend. I’ll be cheering you on wherever you are.

You’ve got this.

Carl White, Chief Officer of Coolness
Article Originally Published on LinkedIn

PS: When you are ready, here are the ways we can help you best.

1. Work with us one-on-one
If you’d like to work directly with us to map out a dream mortgage business – one where you have an epic income while actually working less weekends and evenings (if any at all) – just Click Here and tell us a little about your business and what you would like to work on together, and we will get you all the details.

2. Get your complimentary 1-hour strategy session
You are entitled to 1 full hour strategy call to map out a step-by-step plan on exactly “how to write more loans while working less hours.” Simply tell us a little about your business to help us prepare for your strategy session, and then you’ll have full access to our calendar to schedule your call. At the end of the call, you can ask us to help you implement that plan, or you are absolutely welcome to take that complete plan and work on it by yourself. Click Here to schedule your call today!

3. Click Here for information about our next 3-day “How To Close More Loans Now” event!
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The Perfect Gift

November 29, 2021June 6, 2018 by Carl White, Mortgage Marketing Animals

One of our Freedom Club members (our top-level LO mastermind group) asked a great question…

“I’m am seeking some ideas for unique closing gifts that I can send out. Ideally something universal that I can leave a lasting impression and that has my branding on. Any ideas you can share with me?”

My response:

Great question! Here’s the thing, we have found that we don’t need to leave a “lasting impression”, as we will be contacting them quarterly with a phone call (using our past database scripts and the automated system) and monthly with our “handwritten” note (also done automatically).

Think of it like not needing a lasting impression when you leave a friend’s house after playing cards. You’ll be back next week…

Follow up out trumps a closing gift every time.

The follow up we do is 3 fold:

1. Call with a simple script 4 times a year (this is the most powerful and we have figured out a way to automate it).

2. Snail mail once per month. This has proved to give us huge results. The trick is to NOT send a newsletter or corporate looking postcard. We have found that an actual letter produces more goodwill and leads than anything else (I can show some examples of what we do).

3. And finally, a weekly email. The email we have found that gets us the best response isn’t about mortgages, it’s about what’s going on this weekend around your area. At the end of the email, there is a simple call to action that we call the “Super Signature” that has proved to be the secret sauce.

When I did a closing gift that had a “last impression”, it had zero effect in my closings from those past clients going forward. It wasn’t until I added the 3 fold follow up strategies that I saw an explosion in my measured results.

This follow up approach gives us an average of 1 closing per 100 people in our database per month. So if you have 500 people in your past database, that would be 5 closings… PER MONTH, just from this simple strategy.

Now, to answer your most excellent question, I found giving them pizzas on moving day worked very well for me. After all, it’s what friends do for each other.

Carl
Article Originally Published on LinkedIn

P.S.
If you want to schedule a time where we can map out and share how we do all this, along with my proven scripts, just shoot me an email and I’ll get you set up. After all, it’s what friends do for each other…
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Be Aware Of What You Are Fishing For…

November 29, 2021May 31, 2018 by Carl White, Mortgage Marketing Animals

I had one of my private LO clients reach out to me yesterday and said he had just gotten a referral from a new agent he had be prospecting using our famous “Thor’s Hammer” Script.

The issue was, it was a $700K purchase, thus a Jumbo loan. Well, the mortgage company that this LO works with is an amazing company with very competitive rates…. but not for Jumbo mortgages.

He told me that he was looking for a pricing exception from his company to be able to match what the borrower was quoted from his local bank which this borrower had a business relationship with as this borrower is a local medical surgeon.

He also told me that he really wanted to save this deal with this new referral partner as she “does mostly high end homes with Jumbo loans”.

Here was my response to him on this subject.

“One thing we have to be careful is, we’ll catch what we fish for…

What I mean by that, is most people that apply for Jumbo loans do have banking connections.

Those banking connections will often write a loan at an actual loss, because they are looking for all of the borrowers’ other business too (credit cards, car loans, investment products, their office banking and such).

If this agent does mostly jumbo deals (per your observation), this will be a likely occurrence on almost all of her deals and not make it a profitable relationship for you.

This would make it that most of her deals is going to require your company to stroke a check for $9k for every loan just to close it. (that was the cost to the mortgage company if it did the pricing exception)

This may not be the best agent to partner with because of her large Jumbo loan clientele.

Love the fact that you are using the Thor’s Hammer scripts and strategy to land these agents to start referring to you.

It may be even better for you to pursue agents that work with primarily non-jumbo clients.

It’s the one area where the banks are hard to beat, because, again, they often do them as a loss leader.

Just my thoughts”

I posted this here thinking it may be helpful for you in your referral partner prospecting.

When you are doing your marketing and looking to pair up with referral partners, make sure ahead of time that they are #1 Active and actually working with clients that they can refer to you and #2 Work with the type of clients and homes that you can write loans to easily and profitably.

Thanks for letting me share this with you today. See you on the web, and thanks for letting me share my thoughts with you!

Carl
Article Originally Published on LinkedIn
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Loan Officer Heading To Horizon…

November 29, 2021May 26, 2018 by Carl White, Mortgage Marketing Animals

Sometimes I find myself focusing on the things that I didn’t get done and maybe coming down on myself a little bit about what I didn’t accomplish or “what I’m not doing”.

I recently realized, we really need to focus sometimes on what we have accomplished.

It goes back to instead of looking at the horizon and trying to paddle out to the horizon, which keeps moving forward, (as we paddle out, it keeps moving in front of us, we never actually get to the horizon), that sometimes we need to turn around and look to see how far we’ve come from the shore, how far have we gone, look at what did we accomplish.

I think it’s really healthy for us to do that sometimes and to reach around and give ourselves a pat on the back.

Right now, as you’re reading this, make a list of a few things that you’ve accomplished and look at that and be proud of what you have done.

Let’s not just always focus on what we haven’t done. Let’s focus on what we have done.

I just want to thank you so much for being part of my journey. I really appreciate you.

I just want to let you know that I believe in you, that you’ve done great things, you have accomplished things, and take recognition of those things that you have accomplished.

That’s it.

Thanks again, and I appreciate you letting me be part of your life. It’s a true honor.

Carl
Article Originally Published on LinkedIn

Want some help mapping out the direction of your JOA (Journey of Awesomeness)?

Here’s the best way to do that: www.LoanOfficerStrategyCall.com
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The “Grind”, and Why You Should Be Doing Less of It.

November 29, 2021May 23, 2018 by Carl White, Mortgage Marketing Animals

“That doesn’t sound like something I would want to do with the precious majority of my day!”, was my response to the LO I was listening to talking about “grinding”.

“I’m doing the daily grind, Carl, yet I’m not where I want to be, where I need to be.”

He had just told me how he was struggling, not just with work as an LO, but at home too.

“My wife and I are not as close as we once were, my kids sometimes look at me like I’m a stranger, and when I am at home, well, I’m not really there… I’m either talking on the phone or I’m checking emails and tying up loose ends I didn’t finish at the office.”, he was speaking softly now.

“And honestly Carl, my business isn’t where it needs to be, and I just don’t get it because I’m doing the daily grind. Man, I’m grinding like there’s no tomorrow.”

So first of all, it’s not his fault. The idea of “grinding” sounds honorable at first.

But geez, who wants to grind all day at work, which is where most people spend most of their “awake” time. Just the thought of “grinding” all day every day sounds abrasive and harsh by its very nature. And that leads to “restless, irritable, and discontent”. (been there done that!)

“No wonder you feel spent at the end of the day when you leave the office! But it’s not your fault.”, I consoled him.

As you are reading this today, here’s the take-home message…

See, there are two ways of looking at the world, through the lens of “time and effort” and through the lens of “results”.

Look at the activities that you are doing, and then evaluate the results you are getting from it.

Those few things you are doing that take the least amount of time and give us the most amount of results, and we actually enjoy doing, well, those are the things we want to be doing more of.

It’s not about “how much you are doing”, it’s about those few things that produce most of your results, which for the majority of LOs, is actually done only a small part of their day.

The “grinding” is usually all the stuff trying to “save deals” and put out fires…. you know, clerk stuff. (more about that next week)

Very small amounts of the day are actually spent doing hyper-focused activity that actually brings in new deals.

And typically, the actual activity that brings in the new business, that small sliver of the actual loan getting activity, not the “busy” work, is actually kind of fun for most LOs.

So the secret sauce is to identify what is that super small amount of activity that provides most of the results and do more of that (which can actually be fun).

And then look at the “grinding activity” that takes the most amount of energy, provides the least amount of results, and is the least amount of fun, and do less of that!

It’s not about the grind, it’s about the results, enjoying yourself, feeling fulfilled, being present with your family and friends, and all while having an income that you may have never even dreamed about.

I know this can be a sensitive subject, and I bring it up because I want to help you.

Having spent many years working the grind myself, which resulted in me (and my family) being restless, irritable, and discontent, until somebody shared with me the same vision that I’m now sharing with you.

Focusing on those few things that give us the most results, takes the least amount of effort, and is actually things that we enjoy, well, that takes us AWAY FROM restless, irritable, and discontent, and leads us TOWARD Happy, Joyous, and Free.

That is my wish for you today, my friend…

Be Happy, Joyous, and Free.

If you would like help mapping out what exactly is the small sliver of activity that actually is “loan getting” activity, let me know by messaging me here.

Carl
Article Originally Published on LinkedIn
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